OLDS — Mayor Michael Muzychka says it’s too early for the town to decide what to do about proposed federal legislation that would allow municipalities to ban handguns.
On Feb. 16, the federal government introduced Bill C-21 which says it will “(support) municipalities that ban handguns through bylaws restricting storage and transportation in their jurisdictions.”
The government said the legislation would feature major penalties, including jail for people who violate those municipal bylaws.
Muzychka was asked what the Town of Olds plans to do about that, and whether the municipality would ban handguns.
“There are many factors that would need to be evaluated, and the Town of Olds is not currently in a position to make any inferences about what this looks like until the federal and provincial governments have passed the legislation,” he wrote in an email.
The mayor was also asked if he has detected a groundswell in Olds for that type of legislation.
“No,” he replied.
“We are fortunate in our community that firearm-related crime is not something that is commonly encountered by law enforcement.”
Muzychka questioned how effective such a ban would be, given that there’s a good chance that not all municipalities would do so.
“This issue does not fit a municipality-by-municipality response where many different bylaws could be approved, which would make it impossible for gun owners and or law enforcement agencies to navigate a myriad of laws,” he wrote.
“This would also require enforcement to be universal to ensure the right authorities would be empowered with the proper enforcement.”
Critics have said that such a ban would likely be useless anyway because criminals wouldn’t obey it. They’d continue to import guns illegally and/or would simply move from jurisdictions with handgun bans to those that don’t.
Another issue is that municipalities are governed by provinces, and during a press conference, Premier Jason Kenney didn’t sound enthralled with the idea.
