It’s not quite the infamous “Soldiers with guns in our streets” ad but it is close.
The Liberal Party’s latest attack ad warns darkly about the dangers of electing a Conservative government — using images of Bill Blair standing with a collection of vintage guns turned in as part of an amnesty before turning to images of a crime scene complete with police tape and flashing lights.
Blair warns that any gun can make a dangerous situation deadly.
“We’re going to do something about it with stronger gun control laws and a ban on assault rifles,” Blair says as sombre music plays.
The ad then starts to warn that the Conservatives “won’t do what needs to be done.”
That is when the ad gets bizarre. The photos and video used at the end of the ad show Andrew Scheer and other Conservative MPs legally firing guns at legal ranges.
One photo even shows Michelle Rempel holding a rifle and smiling, notably her finger isn’t even on the trigger, which is exactly what people who take the RCMP’s firearms safety course are taught.
The Liberals have been accused by critics of focusing their gun control efforts on law-abiding and licensed gun owners while not putting anything forward to deal with the criminals shooting up Canada’s streets.
This video plays into that criticism.
The Liberals promised last week to ban the popular AR-15 rifle and others like it even though the AR-15 is not a crime weapon, nor one favoured by gangs. They estimated the ban would cost $600 million to buy back the more than 250,000 legal guns the plan would seize.
The party also announced they would work with the provinces to allow municipalities to ban handguns. At least two provinces, Ontario and Alberta, have said they aren’t interested in cooperating on the measure.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
