Andrew Scheer Called Trudeau's Firearm Ban "Unacceptable" & "Inappropriate"

Shortly after the Prime Minister's announcement, another federal leader had something to say about it. The firearm ban in Canada was called "unacceptable" and "inappropriate" by Andrew Scheer. Instead, he wants the government to get rid of illegally trafficked guns.

In an on-air interview with CBC News on May 1, the leader of the Conservative party addressed Justin Trudeau's announcement of a firearm ban in Canada.

He said that it "is completely unacceptable" for that new regulation to be introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That wasn't the only problem he had with the timing of the announcement.

"We think it's completely inappropriate to make this kind of major policy change at a time when parliament has been effectively shut down by the Liberal government," Scheer said.

He went on to note that MPs were not able to ask the government questions about the new measures or hold the government to account.

The ban on military-grade assault weapons was introduced by the government through regulations, not legislation.

That means it didn't have to go through parliament.

Scheer also took issue with the Liberals asking law-abiding gun owners to follow more laws.

"That's lazy and ineffective government," he said.

Scheer mentioned that criminals won't care what category a gun falls into when they illegally buy it.

"We believe that the focus should be on illegally trafficked firearms and criminal organizations who smuggle in weapons and put them into our communities," he said.

Canada's gun ban is for 1,500 models and variants of military-grade weapons.

Effective immediately those cannot be used, bought, sold, transported or imported.

The Conservative leader reiterated his thoughts about this ban on Twitter.

"What the Liberals are doing is just symbolism over substance," Scheer said in his interview with the CBC.

He also accused the federal government of "using this pandemic as a way to bring in a major policy decision."

In his opinion, the focus should be on getting people through the COVID-19 health crisis.

Trudeau and other federal ministers noted that this ban isn't meant to interfere with lawful gun activity in Canada.

From now until April 30, 2022, Canadians who had lawfully obtained and owned the newly prohibited weapons won't face criminal charges for having them.