Officials react to proposed gun bill

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This article was published 18/02/2021 (1895 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is proposing giving municipalities much more control over handguns within their borders, a move Brandon’s mayor calls “curious.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Tuesday the federal Liberal government would table legislation allowing municipalities to restrict the storage, possession or transportation of handguns through bylaws.

While exact details are currently scant, Mayor Rick Chrest called the move “curious” as bylaws don’t normally deal with gun control.

“At minimum, it seems to me it should be at the provincial level, so this one does kind of surprise me that they would want to suggest it would be at the municipal level. That gets it down to pretty granular level like this,” said Chrest.

Under the legislation, a municipality could bring in bylaws forcing citizens to store handguns at a licensed business or completely outlaw them within the municipality.

This could create a patchwork of rules, Chrest said.

“In some areas, I’m sure you could stand at the confluence of four municipalities that butt together, and in four directions you could have four different sets of rules,” he said.

Brandon City Council would need to meet to discuss the federal government’s proposal and much more information is needed, said Chrest.

“I’m all for providing things that create more safety. But on the other hand, there needs to be something that’s reasonable, defendable, enforceable — and for that to occur at the municipal level might be tricky,” he said.

“Having a patchwork quilt of legislation on something as significant as gun control would be a very curious measure,” he said.

Premier Brian Pallister was more pessimistic when asked about the proposed legislation on Wednesday.

“It’s not going to work. Public safety issues aren’t just germane to just one municipality. There are issues of national importance and I think, quite frankly, we would benefit by having that discussion at a national level, not at a municipal level,” said Pallister.

He said any new powers to restrict firearms should respect farmers and hunters, the vast majority of whom use guns safely.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities is also looking for more details on the federal government’s proposal, according to president Kam Blight.

“While all orders of government have a shared responsibility to ensure public safety, the AMM has reached out to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for more information regarding this federal initiative,” Blight said in an emailed statement.

“Since gun-related crime does not respect local borders, any new measures should be based on a nationwide approach to improving public safety.”

The bill would also bring in “red flag” and “yellow flag” laws that would allow a concerned person to ask a court to remove a person’s firearms or review an individual’s licence to own them.

The legislation would also target smuggling and gun trafficking by increasing penalties and boosting law enforcement capacity.

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