By: Teresa Mull

The Biden Administration’s proposed gun policies are bad. Really bad. But at least we can take some comfort in the fact we aren’t as bad as Canada – yet.

Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced what The Hill calls “sweeping gun control legislation” that includes a measure “that allows municipalities to ban handguns,” storage and transport restrictions, red and “yellow” flag gun confiscation laws, increased prison sentences for firearms offenders, and “local law enforcement to share licensing and registration data to investigate or prosecute firearms trafficking offenses.”

The University of Sydney’s GunPolicy.org notes that the Great White North is already not friendly to gun owners. The website described Canada’s gun policy as “restrictive.”

The gun control regulations that Canada features now consist of extensive background checks with third-party interviews, criminal and mental backgrounds checks, and spousal interviews. Further, Canadian gun control requires licensing for gun owners, namely licensing for the ownership of semiautomatic firearms and handguns. Canadians must also comply with gun storage regulations.

The right to keep and bear arms “is not guaranteed by law” in Canada.

What’s more, these extreme new mandates announced by Trudeau come on the heels of an NPR report that revealed:

Canada has much stricter gun laws than the United States. But gun violence is a growing problem in the country’s biggest city, Toronto. 2019 was Toronto’s worst year ever for gun violence. One reason for this rise is firearms coming in across the border illegally from the United States.

Clearly, if Canadian criminals want to use a gun in a crime, they will find a way. Those who won’t find a way to defend themselves will be the millions of law-abiding Canadian citizens who will obey these absurd, dangerous laws.

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.