Yes.
Evidence of meeting #115 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was number.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #115 for Public Safety and National Security in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was number.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Yes.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
[Inaudible—Editor] semi-automatic rifle and that's why.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
11:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Okay.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
This is it, as shown here.
Are you aware of the history of the AR-15 and what it was originally used for?
11:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Yes, absolutely.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
You know that it was used for military purposes. It was developed in the 1950s and then purchased by the United States military and used in Vietnam for obviously military lethal purposes. Does someone need this to go and hunt a deer?
11:50 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I'm curious as to whether it's the look of the firearm that offends you or the lethality. Which is it that bothers you the most?
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
I'm not offended, but I think that from a public safety perspective this is very, very critical.
In fact, I mentioned school shootings at the outset. Canadians are very concerned. The AR-15 was used in the Las Vegas slaughter of 58 people last October; the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting that claimed 26 lives in November; the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, that claimed the lives of 49 people in 2016; the San Bernardino, California, shooting that killed 14 people in 2015; and, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut that took the lives of 27 innocent children.
Here's another point that I think merits our consideration. Let me show you this: the CZ 858. I heard my colleagues say that I'm citing instances from the United States. You want this back, right? Under this bill, it now would move towards being prohibited.
11:50 a.m.
Executive Director, Canadian Shooting Sports Association
That's a restricted one, by the way.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
This was used by Alexandre Bissonnette in the mosque shooting in Quebec City. It would have claimed many more lives had the gun not jammed.
At any point, have you considered what this means for public safety with these positions that you are taking on these matters? What Bill C-71 is for me is a clear example of how we can strengthen safety in Canadian society. What you're telling me and the committee, in effect, is that all of these positions that you have on carry and conceal, on understanding gun ownership not as a privilege but as an absolute right, on the AR-15 and your positions on that.... I wanted to ask you about bump stocks, but I'm not going to get an opportunity—
11:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I didn't say that carrying a firearm was—
11:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
—an absolute right, just a right.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
You said that the possession of a firearm is a right.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
You said “absolute right” just now.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
Your position on certain issues like carry and conceal says to me it's an absolute right. I mean, you might not say it—
11:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Did I say it was an absolute right? I'm pretty sure—
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Fragiskatos Liberal London North Centre, ON
You say it's a right and then you talk about carry and conceal. That sort of vision of Canada that you have does not line up with where most Canadians are on these issues.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
Before we go to the point of order, Mr. Fragiskatos is out of time.
This is an important debate. In some respects, it is the debate.
Mr. Fragiskatos is out of time. Do you still wish to go to your point of order or do you want Mr. Calkins to have the last four minutes?
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Thank you, Chair.
For clarification, Mr. Giltaca, what would be the difference between an AR-15 owned in the United States and an AR-15 owned in Canada?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
There wouldn't be a difference. They're essentially the same rifle, but the problem is that the AR-15 is functionally equivalent to millions of other rifles that are available in Canada. If someone is going to commit a crime with a semi-automatic rifle, they have their choice. Why is it just the AR-15, for some reason, that bothers people the most?
