Canadian PM Justin Trudeau: ‘You can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. That’s not a right that you have’

During an appearance on the latest episode of Pod Save the World, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed democracy, firearms, and Ukraine, among other topics.

While discussing Canada’s response to American mass shootings, Trudeau said that firearms can only be used for hunting and sport, and not self-defense.

Trudeau told the podcast: “We have a culture where the difference is: Guns can be used for hunting or for sport shooting in Canada – and there are lots of gun owners, and they’re mostly law-respecting and law-abiding – but you can’t use a gun for self-protection in Canada. That’s not a right that you have in the Constitution or anywhere else.”

“If you try and buy a gun and say it’s for self protection, no, you don’t get that,” Trudeau continued. “You can say it’s for hunting, you can get it for sport shooting, you can take it to the range. No problem. As long as you go through our rigorous background checks. But there’s a difference around the culture and one of the things we are seeing with the debate in the States is you get more and more of the American-style right-to-carry, self-defense arguments filtering up through the usual more right-wing communications channel.”

Trudeau recently called for a “national freeze” on the sale of handguns in the nation. “We will eventually get it passed,” he said, “and then it’ll be illegal to buy, sell, transfer, import, handguns anywhere in the county.”

Under Trudeau’s proposal, a national freeze would be placed on the purchase, sale, importation and transfer of handguns in Canada. The government has also announced plans to buy back thousands of outstanding long guns, the sale of which has already largely been banned.

In addition, the bill would increase penalties for gun smuggling, remove gun licenses from those involved in domestic violence or criminal harassment, and a “red flag” law which would require people deemed a threat to themselves or others to turn in their firearms to law enforcement.