Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I attended a gun owners' rally in my riding organized by the Reform Party. The two featured speakers were myself and the member for Crowfoot. Not surprisingly, I found myself on the defensive for my support of the government's gun control bill.
However, it was most interesting to hear the Reform Party member for Crowfoot state he considers ownership of a firearm to be a right, not a privilege, and that every person should be entitled to use the threat of deadly force to protect his personal possessions, for example his television or VCR.
He told people in the audience that if someone steals from them or attempts to do so they should be able to reach for their guns. This is not the view of most Canadians or most gun owners. It is a view surely only of a few, a minority. The Reform Party needs to search its conscience and listen on this issue to the majority of Canadians.