A restricted gun licence holder holds a AR-15 at his home in Langley, B.C. on May 1, 2020. A professor who has closely tracked the history of gun control says the Liberal government's latest moves could make Canada's complex firearm classification system even more complicated. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
OTTAWA – A professor who has closely tracked the history of gun control says the Liberal government’s latest moves could make Canada’s complex firearm classification system even more complicated.
The government is proposing a ban on assault-style firearms that would apply once legislation now before Parliament comes into force.
But the ban would not apply retroactively.
Blake Brown, a historian at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, says that means many currently available firearms won’t be prohibited even though they could meet the definition of an assault-style gun that may be applied down the road.
Brown says the approach clashes with the Nova Scotia mass shooting inquiry’s recent recommendation to ban all guns, not just some, that meet such criteria.
He predicts the federal move will probably make the current patchwork system of classification even worse.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 2, 2023.
