Report: Ottawa putting $1B towards banning handguns

UPDATE: As of mid-day today, December 16, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has issued a mandate letter to Minister of Safety Marco Mendicino with wording that confirms the Toronto Star's story. See screenshot below:

The Liberal government is about to put a billion dollars into a fund to help provinces and cities and ban handguns inside their own borders … at least, that's what the Toronto Star is reporting.

On December 15, the Toronto Star ran this headline: "Trudeau government committing $1 billion to help provinces — and maybe cities — get rid of handguns." The story opens with these paragraphs:

"The Liberal government will move early in the new year to set up a $1 billion fund to help provinces ban handguns, the Star has learned.

"The funds will be earmarked for provinces to help them implement and enforce a ban, but the government is not ruling out allowing municipalities to access the money as well, a government source told the Star."

So, this story (read the whole thing here) is not based on an official government news release. This is based on backroom chatter. However, it does follow after the recently re-elected mayor of Montreal and the premier of Quebec publicly called on the federal government to ban handguns. Back in November, Premier François Legault told the Montreal Gazette "We are ready to discuss it with the federal government, first ban handguns and once they are banned, a better control is needed at the borders to ensure they don’t come into Quebec.” While some say the politicians aren't asking for a flat-out handgun ban, that's certainly what it sounds like Legault wants.

Certainly, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signaled this was his intention before the 2021 fall election. In response to Petition E-2341, which protested gun control measures, the federal government's response was to promise further handgun restrictions in the future. Bill C-21 (introduced in February of 2021) promised federal help to municipalities wishing to ban handguns. In August, a ministerial Mandate Letter said Bill Blair (then-Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction) should "lead an examination of a full ban on handguns and assault weapons in Canada."

In other words: Whether or not the Toronto Star has a named source for this story, it's something that's been building for over a year. The federal Liberals have been discussing increased handgun control, or perhaps an outright ban, for months. If a regional or national handgun ban comes soon, Canadian shooters should not be surprised.