The Canadian federal government appears to be growing jealous of the social media accounts featured on Libs of Tik Tok these days. I’m struggling to come up with any other explanation for the increasingly naked socialism and autocratic pronunciations coming from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He’s already moved to “freeze” the transfer of handguns and related equipment in his country without declaring some sort of outright confiscation policy. But this week he went on the Pod Save America podcast and took the opportunity to “clarify” what Canadians’ rights are and are not when it comes to the use of firearms. If you don’t already have one, you’re probably not going to be able to get one (unless you land a job as Trudeau’s bodyguard), but even if you did manage to get one before the freeze, you can only use it for certain things. And self-defense is not on the list. In fact, Trudeau insists that you are explicitly forbidden from defending yourself using a firearm. (Daily Wire)

Guns are for hunting and target practice, but never for self-defense, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week, continuing his crusade against firearms.

Trudeau, who is pushing a sweeping measure aimed at freezing the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns in Canada, told the Pod Save America podcast his country takes a completely different view of firearms than its southern neighbor. No one in Canada has a right to defend themselves, their family or their property with a firearm, Trudeau declared.

“We have a culture where the difference is: Guns can be used for hunting or for sport shooting in Canada – and there are lots of gun owners, and they’re mostly law-respecting and law-abiding – but you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada,” Trudeau said. “That’s not a right that you have in the Constitution or anywhere else.”

We’re not twisting Trudeau’s words to make him look worse here. (And frankly I’m at a loss to see how we could.) He literally said “you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada.” He went on to claim that such a right doesn’t exist in the Constitution.

I don’t think anyone has ever made the error of mistaking Trudeau for a constitutional scholar, but has he actually checked his country’s constitution? The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been described as “the most important part of Canada’s constitution.” It sets forth the basic rights of all Canadian citizens, much like the American Bill of Rights.

If you scroll down to Section 7, you’ll see that it’s titled “Life, liberty and security of person.” In it, you will read the following:

“Section 7 guarantees the life, liberty and personal security of all Canadians. It also requires that governments respect the basic principles of justice whenever they intrude on those rights.”

So Canadians have a fundamental right to “security of person” or “personal security.” But if a criminal with an illegal gun is attacking you, you are specifically barred by Justin Trudeau from using your legal firearm to ensure the security of your person? I would dearly love to see the court case where someone who shoots an armed criminal who is attacking them gets taken to court over that and has their firearm confiscated. Of course, I probably shouldn’t give them any ideas. They might try it.

For a quick walk down memory lane, the Daily Wire reminds us that not all that long ago, in 2010, Justin Trudeau had a very different view on the subject. He told his supporters that “a requirement to register firearms is a first step toward taking firearms away from citizens.” But that was then and this is now. I’m fairly sure that this is how Nicolas Maduro started out when he was new to the socialist scene and wanted to seem more “reasonable.” Good luck, Canada. You’re going to need it.