Canada is very pro-active in covering up terrorism. It only succeeds in making every incident suspect. A factual void fuels rumor and speculation.
The main commonality concerning the gun control debate over the years in this country is that whenever the government takes up gun control as a political issue, it is often an attempt to deflect public attention from the more pressing political situation of that time:
1994-95 Justice Minister Allan Rock’s Bill C-68 with the long gun registry and numerous prohibitions. That was during the serious government debt crisis and that the then governing Liberals had no choice but to cut social spending (which they had championed since the 1960s). Also, the resurgence of separatism in Quebec with the Bloc Quebecois as Official Opposition and that the October 1995 referendum came to within 50,000 votes of voting to leave Canada (C-68 was another attempt to woo back urban women’s vote in Montreal from separatists).
1992-Kim Campbell’s Bill C-17 (safe storage, tightening of Firearms Acquisition Certificate process, and prohibition of certain semi-autos). Done to try to woo back women’s vote during abortion law controversy and also to deflect attention from First Nations peoples’ issues (that was involved in the 1990 Oka standoff crisis).
1976-77-Bill C-51 (which introduced FACs for standard rifle and shotgun purchases, prohibition of fully automatic firearms through grandfathering, and probation of using a handgun for protection of property). Introduced to counter the removal of the death penalty from the Canadian Criminal Code.
Today’s situation is not at all dissimilar, as Justin Trudeau has greatly disappointed many with broken promises and overall poor performance in numerous instances. Calls for handgun bans and other attempts at tightening up firearms laws are likely an attempt to deflect attention from this sort of thing and try to woo back urban support for the current government.
“probation of using a handgun”
Meant to say prohibition of using a handgun for self defence.