Constitutional and Legislative Rules on Gun Control in Canada

This essay delves into the contentious issue of licensed gun ownership and its relation to violence in Canada. It examines the historical context of gun control, including the influence of social movements and specific events like the Montreal Massacre. The paper analyzes constitutional and legislative rules concerning gun control, tracing the evolution of laws and their impact on firearm acquisition. The essay explores arguments for and against licensed gun ownership, considering factors like crime rates and self-defense. It also critiques the effectiveness of current legislation and proposes approaches for the Canadian government to curb gun violence, even with licensed firearms. The author references various studies and incidents to support the argument that stricter gun control measures are necessary to reduce violent incidents. The conclusion emphasizes the need for the government to maintain a firm stance against unrestricted firearm acquisition to avoid violent incidents, highlighting the limitations of licensed gun ownership under the current scenario in Canada.

Running Head: ISSUE OF LICENSED GUN IN CANADA
Issue of Licensed Gun in Canada
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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ISSUE OF LICENSED GUN IN CANADA
The issue of violence related to bearing and possession of guns and arms in the major
world nations is not a new subject but rather something which has shown emerging urgency
for the government to pay attention to them. Canada has a vast history of being against arms-
bearing regardless of which the recent events which have unfolded in the country raise the
issue of keeping in mind the reason from which they stem. The country under Trudeau had
been in favor of non-violence, and peace has been facing conflicting results with the rise in
the firearm incidents taking place around the country with the most recent being the Danforth
Avenue shooting in the year 2018. The paper will deal with constitutional and legislation
rules concerning gun control and the way it reflects the urgency of the matter. The paper will
first iterate the laws present in the Canadian constitution and the way it has been modified in
order to deal with the situation. It will show how carrying a licensed gun can help the
government to help regulate better in terms of being able to catch illicit acquisition of any
firearm. The thesis statement of the paper will then be the approach that should be adopted by
the Canadian government to curb even the licensed acquisition of a firearm and how it can
help lower the violent incident in the country.
Canadian guns and firearm history is replete with social factors and the long line of
wars it was associated with. The rise of socialist movements can also be traced to have a
massive impact on the formation and the reason behind the action from the government.
However, the rise of social movements such as feminism had also been shown to cause
insecurity in the male population. The shooting of 1989 in Montreal by the mass murderer,
Lepine shot fourteen women, fatally wounded ten women, and let most of the men escape
using a semi-automatic rifle. He later went onto suicide by shooting himself, leaving a suicide
note indicating the incident as a fight against feminist showing the rise in hate crime. This led
to the declaration of December 6th as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on

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Violence against Women, which is observed to date (Ferguson and Jacek). This incident cited
a tremendous upheaval, after which the government was made to dwell on strengthening
legislation regarding the acquisition of a firearm, whether legal or by illicit means. It led to
the formation of CGC (Canadians for Gun Control) since Lepine owned a licensed gun since
his adolescence which he used in for shooting pigeons as a hobby, and everyone around him
in the society knew his possession of the rifle, but his internal psychological complication led
to the massacre which shook the whole country (Brown). This was furthered with the alliance
by a students’ activists, which gave it the face of a women’s safety group. It resulted in the
enactment of Bill C-17 which was passed in the year 1977 but never saw mass mobilization
and demanded that all applicants of the FAC (Firearm Acquisition Certificate) had to go
through a background check to be able to qualify for safety course and even then wait for
another twenty-eight days to be able to purchase a personal firearm (Brown).
The social movement does not support the debate surrounding the issue of carrying a
licensed gun concealed since it has been proven time and again in the past that the legislation
can provide a safety course but cannot analyze the psychological changes which can motivate
a person for murder. Other social issues, such as poverty and homelessness and illiteracy, are
found to be pivotal in increasing gun violence. Even after the enactment of C-17, two mass
shooting events took place, which made later governments introduce prohibited categories in
which the long-gun registry was the most debated and critical addition and faced a
considerable conflict from the hunting community (Fleming, Dylan and Raymond). The
Trudeau government formed from the Liberal Party affirmed their stance on continuing with
the band on a long-gun registry.
The Trudeau government completely removed the option of acquiring and possessing
any firearms due to various reasons, which can be seen as the social actors who worked
against the possession of firearms even legally. The list of issues and the data collected by

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different researches give a positive indication to the band against guns when compared to its
availability. Nevertheless, the main issue regarding the debate and the reason for being in
favor of gun acquisition is among people living in areas they declare as highly criminalized
neighborhood. Another area of favor has been noticed in rural areas, which is backed up by
their gun tradition for hunting and even for entertainment. These areas also have a history of
protection for themselves from wild animals and criminals. Studies also show that almost
eighty people of individuals who have been arrested in the recent past owned guns for their
protection owing to their locality of being known for having a high crime rate (Merkel). One
of the significant argument which is left wide open with this discussion and the research is
the result of suicides with guns has decreased, but people have taken to other means. It
implies that people have been assorting other harmful means to get their way out.
On examining the history of changing legislation and the data, which shows that there
is hardly any significant change in the use of firearms for homicides, it can be concluded that
despite a conscious effort from the government, there is no probable result. However, it also
shows that the government’s strict stance against a complete restriction on the acquisition and
possession of firearms is the only way of avoiding the violent prone harmful incident from
being restricted. However, the government’s role in keeping and following the enactments
can be questioned due to the continuous incident of shooting taking place despite the
restriction. Thus, carrying even licensed guns cannot be legalized under the present scenario
in Canada concerning the history of violence witnessed in the past.

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References
Brown, R. Blake. Arming and Disarming: A History of Gun Control in Canada. University of
Toronto Press, 2012.
Ferguson, Lorna, and Jacek Koziarski. "What Do We Know About Firearms in Canada? :A
Systematic Scoping Review." (2019).
Fleming, Anthony, Dylan S. McLean, and Raymond Tatalovich. "Debating gun control in
Canada and the United States: divergent policy frames and political cultures." World
Affairs181.4 (2018): 348-371.
Merkel, William G. "R. Blake Brown. Arming and Disarming: A History of Gun Control in
Canada." (2014): 881-882.