Canada’s stringent gun controls, including a freeze on the purchase of handguns, did not prevent Tuesday’s heinous mass shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School.
Moreover, the male alleged shooter, who was transitioning to female, used a handgun despite the freeze on handgun sales and transfers.
According to the Guardian, police indicated the alleged shooter used a handgun and a long rifle. The type of long gun has yet to be made public by police, but the Associated Press noted, “The Canadian government has banned more than 2,500 makes and models of assault-style firearms in recent years.”
The ban includes “more than 1,500 models” of firearms then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made illegal on May 1, 2020.
None of this stopped the shooter from having a long gun.
An infographic titled “Mass shooting in Canada”. (Photo by Elif Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Canada has a firearms license requirement, but the alleged shooter lacked a valid license. He had a license that expired in 2024, according to police.
Canada also has a red flag law yet, even though the alleged shooter was known to police, he was able to have two guns in his possession on Tuesday.
Ironically, the Guardian noted that “Police had attended the suspect’s family residence on multiple occasions over the past several years, dealing with mental health concerns of the suspect.”
Two years ago “firearms were seized…[from the alleged shooter’s home] under the criminal code,” but the “lawful owner of those firearms petitioned for them to be returned, and they were.”
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 and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
