"Gun Grab" litigants need your help!
You may recall my In Hot interview in June of last year with Christine Generoux concerning her court challenge of the government’s “gun grab.” In 2020 the government decided by an order-in-council (i.e., no discussion in Parliament) to seize from Canadians a wide range of firearms that had heretofore been legal for hunting and sports shooting. There was no rational reason to do this. Very few gun crimes are committed by legal gun owners in Canada. Most crime guns are smuggled in from the United States.
Christine and several other parties – individuals and organizations – launched a court challenge. Christine represented herself, her hunting partner John Perocchio and his son Vincent. It was clear early on that the government was not acting in good faith and did everything it could to make the process more costly and complex while using “Cabinet confidentiality” to block evidence. In addition, the Court refused to recognize the applicants as “public interest litigants,” even though the outcome of the case would affect the rights of millions of gun-owning Canadians. Being public interest litigants would make the applicants not liable for costs should they lose.