A report commissioned by the federal Liberal government has found there is mixed support for a handgun ban in Canada.
Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair says Ottawa is still considering such a move — even though its consultations show no critical mass of Canadians calling for it.
The report, conducted by a private consulting firm, collected the opinions of tens of thousands of Canadians through in-person meetings and written and online questionnaires. Its key conclusion is one that should come as no surprise to the federal government: the gun control debate in Canada is deeply polarized and there are people dug in on both sides of the issue.
"Overall, participants were strongly polarized on the issue of banning handguns and assault-style firearms. The stakeholder views expressed in two of the engagement channels — the in-person dialogues and written submissions —provided a variety of perspectives both opposed to and in support of a ban," said the report, prepared by Hill and Knowlton.
"In contrast, most questionnaire respondents (representing a self-selected group of Canadians) were opposed to a ban."
Of the 134,917 questionnaires completed online, the vast majority did not support further limits on access to firearms and/or assault-style firearms: 81 per cent of the questionnaire responses said nothing more should be done to limit access to handguns.
Rather, the web-based respondents said Ottawa should instead "focus on the illicit market, not legally-owned firearms" and on better policing at the border. In-person respondents, who participated in a series of roundtables in four cities, were more evenly split on a handgun ban.
Most respondents told the firm that a handgun ban likely would have its greatest impact on lawful, licensed gun owners instead of criminals, who rely principally on guns smuggled from the U.S...........