LETTER

 

----  Gun control promises

 

The Liberals' promise to ban all assault weapons is very positive. It is also precise, specifying that existing weapons would be either bought back or rendered inoperable. They also promise to ban modifiable magazines and to eliminate the legal loopholes that now allow magazines for rifles to surpass the five-bullet limit. This proposal is new.  With respect to military-style weapons and accessories, the Liberal party is making excellent promises for measures long overdue.

However, these remain promises -- like the 2015 and 2019 ones which were not kept. 

We hope the Liberals will also explain why Canadians should believe them. Two years ago we were in exactly the same situation -- and brutally disappointed with the end result.

Most worrisome is the Liberals' plan to offload handguns to the provinces. This, despite at least three provinces refusing to ban handguns, including Quebec. This is going back to square one.  Clearly, without federal intervention the proliferation of handguns will continue, and soon be too late to reverse.  Half the one million-plus handguns now in Canada were purchased in the last ten years.

Our conclusion is that our safety now depends on the NDP. In a Liberal minority, for example, they would be the deciders on offloading handguns to provinces; the Bloc québécois already supports provincial bans. We hope that, unlike the Liberals, the NDP will have the political courage to fully assume their constitutional authority and push for federal measures.

Nathalie Provost, Heidi Rathjen 

(PolySeSouvient - survivors of the Polytechnique massacre)

Montréal