Battleground 2019: Yukon!

Almost everyone in Yukon Territory has a gun. It represents one of the the last settled frontiers, if you can even call it that, and is the birthplace of the longest running Canadian firearms-centric publication (the very excellent Canadian Access to Firearms buy-and-sell publication). And yet, representing one of the most gun-drenched ridings in Canada, is Liberal Party of Canada member Larry Bagnell.

Everything Canadian (and Yukon-dwelling) gun owners need to know about Larry Bagnell can be adequately communicated by the following quote taken from a Yukon News interview with Bagnell regarding his no-show performance when it came time to vote on the anti-gun Bill C-71 passed earlier this year:

“I did stay away because this summer I talked to over 1,000 people, either phone or door-to-door, and a lot of them didn’t understand that it doesn’t hurt Yukon hunters and fishers, but there’s still a few people, for whatever reason, that were against the bill so I did this out of respect to reflect to them that I had heard their view,” he said.

Views that are against the bill, Bagnell said, include having to get approvals to transport restricted firearms to places other than the shooting range and that the RCMP determines which class guns fit into (parliament defines classifications). There are also some people, he continued, “who don’t like any legislation related to firearms.”

Bagnell said “we want to move it forward quickly before … we get more control on firearms, heavier controls that could inconvenience our hunters and trappers.”

Asked what those beefed up controls are, specifically, Bagnell said calls to ban semi-automatic weapons and storing guns away from the home.”

One thing Yukon gun owners can be sure of? That for all his bluster, Larry Bagnell will put about as much effort into stopping his party’s promised gun bans as he did input on Bill C-71: None.

In Yukon Territory, Calibre magazine wholeheartedly endorses the Conservative candidate and fellow gun owner, Jonas Smith as the best option for gun owners and those concerned with seeing practical work done on gun crime.