Let me see if I’ve got this right.
It’s OK for the federal Liberal government to try to sneak the largest gun confiscation in Canadian history into a bill after second reading; lie repeatedly that it’s not targeting law-abiding hunters and farmers (when it very clearly is); then use the anniversary of the Ecole Polytechnique shootings as cover to prevent criticism.
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However, when Montreal Canadiens’ future Hall of Fame goalie Carey Price calls the seizures “unjust,” he is forced by his team to apologize for daring to stand up for law-abiding gun owners close to the holiest of holy days on the anti-gunners’ calendar.
Talk about a double standard.
At least Price’s apology wasn’t one of the sycophantic, grovelling kind Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned into an almost full-time vocation. Price stuck by his principles while acknowledging that his timing was, perhaps, a bit thoughtless.
Last weekend, Price posted a photo of himself to social media. It showed him standing in a stubble field wearing camouflage hunting gear and carrying a shotgun (safely).
“I love my family, I love my country and I care for my neighbour,” Price said. “I am not a criminal or a threat to society. What (Justin Trudeau) is trying to do is unjust. I support the (Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights) to keep my hunting tools. Thank you for listening to my opinion.”
Price’s opinion became an issue, not because he spoke it close to the Ecole anniversary. (The anniversary is just the tool being used by gun controllers and Liberals to try to take the force out of Price comments.)
Price’s remarks became an issue because in Quebec (as in much of Canada), hockey players’ opinions carry more weight than those of politicians or even (gasp!) newspaper columnists.
The beloved goaltender’s opinion was a greater obstacle to the Liberals’ sneaky firearms amendment than all the ink spilled by every commentator in the land and all the clever zingers hurled by opposition MPs.
To anti-gunners like Trudeau, Price had to be stopped before he unravelled the government’s last-minute manoeuvre to criminalize hundreds of thousands, if not millions of shotguns and rifles. So the “woke” army – including executives of le Club de hockey Canadien – came after Price, full force.
Eventually he was made to issue an apology, but I think his words were very appropriate.
The star netminder said on Instagram that he stands by his opinions on gun ownership, but accepts that his timing was clumsy.
“I acknowledge that amplifying any conversation around guns this week may have upset some of those impacted most by the events here in 1989, and to them I apologize.” That’s fair and shows grace and class.
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Habs' Price apologizes for timing of pro-gun post, honours 1989 massacre victims
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Trudeau listening to 'concerns' assault-style gun definition covers hunting rifles
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LILLEY: Carey Price may have made an unexpected save on Trudeau gun grab
If only the Liberals were just as upfront and honest.
Trudeau claimed again on Monday that his proposed gun control legislation is not “going after hunting rifles or shotguns.” Yet the amendment proposed by the Liberals contains nearly 500 pages specifically listing many of the most popular models of hunting guns.
Since the controversy over this mammoth proposed confiscation erupted last week, the Libs have changed their story. Now the long list of soon-to-be banned firearms is not etched in stone, according to the government.
Trudeau now insists “we just put forward a list and we’re consulting with Canadians on that.”
That’s simply not true. The government attached a list to its pre-existing handgun ban that would also have banned a third or more of the hunting rifles and shotguns in Canada. It added it at the procedural equivalent of the last minute in hopes it would get it passed without anyone noticing until after the deed was done.
But the Liberals got caught and now they’re claiming they didn’t really mean it. “Heh, heh. We were running it up the flagpole. Just spitballin’. Putting it out there.”
Horse hockey.