Evidence of meeting #46 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was licence.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I would hope that your defence of this bill consists of more than mean tweets.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
With respect, sir, your organization and vice-president have appeared to have a very good grip on delivering mean tweets, but that's not why we're here.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
It's in response to the abuse that we've taken for seven years.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
I see. I'm sorry that you see the defence of saving lives as somehow abusive, but here we are.
Let's talk a little bit about some of the things that you have said.
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Sure.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
You have said that mass shootings in Canada, which include Polytechnique, Concordia, Dawson, Moncton, Fredericton, Edmonton, Vernon, the Quebec mosque, Penticton, Burk's Falls and Nova Scotia are just a small number of anomalies and outliers and that you don't legislate to prevent such tragedies unless you're an irrational zealot.
Is it your position that it's not worth trying to limit access to weapons that are commonly used in mass shootings because there are fewer such victims compared with other such gun crimes?
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
It's my position that those are outlier events, depending on how you define mass shooting. There have been anywhere from seven to 15 of those in the last 60 years in Canada, so they happen very infrequently. They're terrible. No one's ever said that they weren't awful, absolutely, but you don't legislate based on outliers any more than you legislate against white rental vans because we had a van attack. Those victims deserve just as much respect as any other victim. Guns are the only topic where we act like that.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
With the greatest of respect, when you talk about defending life, you talk about outliers. You don't talk about suicides in homes where guns do end up killing people.
Do you think that it is reasonable, when you look at the outlier incidents, whether it's suicide or criminal acts, that we should be doing everything we can to take away the tools that are causing those injuries or deaths?
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Our firearm suicides account for 14% to 16% of overall suicides in Canada. There are 4,000 suicides a year—
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
Yes. One suicide is too many, but there are already—
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Shouldn't we be doing everything we can to prevent those suicides?
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
We are, and we are doing an incredible.... We have some of the toughest gun control laws on planet Earth—
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I support any law that has a demonstrable positive effect on public safety.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
If the police were to come before this committee, as they have—including the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and other law enforcement—and said that they believe limiting firearms in homes would prevent suicides, would you agree with them?
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
We limit firearms in homes.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
They said that further limiting firearms in homes through this bill would further prevent suicide. Are you saying they're wrong?
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I can't speak for the Association of Chiefs of Police. They've given you their opinion and I've given you mine.
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I don't know. I'd have to think about it a bit more.
Liberal
Taleeb Noormohamed Liberal Vancouver Granville, BC
Either you do.... I'm confused. Earlier you said that it wouldn't help prevent—
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I think the laws that we have right now are adequate. Firearms can be removed from anyone's home at a moment's notice if there's a safety concern—
Liberal
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights
I'm not sure how we can get any better than that without banning guns.