Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz. (Supplied by GlenMotzMP.com)

By David Opinko

Southern Alberta firearms petition becomes most signed in Canadian history at 175K

Feb 19, 2020 | 3:25 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – A local petition against the federal government’s proposed ban of “military-style assault rifles” has garnered more support than any other in the country’s history.

e-2341 was introduced by Medicine Hat resident Bradley Manysiak and sponsored by Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner MP Glen Motz. Previously, the most signed petition in Canada was e-616, where 130,452 people signed on to change the country’s electoral system from First Past the Post to a different one.

Closing just two months after it opened, 175,310 have added their names to the firearms petition.

“[It] speaks volumes to the frustrations Canadians feel with the Liberal plan, the misguided plan, on proposing a ban on firearms,” says Motz.

The MP told LNN that one of the biggest problems with the proposal is that there is no legal definition in Canada on what a military-style assault rifle is.

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“The term that the Liberals are using, to me, is deliberately and politically-motivated by the Liberals in an attempt to misinform Canadians.”

Because of this, he fears that law-abiding gun owners will have their personal property taken away from them with “no real impact on public safety.”

Motz says guns should instead be regulated by what they are capable of doing.

“Let’s do things that are going to make a difference for targeting criminals and not the law-abiding Canadians by putting hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars, into programs that deter kids from joining gangs, crime prevention issues, addiction and mental health treatment, strengthen border security so we don’t have smuggled firearms, and focus police resources on targeting criminals.”

Another contentious issue with the proposed ban is that the federal government hopes to implement it by way of an Order in Council, which does not necessarily allow for it to be debated in the House of Commons before potentially being passed.

According to Motz, this circumvents the democratic process.

The petition will be presented in the House in the near future.

While Motz said he is not “naive enough” to assume that the Liberal Party will change their stance on firearms regulations, he told LNN that the Conservatives will “continue to put the pressure on them, we will continue to demonstrate as well as Canadians that this is not the way to improve public safety.”