Editor's Note: In this video interview with the RAIR Foundation, Major Russ Cooper (Ret'd) discusses the assault on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms through government overreach. The latest instance is Prime Minister Trudeau’s “gun grab” – the passing by an Order-in-Council directive with no parliamentary debate of a restrictive gun law that would deprive thousands of Canadians of legally acquired weapons. In Canada, gun owners are subjected to stringent background checks and no one outside of military or security forces can legally own automatic weapons. While the weapons that Trudeau wants to grab may look formidable, none can fire more than one bullet with one trigger pull and none can fire more than five bullets without being reloaded. Trudeau is counting on the horror of the recent Nova Scotia shootings (with an illegal weapon) and the ignorance of many Canadians about gun laws and the rigorous security check that gun owners must undergo to impose his agenda. As Major Cooper points out, Trudeau’s wanting to keep Canadians safe from guns is on a par with his wanting to keep them safe from “hate speech” as illustrated by his government’s passing of Motion M-103 and the digital charter (censorship of opinions that don’t align with government policies or official narratives) and his government’s attempt to compel an attestation for “reproductive choice” through the threat of withholding government funding for summer students. In 2013, Trudeau was asked which country he admired most. He responded that he admired the “basic dictatorship” of China. It’s becoming ever more obvious that he wasn’t kidding and is pushing for more authoritarian government control of the lives of Canadian citizens.
(EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW) DECORATED CANADIAN RET. MAJOR SLAMS TRUDEAU’S GUN BAN: ‘WE ARE EDGING TOWARDS TYRANNY’
“…we are edging closer and closer to despotism, to tyranny, one party rule” – Major (Ret’d) Russ Cooper
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and The Liberal Party of Canada just banned over 1,500 gun models without allowing any parliamentary debate. In this RAIR Foundation USA interview, decorated Canadian Major (Ret’d) Russ Cooper discusses the recent ban of semi-automatic firearms, which is happening while there is a spike in firearms sales in Canada.
In the wake of the coronavirus, many Canadians sought to purchase weapons, echoing the “highest ever spike” in gun sales in America. It is only natural that during a time of crisis and uncertainty, people would deeply consider the protection of themselves and their loved ones.
A semi-automatic firearm can only fire one round per trigger pull, but the gun-grabbing left often falsely characterizes these weapons as if they have automatic capabilities, firing many rounds while the trigger is depressed. Major Cooper tells RAIR that moving semi-automatic firearms into a ‘prohibited’ classification “is a move based on the emotional impact of weapons that look like their military counterparts that operate in ‘automatic’ modes.”
Major Cooper’s point is evident in a Tweet from leftist Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino, who Tweeted a photo of scary looking guns to emphasize his point:
Trudeau swiftly made the firearms illegal through an Order in Council (OiC), the equivalent of a government decree. The OIC allowed him to circumvent all democratic process such as oversight or debate. The OIC also made it illegal, effective immediately, to buy, sell, transport, or use the over 1,500 banned models.
Major Cooper explains:
“This initiative was mandated by an ‘Order-in-Council’ which can be compared to an American ‘Executive Order’. Such directives need to operate in consonance with the legislation that they are attached to and, like the DACA order issued by President Obama, this particular one strays from the intent of its overarching Firearms Act of 1995. The government will say it has the legal authority to impinge on Charter Rights through such regulations for the sake of public safety but clearly this is counter to the ideas that underpin a free western democracy.”
Several months ago when Canadians got word of Trudeau’s rumored gun grab, an official petition asking the Government to bring any and all gun control proposals before Parliament for debate was launched. In just a short time, over 175,000 Canadian citizens signed the petition. According to Gun Week, this was the most successful petition to the Government in the history of the Country.
Trudeau’s decision to ignore the will of so many Canadian citizens will come at a high political price for him and his party. An Order in Council can be nullified by another OiC or by an act of Parliament just as easily as it has been enacted.
Decorated Canadian Major (Ret’d) Russ Cooper explains that this is the latest move by Trudeau’s government to deprive Canadians of their fundamental Charter Rights. Canada’s Charter is “analogous with the American Bill of Rights and its fundamental rights include freedom of expression, religion, association, assembly and conscience” explains Major Cooper.
Watch the following RAIR interview with Major (Ret’d) Russ Cooper:
Major Russ Cooper (Ret’d)
Maj. Cooper explains that Trudeau’s new gun law is part of a long pattern of over reaching policies, aimed at destroying Canadian’s individual rights since he came to power in October 2015:
"I’d like to stress that the latest move by the Government of Canada to ban heretofore legal firearms needs to be seen as just the last measure in a long line of actions designed to deprive Canadians of their fundamental Charter Rights. Our Charter is analogous with the American Bill of Rights and its fundamental rights include freedom of expression, religion, association, assembly and conscience. It has become apparent that these liberties are seen as impediments by a government that came into power in October, 2015. They were served notice in December of that year when Prime Minister Trudeau declared that Canada had ‘no core values’ and was the world’s first ‘post-national state’. The new Canada would be driven by the politically correct ideologies associated moral relativism and would initiate policies dedicated to diversity, gender equality and globalism. All of which require public buy-in that, apparently, needs to be assured by the curtailment of free speech.
Attacks on free speech began shortly after the government’s 2015 inauguration and included the passage of Motion M-103 and Bill C-16. M-103 introduced ‘Islamophobia’ into Canada’s legislative lexicon and afforded special protections that shielded some religions from having their doctrines and traditions critiqued. Bill C-16 made it the law of the land to treat ‘gender identity and expression’ as grounds for discrimination and now compels Canadians to use appropriate gender-specific pronouns when addressing those who demand they be used. Other impediments to speech imposed by this government are numerous and include restrictions on social media platforms (Digital Charter), amendments to election laws to preclude “disinformation” critical of policies and politicians and new licensing and registration requirements for news organizations. The list goes on and on."
The ban confirms what liberty advocates in America have long been screaming from the rooftops. Despite their years of denial, the radical left seeks to strip ALL guns from law-abiding people. It is an incremental process. Using hyperbolic language of “weapons of war” and diminishing the many accounts of responsible citizens who successfully defend themselves and their families with firearms, the gun-grabbing crowd uses rare tragedies to terrify good people and convince them to allow their rights to be stripped away.
Major Russ Cooper Bio:
Major Russ Cooper (Ret’d) has retired from several aviation careers. These include Royal Canadian Air Force service as a decorated combat CF18 fighter pilot, civil aviation operations as an international airliner pilot and engineering test pilot responsibilities that required the certification of avionics equipment sets on behalf of the Government of Canada. He is published internationally in the field of civil aviation security and now writes on matters related to the preservation and projection of individual rights and freedoms. He is a founding member of Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights and Freedoms (C3RF) and now operates as its President and CEO.