The federal government has announced it is withdrawing recent amendments to Bill C-21 following a push from the Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc MPs, saying the changes went too far.
The bill was originally introduced to ban handguns, but the recent amendments broadened the scope to help push the ban of “assault-style” weapons.
“It was a real liberal overreach and it caused a lot of concern for folks in our region,” Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach said in an interview with Vista Radio.
Bachrach adds that today was a major win for him and for the area as guns commonly used for hunting and sport are no longer threatened by the bill.
He also appreciates the comments people have sent to him about the bill.
“It shows that when we speak together with one voice and we convey the things we’re concerned about, we can make progress, and be heard at the national level.”
Bachrach says there is a divide between rural and urban Canada and that the amendments have distracted from conversations that need to happen.
He says one such conversation is around the airsoft community and how Bill C-21 will impact their ability to to play.
“We’re gonna keep having those conversations. We’re gonna keep bringing forward people’s concerns and we’ll see where the bill gets to by the time it comes back to the House of Commons.”
Bachrach added that there are challenges and concerns when it comes to violence in Canada, and that there need to be important conversations about it.
“We need to ensure that that conversation is based on the best evidence, that we really understand the causes of the problems that we’re seeing, and then that policy is crafted based on that evidence.”
–Files from Logan Flint, My Bulkley Lakes Now