A petition against the Trudeau government’s gun ban has closed with 230,905 signatures, making it the largest parliamentary petition in Canadian history.
On Wednesday, the petition’s sponsor Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner thanked those who signed petition e-2574 on Twitter.
The petition was created in response to the Trudeau government’s decision to ban 1,500 types of rifles in May.
“The Prime Minister’s firearms confiscation regime, undemocratically imposed without debate during a pandemic while Parliament is suspended, is an assault on Canadian democracy,” the petition claims.
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to immediately scrap his government’s May 1, 2020, Order in Council decision related to confiscating legally owned firearms and instead pass legislation that will target criminals, stop the smuggling of firearms into Canada, go after those who illegally acquire firearms, and apologize to legal firearms owners in Canada.”
Trudeau’s gun ban gives gun owners who own a prohibited weapon two years to surrender it to the government. As of May 1, Canadians can no longer buy, sell, import or transport prohibited guns.
The gun ban was issued unilaterally by the Trudeau government by an order-in-council from cabinet. No legislation has been voted on by the House of Commons affirming the gun ban.
The Trudeau government set aside $250 million for a gun buyback program.
The petition noted that the majority of firearms used in violent crimes are obtained illegally or are smuggled into Canada.
“‘Assault rifles’, or fully automatic firearms, have been banned in Canada since 1977.”
Earlier this year, a different petition asking the federal government to respect the rights of firearm owners by putting a gun ban to a vote in parliament received 175,310 signatures, making it the second-largest petition ever at the time.
