What can I do to help fight the OIC gun ban?
I'm betting that you already know at least something about the recent gun bans in Canada that were done on May 1st.
Main reason for this article is to give you some solid action items that YOU can take which can heavily impact the government decision.
If we all take action together, it is very likely that we can have this reversed. If we do nothing to challenge this, they will no doubt continue down this road until they prohibit our bolt action rifles, calling them "sniper rifles".
First, we will just brief you on what happened.
What happened...
On May 1st, 2020, Justin Trudeau, and his minority powered Liberal Party, prohibited over 1500 types of firearms in legal possession by Canadians across the country. This was done through an OIC (Order in Council) with the stroke of a pen, and without writing any Bill and having it pass 1st, 2nd, and 3rd readings in the House of Commons in order to avoid Parliamentary debates from opposition.
The thousands of now prohibited firearms by make and model includes restricted and non-restricted firearms, from AR-15’s to fairly standard hunting rifles. Rifles that I regularly hunt with myself. Even some large game caliber bolt actions made it on the ban list.
Recent legal interpretation concluded that 12 gauge and 10 gauge shotguns threaded for chokes may exceed the 20mm bore diameter specification.
Though the RCMP has since made a statement on their website that they do not intend to interpret the law this way to include 12ga and 10ga shotguns. That could disappear just as fast as the statement on their website which offered 'grandfathering' to all with these now prohibited firearms which was going to allow them to keep them in their homes and not ever move them from there for any purpose. This grandfathering was announced in Parliament on May 1st as part of the new OIC, and was on the RCMP website until a few days ago, which has now been deleted. So it is just as likely that they may later choose to re-interpret the the new regulations on bore diameter to prohibit the 12ga and 10ga shotguns to prohibit them also, if it were to suit their convenience at the time.
There are reports from Canadian manufacturers illustrating that additional firearms not included on the list are having their classification changed by RCMP without public notice! That means they can continue banning even more guns behind our backs.
They use public safety as an excuse for their actions, but we all know that none of these measures will improve public safety for Canadians, nor reduce crime.
Steps YOU can take against this ban...
Step #1
Familiarize yourself with the new regulations set out in the OIC and identify if you’re affected. Do NOT panic.
Hang on to your guns, but follow the new laws that prohibit you from using, transporting, selling or transferring the firearm without additional authorization listed in the OIC. Regular storage laws apply to the newly prohibited guns. There is a 2 year amnesty in the meantime. So do NOT turn in any guns at this point.
Read the full set of regulations proclaimed through the OIC and published in the Gazette of Canada on May 1, 2020
Step #2
Sign all current and future Official House of Commons Petitions and share them with all family and friends. (Remember, only House of Commons Petitions will have ANY attention in the House of Commons. Any of these other petitions floating around started by members of the public, rather than by an MP, are not even recognized, nor read in Parliament.)
There’s bound to be more, but here are the two most current petitions to sign:
E-2574 Petition Sponsored by MP Michelle Rempel Garner
E-2576 Petition Sponsored by MP Todd Doherty
E-2582 Pretition Sponsored by MP Garnett Genuis
***Important Note***
In order for your e-petition signature to count, you MUST verify your signing by clicking the link in the email they send you after you sign, or your signature will NOT count. (If you do NOT receive that verification email from them within 10 minutes, check your junk/spam folder in your email)
Step #3
File a human rights complaint and let them know we won’t accept this. (There are very legitimate grounds to file a human rights complaint on this issue. Details in the instructions link below)
Complete details and step-by-step instructions here (It took me about 5 minutes, but is an incredibly powerful tool to use right now.)
Step #4
Bombard their offices with letters, emails, and calls. Especially physical letters. Politicians know that statistically, 1 single physical letter represents 1,000 votes.
Bill Blair and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are the main ones to write letters to. No postage stamps are required to send letters to Members of Parliament. Below is the contact info.
Justin Trudeau
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
(No postage required!)
Phone: 1 613 995-0253
Bill Blair
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6
(No postage required!)
Phone: 1 613 995-0284
Writing your local MP is also a good idea. (I would also recommend calling their office to express your views if your MP is Liberal. Doesn't hurt to overwhelm a Liberal MP's office by bombarding them with phone calls.) Click here to find your MP and their contact info
Step #5
Contribute a small amount of funds toward the 2 separate law suits launched against the federal government regarding this gun ban.
