Marc Serre Playing Optical Illusion on Gun Control

Recent headlines and photo ops try to portray Serre as a supporter of gun rights, but the MPs words and actions paint a vastly different picture.

Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre has been trying to play an optical illusion on Northerners as of late.

His party has come under intense criticism for its apparent attack on lawful gun owners with Bill C-21. Bill C-21 which was introduced last year by the Liberal government and will potentially criminalize millions of firearms currently in use by Canadian hunters.

Despite the Liberal’s campaign to affect thousands of Northern hunters, Serre is trying to pretend like he is standing up for hunters. He recently posted a photo of himself visiting a local gun store in a completely staged and obvious photo op (holding a gun and wearing a sports vest and all).

He also recently gave an interview to Sudbury.com who went the extra mile for Serre to support his magic trick on the Northern population.

The headline tries to portray Serre as a supporter of gun rights, but the MPs words and actions paint a vastly different picture.

Serre has made it clear that he will not be going against his boss Justin Trudeau.

The controversial bill has already gone through two readings in the house of commons last year and he refused to abstain or even vote against the official legislation in June.

The recent amendments added in November which are causing the most concern for gun owners is also supported by Serre. The 478-page amendment is now going to ban thousands of additional Canadian firearms. This list includes one rifle (the SKS) with around 200,000 estimated owners in Canada.

In his interview with Sudbury.com, Serre said that although he thinks some words of the amendment need tweaking, the purpose of the amendment is one he supports.

Serre has made no indication that he will fight for lawful gun owners when this bill goes to a final vote in 2023. In a recent email exchange with a concerned constituent who asked Serre why this bill was needed his response was:

“I strongly believe that, as a government, we have no greater responsibility than keeping Canadians safe. Following the Nova Scotia shooting, we are taking action to prevent further tragedy. “

I don’t know if Serre is misinformed, purposely trying to lie to his constituents or trying to be insensitive to the families of the Nova Scotia shooting victims but Bill C-21 would have done NOTHING to stop the the 2020 tragedy. Marc Serre knows this.

It is widely known that Bill C-21 does not address illegal guns or increased penalties for gun crimes. If someone owns an illegal or unlicensed gun (such as the Nova Scotia shooter), they will not face any ramifications from this bill.

A quick search of the most recent gun tragedies in Canada confirms that legal gun are not responsible.

The mass shooting that affecting Toronto in 2018 was also caused by an illegally smuggled gun from the U.S.

Even the most recent high profile shooting last month in Toronto was also likely committed by an unregistered firearm owner. In fact, it’s very hard to find any mass shooting in Canada that involved legally acquired or owned firearms.

When Marc Serre decided to attend a photo shoot last week to give the appearance he cared about gun owners he chose to hold a semi-automatic rifle that is not very much different than the thousands of models his government is looking to ban. 

I wonder if he would be able to explain the differences between the one he was holding versus the ones being criminalized. 

This appears less about preventing mass shootings and more about a long standing Liberal push that seeks to limit private gun ownership in Canada. 

In the 1990s the Liberals attempted the same type of legislation that targeted legal hunters while doing nothing to address the smuggling or the black market. 

Back then, Serre’s uncle and predecessor stood firmly against his bosses and stood for northerners. Benoit Serre broke party ranks to vote against the proposed legislation.

Benoit Serre didn’t play an optical illusion on his constituents. He didn’t pretend to care about gun rights. He actually did. Benoit spoke up about the gun control measures right away. He didn’t quietly support the first two readings before pretending to ask questions a year later.

The elder Serre likely paid a price to stand up for his constituents rather than support Jean Chrétien. A February, 1995 Associated Press article accurately summarizes Benoit’s courage. 

Unfortunately that courage hasn’t been inherited by the younger politician. Marc Serre fully supported the first two readings of Bill C21 and has said that he still supports the bill including the amendments.

And now he is trying to play an optical illusion on his constituents by posing with a gun…