QUESTION – Firearms

QUESTION – Minister doubles down on PM’s mistake

Mr. Bob Benzen (Calgary Heritage, CPC): Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Prime Minister said that law enforcement officers could not seize gun licences. He is wrong. An RPAL or PAL is invalidated when it is seized by police for public safety and that person has no ability at law to possess or acquire any firearm. Will the Prime Minister now admit that Canada has long had le‐gal options to seize firearms in public safety scenarios, and apologize for misleading the House yesterday?

Hon. Bill Blair (Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, let me be very clear that red-flag laws save lives. I have actually used those sections of the Criminal Code to seize firearms in these dangerous situations. I can also advise the House of the limitations of those laws. We know that the average assaulted woman in Canada is assaulted 25 times in a domestic relationship before the police are called. Seventy per cent of the firearm deaths in the country are suicides. We know there are people who are expounding violence and hatred against visible minorities. These laws will empower Canadians to take action to render a potentially deadly situation safe