Kenora MP Eric Melillo says the federal government should be more focused on helping seniors and others impacted by COVID-19 and not his gun control agenda.
Melillo and his Conservative party are voicing their displeasure with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement Friday on immediately placing a ban on 1,500 models of certain assault-style firearms.
Melillo says this should also be a time of healing and reflection for the people of Nova Scotia, stressing now is not the time to act rashly.
“Frankly I’m disappointed that the Prime Minister is using that horrific event as a platform to advance his agenda. Myself and the Conservative caucus have been calling for a number of ways that we can combat gun crime. We’ve suggested more support for the Anti-Gang Unit, youth prevention, increased mental health support.”
He stresses it does nothing to stop criminals who obtain their guns illegally.
“We don’t believe that an arbitrary ban will be effective because the evidence tells us it won’t. It tells us it will be costly and it will only target the law abiding firearms owners. We know in principle that this is going to be ineffective.”
He stresses MP’s should have an opportunity to debate the ban.
“Even more disheartened that the government is pushing this forward with an ‘Order of Council’, instead of bringing it forward to Parliament for debate. I think we will have plenty of time to debate something like this after we come out of COVID-19.”
Melillo stresses “This minority government is choosing to ram this through without proper scrutiny and without the ability of Parliamentarians to do their job and make recommendations.”
To hear more, visit the Audio link below.
