|
Trudeau thinks he has a game changer with more gun control, but polling tells us his advisors are wrong.
Voters sour on plan
Trudeau gun control promises firing blanks
It seemed an odd choice, Justin Trudeau spent two precious days in the middle of an election campaign holding events in Toronto and speaking on an issue he should own — gun control. Now we may know why.
Polling on how canadians view gun crime in canada and gun control promises from politicians shows that the majority of canadians — in all regions of the country, across party lines and among men and women — are cynical of what is on offer.
When asked about the source of shootings, 80% of canadians agreed with the statement that
“gun violence and shootings are mainly committed by gangs or criminals with handguns smuggled into the country from across the border.”
That compares to just 20% who believed “gun violence comes mainly from guns that have been stolen from or used by vetted and licensed handgun owners.”
The findings are part of the dart & Maru/blue Voice canada Poll conducted for the Toronto Sun.
There was barely a difference between men and women with 81% of men agreeing that the problem is from gangs using smuggled guns while 78% of women said the same.
When it comes to fighting gun crime, canadians are not on the same page as the Trudeau Liberals. a full 81% of canadians said the government “should channel most of their efforts into pursuing those using handguns smuggled in from over the border,” as opposed to cracking down on licensed gun owners.
In Ontario, the battleground of this election, 87% said the government should focus on smuggled guns.
“People know that when you’re hunting bear, you don’t get distracted by rabbit tracks. handgun violence is exactly the same,” pollster John Wright said.
“People know efforts to stop violence have to be apportioned properly and right now they see the greatest commitment needed is to smuggled guns from across the border and their associated crimes and little else. When politicians speak otherwise, they see it as wrong headed.”
That’s not good news for the governing Liberals.
For Trudeau to win this election, he needs to win among women and he needs to win in Ontario and when it comes to his gun control policies — something he spent much of his week on — his message is falling flat.
In fact, when given two options, one that said politicians cracking down on licensed and vetted gun owners was the right thing and one that said it was smoke and mirrors, the majority didn’t buy Trudeau’s line.
On that issue, 71% agreed with the statement that, “it’s just smoke and mirrors and pretending to get at the real contributors to gun violence and crimes so they can get votes.”
If votes are the reason for this policy, it isn’t working.
In the face of rising gun crime in cities across canada, but in Toronto in particular, Trudeau has promised to allow municipalities
to ban handguns but rejected a national ban. he has also promised a full national ban on the ar-15 rifle, and rifles like it.
There are 75,000 ar-15s registered with the rcmp — restricted firearms are still part of a registry — and the Liberals have said they plan on banning and buying back 250,000 rifles at a cost of $600 million or more.
The problem is, these are not the guns that are claiming victims on canadian streets. While Trudeau points to mass shootings in the united states where the ar-15 has been the weapon used, that isn’t the case in canada. Our much stricter gun control laws are vastly different from the united states.
Trudeau hoped that he would be able to campaign on fear of guns, but for the most part, it doesn’t look like that campaign is working.
conducted on sept.
30, 2019, the poll of 1,520 randomly-selected canadian adults — all members of a Maru/blue online panel — is considered accurate to within 2.9%, 19 times out of 20.
_________________
A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers. Friedrich August von Hayek
|
Register
Login
FAQ
