r/canadaguns • u/AutoModerator • Jun 06 '22

Weekly Politics Thread

Please post all your Politics or Ban-related ideas, initiatives, comments, suggestions, news articles, and recommendations in this thread. Unless new information is published in the media, recurring articles related to the gov'ts ***possible*** legislation are to be posted here. These threads will be weekly, until it's necessary for another per-week.

Previous politics threads can be found here. Previous threads can be found here.

We understand that politics is a touchy subject, and at times things can get heated. A reminder of the subreddit rules, when commenting, where subreddit users are expected to abide.

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u/throwa37 Jun 06 '22

What you're saying, whether you intend to or not, is that we should accept that gun ownership in this country is going to be restricted to "hunting appropriate" long guns.

I hate to be the bearer of shit news here, but you will never convince the average urbanite that handguns and AR-15s should be available for, essentially, shits and giggles. It's a total non-starter. The overwhelming majority of them are against handgun ownership - hell, even most gun owners are for the assault weapons ban.

The reason that people are doing the whole 2A thing is that unless we make inroads in establishing the importance of gun ownership beyond frivolous sports, gun ownership as we knew it in this country is over, period. The idea of tailoring a "Canadian message" that's accepted by the urban population, where modern military rifles are toys, is a fantasy.

I'm not saying it'll be easy, but we either make this about rights, or we get used to owning nothing but bolt actions. This post is obviously well intentioned, but it's completely off the mark.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '22 edited Jun 06 '22

The sport is going to change, there's no doubt. It's changing right in front of us. Singing from the old songbook isn't working. Your favorite firearms orgs aren't even working for you.

I hate to be the bearer of shit news here, but you will never convince the average urbanite that handguns and AR-15s should be available for, essentially, shits and giggles.

Then how do you see it ever being possible? Even under a CPC government, which is far from certain of happening anytime soon, the prohibs aren't coming back.

So...in my opinion, what we should be doing is making firearm ownership among qualified and vetted people acceptable and reasonable across a broad spectrum of Canadians.

Those who believe differently should keep financially supporting a 2A style firearms org. It's their money.

But there needs to be another organization that is speaking to urban Canada. Get them in the fold, and give our sport the political power it needs from across the political spectrum...before it's gone.

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u/throwa37 Jun 06 '22 edited Jun 06 '22

Singing from the old songbook isn't working.

You're not kidding it isn't. The sports narrative has been the only one that we've been pushing since at least the 1990's, and all it's gotten us is a federal ban on handgun sales and a black rifle ban.

In my opinion, what we should be doing is making firearm ownership among qualified and vetted people acceptable and reasonable.

Generally speaking, it already is, even in the cities - again, so long as you're ok with being restricted to owning hunting rifles. If you want urbanites to recognize semi-auto and handgun ownership as acceptable and reasonable, then you need to give them a better reason to possess deadly weapons than sports. You just have to. If you seriously think you're going to make any progress on the basis of "I like to shoot these for fun", then I'm at a loss as to what to tell you.

EDIT:

Then how do you see it ever being possible?

By persuading people that firearms are actually valuable tools of self-defence, and recognizing that in the law.

Think that sounds hard? I guarantee you it's easier than convincing Torontonians that you should be allowed to have them for fun.

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u/Kombatnt Jun 07 '22

By persuading people that firearms are actually valuable tools of self-defence

Dude, I like guns as much as anyone else here, but this is just never going to happen. Canadians are flooded daily with stories from across the border about the horrors of a nation where everyone is armed to the teeth. There is absolutely no appetite for that kind of culture up here. This is a non-starter.