To My Friends Who Don’t Hunt or Sport Shoot,
Please, just listen.
When you think of me, I imagine the first thing that comes to mind is my seemingly endless camouflage wardrobe. As a country girl who works in the Greater Toronto Area, I proudly wear my camo and whenever asked, I always announce with a smile “yes, I do hunt.”
I have been hunting for 14 years now and I have been going to the shooting range with my Dad for even longer. These sports are a major part of my life and they mean a great deal to me. I come from a family of hunters and sport shooters. I belong to a hunting camp and a gun club. I am a part of the Canadian hunting and sport shooting community and that’s exactly what it is. A community.
It is a group of almost 2.2 million Canadians who value safety and responsibility first and foremost. We know the laws that govern our firearms and follow them to the letter. We love sharing our hobby and passion with friends, family, and really anyone who is interested in learning. Hunting and sport shooting are traditions that are passed down generation to generation. In my family, it is a rite of passage to go to the gun club with my Dad for the first time and learn how to shoot. This outing always becomes a treasured memory.
However, I understand that for many of you, your exposure to firearms hasn’t been anything like mine. For some of you, all you know of guns is the crime you see in the news. For others, it’s your own neighbourhoods that have experienced such crime, such as the shooting on the Danforth in the summer of 2018.
I don’t ignore these experiences. I know they must be terrifying and I also want incidents like these to end. But I want you to know that those are not people who are a part of the hunting and sport shooting community. Faisal Hussain who attacked the Danforth, Gabriel Wortman who murdered 22 innocent people in Nova Scotia, and the gangs shooting at each other in your neighbourhoods do not share our values. They are not a part of our law abiding community.
As I said, hunters and sport shooters value safety and responsibility above all else, so much so that when we see another member of our community not adhering to our rules and safe practices, we immediately correct them. If the behaviour is not fixed, the next step is to remove them from our clubs and if warranted, report them to authorities.
There is no room in our community for those who break the law or behave in an unsafe manner.
On May 1st, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an immediate ban of all “military-grade assault weapons.” I know many of you sighed in relief, believing our government was taking decisive action to try to prevent more tragedies like the one in Nova Scotia. I’m sorry to say that our government has misled you and that press conference was full of inaccurate information.
Yesterday, we learned that all of the firearms used in the killing spree in Nova Scotia were illegally obtained. There were three from the US, one from "the estate of a deceased associate” in Canada, and the last was stolen from RCMP Constable Heidi Stevenson. Had Trudeau’s firearms ban been in place a month before, even a year before, it wouldn’t have stopped that monster.
Myself and about 2.2 million other people from my community are trying to explain that this legislation is tragically flawed. This firearms ban will do nothing to solve the multifaceted problem of violent crime in our nation. The only ones who will comply with this legislation will be the lawfully licensed gun owners.
The criminals shooting up your communities will not comply. That’s why they’re called criminals.
My community has been crying out, desperately trying to be heard about the complex issues with this legislation but we are being ignored. Politicians and journalists who know little to nothing about our firearm laws and actual statistics on crime ignore the legitimate resources we present and refuse to answer our genuine questions.
We all want a safer Canada, there is no doubt about that. However, there are far better ways to make that happen than wasting $600 million to $1 billion on ineffective legislation. But I need you to hear us. Let us explain our side of the issue. I am asking you please, just listen.
Lesley Butler
Sources:
Lilley, Brian. (May 6 th , 2020.) Trudeau's gun ban is anti-democratic and goes against the evidence. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=782082752324912
Patil, Anjuli. (June 4th 2020.) Psychological autopsy on N.S. gunman found he was an 'injustice collector,' RCMP say. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/rcmp-update-about-n-s-mass-shooting-investigation-june-4-1.5588433
Toronto Police Service. (June 21st 2019.) Danforth Shootings Toronto, Ontario July 22, 2018. https://www.torontopolice.on.ca/publications/files/20190621-danforth_shootings_findings_of_investigation.pdf
(May 1 st , 2020.) Trudeau announces ban on ‘assault-style’ firearms.
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