Genuinely curious on liberal views of gun laws

[u/Callie7680]

Hello all. Looking for a debate on the other side of all of the gun laws / bans from a liberal point of view. How does it ACTUALLY make sense to liberals with the current laws. C21 was passed with hopes of lowering crime? How is that going? The OIC. How has the crime rate gone since? How are these “liberal experts” in power thinking this is actually going to make a difference? Canada could 100% ban every single firearm and gun crime would not go down 1 bit. I don’t really know any liberals to talk about it with I’d actually like to hear their side on it. I’m clearly not an expert on any of this but it just seems so ridiculous

[u/Office_lady0328]

I consider myself a Liberal. I'm also a PAL holder and gun owner. Target shooting is fun and I hunt to provide ethically sourced meat for myself.

I was never on board with Bill C21, or any other outright ban and heavy restrictions that have been imposed in the last year. If people want to use guns to commit crimes, they're obviously not going to care about any bans and they certainly won't be assed to get a license either.

Regardless, I think our current PAL system is a good foundation. Not because it prevents criminals from aquiring firearms, but it does allow us to monitor current legal gun owners who may, for one reason or another, may become unfit to own guns.

In the last years I've watched my once completely sane, caring, level headed father succumb to early stages of dementia. While he's still mostly cognitive, he goes into these delusional psychotic episodes where he totally loses touch with reality and becomes extremely paranoid and angry. He doesn't have a gun (Or a PAL) but if he did, we would have removed it from him and requested he lose his PAL. His intentions aren't malicious, and he's not going to illegally seek out a gun to purposely commit a crime, but I can see how not having any PAL requirements might facilitate the legal purchase a firearm, which he may use during one of his episodes of accessible.

TLDR: I'm a liberal, I fully support licensing and background/health checks for gun ownership, but I do not support C21 or the current bans and heavy restrictions. I support PAL for the purpose of managing non-malicious gun owners who may suffer mental health or other psychological declines.

[u/Office_lady0328 → u/[deleted]]

I didn't vote that election due to extenuating circumstances (I know, I know, bad me, I should always vote) Anyways, you don't vote for a party just based off of one element. You aren't going to 100% agree with any party all the time, and you shouldn't. There are things the liberal/NDP party promote I don't support or enjoy. But the majority of the projects and bills they support align with my ideologies which is why I vote for them.

[u/Canadian-Footy-Fan → u/[deleted]]

That is only true for people who have gun laws as their top voting priority. The last election the two realistic choices were government by the Liberals or by the Conservatives. Most people voted on the basis of multiple issues rather than a single topic that is pretty niche for most people.