In an announcement just 5 days out from the provincial election, The PC party made a promise in regard to the recent federal gun regulations of Bill C-21.
Gord Wood took to the podium at 2 p.m. yesterday at the Fort Dauphin Museum to make the official statement.
The promises moving forward are looking to counter the additional regulations imposed on non-restricted firearms that were instated in 2019, and gained further, controversial regulations in May of 2022.
The current regulations strengthen Canadian gun laws and aim to ban the ownership of "military-style assault weapons", further restricting ownership of handguns, and the ownership of hyper-realistic airsoft guns.
Many law-abiding gun owners were quick to point out that the criteria would affect numerous hunting rifles that are commonly used by farmers, hunters, and indigenous groups on a regular basis.
Gord Wood believes that under this current legislation, the wrong groups are being targeted.
"Whoever it might be that is owning guns for a legitimate purpose, for their way of life, their leisure, whatever it might be, the goal is to protect those people. There are illegal guns out there, but we need to find better strategies when we're going after those situations."
By instating a new provincially based Firearms officer, the PC party would put the matter of gun licensing on a more local level.
Wood also notes that replacing the current federally-appointed Firearms Officer would bring Manitoba in line with other jurisdictions across the country, like Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
