Ontario Premier Doug Ford countered Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s gun ban on Saturday by urging money be spent targeting criminals instead of placing new prohibitions on law-abiding gun owners.
The Canadian Press quoted Ford saying, “The problem is not the legal gun owners, we need to target the smugglers and we need to throw the book at these gangsters out there terrorizing our streets.”
“Throw the key away with these people if they get caught with guns, don’t give them a slap on the wrist and then try to point the finger at legal, law abiding gun owners,” Ford added.
Breitbart News reported Trudeau’s announcement of a ban on 1,500 different firearms on Friday. The ban, effective immediately, gives those who own guns up to two years to hand them over.
The Globe and Mail reported that liberals in Canada have long sought the ban and pledged a buyback to go with it. The buyback would be put in place during the two-year amnesty period, allowing the current owners of newly banned guns to be compensated when they turn in their firearms.
The estimated price tag of the buyback is $250 million.
Ontario’s Ford reacted to the buyback plan by saying, “I can’t help but think that money could be put at a much better use hunting down the violent criminals and stopping the illegal guns at our borders.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.