5 Questions for Erin O’Toole’s on His Plan to Legalize Assault Weapons

September 6, 2021

1. Yesterday, you pretended to support the Liberal ban on military-style assault weapons. On the very same day, you committed to consulting with the gun lobby to create your new classification system.  If you are really going to keep the Trudeau ban on 1,500 military style assault weapons, you wouldn’t need a review. How many assault weapons could be legalized following the review, and which ones?

2. Why is the National Firearms Association still claiming you’ll follow through on the repeal of the May 2020 ban of 1500 assault weapons?

   Sheldon Clare the president of the National Firearms Association said O’Toole hadn’t reversed his position on the May 2020 restrictions at all.
   “I am confident that Mr. O’Toole is a consistent stalwart person who is going to stand by what he has said,” Clare told CBC News. 
   (CBC News, September 5, 2021)

3. Why is the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights welcoming your review of firearms?

   “We agree with Mr. O’Toole that the classification of firearms should not be a political process…public consultation would bring a better understanding of this topic to all Canadians.  We would welcome an opportunity to depoliticize this topic and focus on public safety”
   https://twitter.com/CCFR_CCDAF/status/1434592732467634181

4. Your campaign manager, Fred Delorey, has lobbied for the National Firearms Association more than 50 times (link). Has your campaign manager spoken to his former employers in the gun lobby during this campaign?

5. When the Harper Conservatives reviewed guns in 2006, they created a committee that was stacked with pro-gun advocates like Tony Bernardo, a pro-gun advocate with ties to the NRA, who once described the weapon used in Dawson College killings, the Beretta CX4, as “fun.” Who from the gun lobby will be part of your firearms review?