Both the CCFR, and the NFA, have launched a separate law suit against the federal government with the goal to not only win our freedoms back, but to also make a landmark case out of this. Which will set a legal precedent for any future cases.
The reason for the 2 separate law suits is simply for each one to sue on different legal aspects of this gun ban. Which is an extremely powerful way to cover all the bases and win our freedoms back.
Details for each law suit are found below:
So what YOU can do is to either become a member of one or both organizations, or you can just make a donation to one or both of those organizations in order to help fund their legal fees in these law suits.
There is even one more group legal proceeding happening that appears to be a VERY solid legal foundation. The Ontario Landowners Association has organized a GOFUNDME campaign for this one. A win for this case would be a win for ALL of us. In that the courts would shoot the OIC down as an illegal order based on Criminal Code, Section 117.15(2), which states an Order-in-Council may only be used to ban firearms that are not “reasonable for use in Canada for hunting or sporting
purposes”. This Order-in-Council is inconsistent with the provisions of the Criminal Code and therefore
invalid.
Click here for the GOFUNDME organized by the Ontario Landowner's Association
Step #6
Get active on Social Media. We have a biased liberal funded media in Canada and they’re attacking us from many angles. We need to show readers of their posts that there is more opposition to their policy, than agreement.
Be professional when you do so. But feel free to comment on Bill Blair's and Justin Trudeau's, and Liberal Party of Canada's posts on firearms issues in order to show the readers that there is MORE opposition, than support for them on this issue.
If you use Facebook, here are the pages for the above mentioned person to target and comment on there posts. Be sure to scroll down to posts from May 1st and onward as there are several posts on this issue in which you can submit comments in order to publicly call them out on their foolishness, and disregard for our country's democratic process.
Liberal Party of Canada Facebook page
Remember that Twitter is also another social media which is important to comment on their Twitter feeds.
Liberal Party of Canada Twitter page
Commenting on major news outlet's social media accounts(Such as CTV, Huffington Post Canada, etc.) when posts about the gun ban come up, is also a powerful way to sway public opinion.
Remember that social media, or media in general, is a psychological game. When people see the majority of comments are leaning towards a certain opinion, the majority of the readers naturally begin to re-evaluate any opinion they may have had on the subject. Partly due to the want to fit in with the crowd. But it is also proven that person's perception is also changed by mass opinion. This was proven with Asch's line test physiological experiment in the 1950's.
Step #7
Join and support local protests.
GunPost does not have the man power to organize a protest for you in every city across the country. So this is one where you at minimum offer the idea to someone, or some organization in your area to organize a public protest.
Example: My local shooting range has approx. 1,600 members. Members receive newsletters from our club's board all of the time. So they have the potential to reach the largest number of local people affected by this recent gun ban. Therefore, in my local area, they are the ones who could best reach people in our area and invite people to a public protest on a certain date.
It may just take someone like you, offering them the idea to arrange a date and place for the public protest, to get this all started. But if you feel that you have the time, and public reach to round up local gun owners in your community, then by all means, you be the one to round everyone up for the protest.
Good places to choose would be; in front of public legislature buildings, city hall, or near busy intersections. The point is that we want to be seen in large numbers where possible.
Keep in mind, at protests, you do NOT want to be seen like a bunch of hooligans causing riots. Peaceful and professional is the image we want the public to see us as. Let people see that we are made up of professions such as doctors, lawyers, police, military, business owners, and every other profession in this country. That we are just their friendly neighbors that have always lived and served their communities while in peaceful possession of our firearms.
Also, feel free to use the correct category on GunPost in order to facilitate a protest date and place in your local area. The 'Services' section has a category called 'Shows/Events', you can post there. Another good idea is to set up a Facebook group or event for your local protest, then you can drop the link for that group into your description on your GunPost ad in Shows/Events.
Step #8
If and when you receive notification that there’s been a change in classification of a Restricted Firearm to Prohibited, as a result of these regulations. You can file a judicial review under Section 74 of the Firearms Act to appeal the decision. This is a court process that is available by law to anyone with a Restricted or Prohibited firearm that had its classification changed or revoked. No lawyer or legal fees will be incurred. If everyone does this we would overwhelm the system as part of our protest and demonstrations.
Click here for a step-by-step guide for filing for a judicial review
