Green Party adopts sensible gun control policy

Canada's federal Green Party seems poised to move towards sensible, evidence-based firearms regulations, with the party recently approving the "Safe and Accountable Firearms Ownership and Usage" policy proposal.

The idea of the typically left-leaning Green Party moving towards common-sense firearms policy may come as a surprise. However, some party members have had this goal for some time, and the grassroots nature of the Green Party has allowed them to effect some change that might not possible inside other, more established parties on either side of the political spectrum. In particular, GPC member Nick Tan has been working hard on pushing the party to adopt a more practical approach to gun control, focusing on punishing and restricting criminals instead of law-abiding gun owners.

We first talked to Tan in the winter of 2021; you can see our initial conversation about his goals here. Later, we interviewed Tan for Calibre's print publication, as part of a story on effecting political change. That story ran last fall.

Then recently, Tan informed us that the policy proposal that he and others were working on was adopted at the party's Virtual General Meeting, the last major roadblock. Now, he says all that's left is an online vote by Green Party membership; at time of writing, he didn't know when that vote would occur, but the policy will be finalized and official at that point.

The Virtual General Meeting saw the vote for the "Safe and Accountable Firearms Ownership and Usage" policy passed by a 73 percent majority. Tan says he'll keep us updated, and when the final online vote is finished, he'll also launch a website to educate Canadians as to what the Green Party's policy means.

As for the other parties: Currently, the Liberals have made it very clear they intend to not just maintain current, failing gun control policies, but even double down in coming months. And, the NDP continue to support the Liberals. The Bloc Quebecois and Conservatives, in opposition, are unable to really change much right now, just as the Green Party's policy realistically changes nothing at this current time, unless we head back to the polls much sooner than expected. If that happens, expect gun control to once more become a hot topic, as it certainly seemed to influence the outcome of the 2021 vote.

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