I lean centre-left. But as a gun owner, I feel my only choice is the Conservatives

Patrick Osborne · for CBC First Person

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago

This First Person nonfiction is the acquisition of Patrick Osborne, who lives successful Metro Vancouver. For much accusation astir CBC's First Person stories, delight spot the FAQ. 

Firearms person been a large portion of my life, adjacent though I didn't turn up astir them. 

When I was 12, I got the accidental to sprout a small-bore firearm for the archetypal clip successful the Air Cadet program. Target shooting demands focus, subject and consistency. That situation had maine hooked from the start. 

In betwixt my clip arsenic a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces, I worked successful the firearms manufacture doing everything from retail and organisation to importation and manufacturing for 10 years. I besides worked astatine a fashionable rental scope arsenic an instructor, teaching novice shooters however to usage guns safely nether adjacent supervision. 

I met my wife, Tara, there. 

Tara was connected accent permission from her occupation arsenic a 911 exigency relation aft taking respective firearm-related calls that ended badly. Part of her return-to-work programme progressive vulnerability therapy, truthful she was astatine the weapon scope wherever I worked to look the dependable of gunfire. 

When I archetypal saw her, I could spot that she was stressed, flinching astatine the muffled shots coming from the firing line. After asking if she needed anything, I suggested that she instrumentality during quieter hours, and I'd assistance her effort shooting immoderate of our smaller guns. 

Tara took up the challenge. After her archetypal shot, she sat down successful tears. She said she was overwhelmed by the dependable of the gunshot. But aft a fewer minutes, Tara got backmost up, dried her eyes and asked to spell again. Eventually, not lone did she flooded her trauma, but she besides turned it into a hobby. 

She was the strongest idiosyncratic I've known. We got joined successful 2020, she got her weapon licence and we started going to shooting matches together. For Christmas 1 year, I adjacent amazed her with her ain contention pistol. 

Sadly, I mislaid Tara to crab successful 2022. 

Anyone who has mislaid idiosyncratic adjacent tin attest to however all-consuming grief tin be. It wasn't until I started to enactment done Tara's property concern that I realized an important detail: The Liberal government's frost connected the sale, acquisition and transportation of handguns was astir to travel into effect and I was astatine hazard of losing her pistol if I didn't enactment quickly. 

There are nary exceptions successful the incoming handgun freeze. If I waited excessively long, I could look ineligible consequences.

I was conscionable hardly capable to get the transportation started successful time, making maine 1 of the fortunate ones. The authorities makes nary concessions for Canadians who privation to walk connected their possessions to household members. If Tara had died a period later, I would person had to surrender oregon deactivate her pistol. 

That wasn't a viable enactment for me. Deactivation is an expensive, time-consuming process, particularly if you privation it successful a mode that doesn't destruct the esthetic of the gun. I didn't person the clip to get it done earlier the deadline. Plus, I knew however overmuch the pistol meant to Tara. I wanted to proceed utilizing the pistol successful her memory.

The national Liberals introduced respective weapon power measures during their caller 10-year tenure. In summation to the nationalist handgun frost successful 2022, they besides banned thousands of "assault-style weapons," successful 2020, on with introducing a program to bargain backmost what they allege are unsafe guns from the hands of Canadians — conscionable not until 2026. We were confidently told this would amended nationalist safety. 

I enactment having a licensing system, and I judge that firearms should beryllium regulated. I condemn weapon unit and I'm profoundly saddened and horrified by schoolhouse shootings. But I privation those regulations to beryllium grounded successful grounds — not authorities oregon emotions.

Two years later, these policies person not had the desired effect. Gun unit continues to stay a problem, mostly a effect of organized crime, a porous borderline and relaxed bail conditions. Canadian instrumentality enforcement agencies person been saying for years: the immense bulk of recovered transgression guns are handguns smuggled from the U.S.. 

The authorities was told by stakeholders and experts astatine nationalist information committee meetings that law-abiding Canadian weapon owners aren't the problem, and that's due to the fact that Canada already has immoderate strict measures successful place. 

To go a weapon owner, Canadians person to instrumentality a mandatory, RCMP-approved information course, walk a written exam and a handling test, use for a paid licence and wide transgression grounds checks. Even erstwhile licensed, Canadian weapon owners are subjected to continuous eligibility screening.  

The information that criminals are smuggling guns crossed the borderline is simply a hint that these laws introduced by erstwhile premier curate Justin Trudeau are ineffective. Criminals don't attraction that there's a handgun frost due to the fact that they weren't getting their guns from the weapon store successful the archetypal place. 

Trudeau's weapon power policies person lone affected licensed Canadians similar myself. Only shooting sports recognized by the Olympic oregon Paralympic programme were fixed an exemption to acquisition handguns. I vie successful the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC), which holds local, nationalist and planetary matches utilizing handguns and semi-automatic rifles. Bill C-21 makes nary objection for organizations similar IPSC. I tin usage the handguns I antecedently owned to compete, but caller users can't acquisition either firearm. That volition yet spell the extremity of competitory shooting successful Canada. Other unsocial sports, specified arsenic cowboy enactment shooting, are besides facing the aforesaid fate. 

Trudeau should person been looking outward, not inward. Why isn't our authorities holding U.S. President Donald Trump accountable for American guns coming here? 

In this upcoming election, I'm intimately examining each party's presumption connected firearms policy. What I've seen truthful acold isn't promising. 

WATCH | Where the federal parties basal connected weapon control: 

Only the Conservative enactment is pledging to undo the Liberals' confiscation and buyback scheme. 

I beryllium centre-left connected astir issues, and determination is simply a batch successful the Conservatives' docket that I disagree with (for starters, I'm enactment disconnected by their obsession with "wokeness" and their tendency to defund the CBC). Liberal Leader Mark Carney has travel retired successful enactment of Trudeau's ill-advised firearms confiscation and buyback scheme, which is estimated to outgo respective billions of dollars. Gun power advocator Nathalie Provost besides joined Carney's Liberals arsenic a candidate. The NDP and Bloc Québécois person antecedently supported the Liberals successful their weapon legislation. This does not bode good for Canadian weapon owners.

Frankly, I'm fed up with being the scapegoat for thing I didn't do. Unless the different parties alteration their caput connected firearms policy, they aren't giving maine overmuch crushed to ballot for them.

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