Canada doctors' group: Don't follow US down road of gun violence

Canadian physicians and members of an organization concerned about the public health impact of firearms expressed their concerns in an article titled, "Canada Risks Following the Path of the US on Gun Violence".

"Canadians — and the world — should be concerned," said the article by Canadian Doctors for Protection from Guns (CDPG), which was published on Time.com on March 1.

Canada has long sought to draw a clear distinction with its American neighbors on the issue of guns. Gun ownership is restricted in Canada; Canadians must be over age 18 and pass a firearms safety course to hold a gun license, which must be renewed every five years.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien once noted that gun control was a "core value" that helped to define the "differences between Canadians and Americans".

In wake of a horrific mass shooting in Texas last May, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to further strengthen gun control in Canada and keep Canadians safe from gun violence.

The Liberal government announced the tabling of Bill C-21 in late November — firearms-control legislation that would freeze the importing, buying, selling or otherwise transfer of handguns, which would make the bill the government's most ambitious gun measure in more than 40 years.

The Bill C-21 is welcomed by many Canadian health professionals, gun violence survivors and their families, women's groups, and community leaders alarmed by rising firearm violence, which has been on an "upward trajectory" in Canada over the past decade, according to the article.

But they have met with a well-organized campaign of opposition from Canadian gun lobby and advocacy groups.

Opposition parties and firearm advocates said it would prohibit commonly used hunting rifles and shotguns by banning assault weapons.

In early February, the Ottawa government withdrew an amendment to its gun bill about banned assault-style firearms, citing "legitimate concerns" about the need for more consultation on the measure.

The minority Liberal government's move won applause from opposition parties and some firearm advocates by claiming it's a "victory", according to the article.

"Canada must be wary of such firearm exceptionalism," the article said.

The Trudeau government has looked to regulate firearms more strictly.

Canada has the third highest rate of firearm homicide among populous high-income countries, after the US and Chile. It has the ninth highest age-standardized rate of firearm-suicide among men in the world.

The country has experienced 15 mass shooting events in the past decade. It reported 1.1 million registered handguns in 2020, an increase of 71 percent from 10 years earlier.

Unlike the US, there is no constitutional protection to own firearms in Canada. Almost two-thirds of gun crimes in urban areas involved handguns. Canadian police often point to smuggling from the US as the main source of handguns.

Meanwhile, more Americans, including President Joe Biden, have called for similar bans in the US. Biden has called on Congress to pass a bill banning assault weapons, following a string of mass shootings in California that killed a total of 18 people in late January.

However, outlawing assault weapons also faces little chance of passage in Congress. The Republicans that control the House of Representatives have shown "little appetite" for the issue of reducing gun violence, according to The Guardian.

The Time article said the gun lobby's interventions in Canadian politics are not new, but in recent years their "rhetoric and tactics" have more closely mirrored America's gun lobby.

"Targeted campaigns have sought to discredit firearm victims and their families, doctors and public health experts alike who have spoken out about firearm harms," said the article.

Canada needs to "re-center" the public health imperative amid the politics, the article says, suggesting that scientific evidence and public health consensus favor comprehensive gun control laws, and that they are effective at saving lives.

"Canadians must not fall victim to disinformation. Comprehensive bans on weapons that can injure and kill many people in a short period of time can and do save lives," the article said.

"Moreover, they placed citizens and politicians alike on a permanent path to viewing firearm law not as a threat to personal freedoms, but as the foundation upon which public health responses to gun violence — with the end goal of safer communities — are built."