r/canadaguns • u/Low_Bar_804 • Apr 19 '26

News / Politics / Activism Owning guns- Right or Privilege?

So obviously here in Canada our government sees private firearm ownership as a privilege rather than a right. My question is, how you guys feel? Do you think gun ownership is a right or a privilege?

When you look at other things people view as rights, such as abortion, freedom of expression and freedom of religion etc. These are all viewed by most as inherently “good rights”, but in many countries these rights are restricted. I think, along with many others, that it is justified to ignore unjust laws that restrict human rights.

I personally believe that firearm ownership is a fundamental human right because it protects all of our other rights and freedoms from being taken away. So even though legally speaking firearm ownership is a privilege that can be taken away at any time here in Canada, I don’t agree with the way our country and many others treat firearm ownership.

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u/EnvironmentBright697 Apr 19 '26

Truth is, we don’t have any “rights” whatsoever in Canada. The “reasonable limits” clause in the charter basically invalidates the entire thing and lets the government decide what is “reasonable” or not.

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u/Scary-Detail-3206 Apr 19 '26

100%, this is fundamentally everything that is wrong with this country. Rights are absolute, not suggestions.

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u/K0bra_Ka1 Apr 19 '26

Your right to express yourself cannot come at the expense of my right to be safe and secure.

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u/theawesomedude646 Apr 19 '26

Driving is a privilege. It comes at the expense of your right to be safe and secure.

Guns should not be treated any differently. Sure cars might functionally be more important, but that's secondary to the value of wider freedoms.

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u/DYTREM Apr 19 '26

I disagree.

Driving is the act of quiet enjoyment of my legally acquired property as long as it is done in respect of the laws enacted to make driving safe for everyone.

Also, it is not a privilege, it is a necessity in this country.

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u/theawesomedude646 Apr 19 '26

A privilege is a certain entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. Land-titles and taxi medallions are examples of transferable privilege – they can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth. By contrast, a right is an inherent, irrevocable entitlement held by all citizens or all human beings from the moment of birth

You aren't born with a driver's license, and it can be revoked. Therefore, it's by definition a privilege.

Being a "necessity" has no bearing on the core ethical argument as the value of life vs the value of freedom.

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u/DYTREM Apr 20 '26

Interesting how the origins of drivers licenses gets distorted in favour of a certain outcome during the "ethical" debate.

https://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trcircular/458/458-008.pdf

Laws are never the result of just an ethical debate in reality. Political and economic interest often twist the outcome as it is in the debate about gun ownership.