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All that being said, C-71 was, as I wrote at the time it was revealed, a surprisingly modest move by the Liberals. It was clear to me that they knew their political base expected them to do something on gun control, but that the Liberals, having looked at the matter, were forced to reluctantly conclude that Canada’s existing gun control laws were … about right. C-71, in most ways, amounts to quibbles with the status quo the Conservatives left them with (though the empowering of the RCMP is genuinely alarming).

On balance, C-71 was enough to let the Liberals say, more or less honestly, that they’d “toughened up” our laws, without really having to do much. They were clearly not worried about public safety.

And that, really, gave the game away.

C-71 isn’t a perfect bill. It’s not even a good one. But it was, at least, a thoughtful one. The Liberals spent years looking at gun control in Canada. They did consultations. They talked with experts. They tried to balance the needs of their urban voters with their rural constituents. Effort was put into it. It was a serious effort. I don’t have to agree with it (I don’t) to respect the process that brought the Liberals to it. C-71 was their honest view on what Canada needed to do on gun control: on balance, not all that much.

And that’s what makes all the public musing about major crackdowns to come, by the prime minister or Bill Blair or other Liberal MPs, so transparently ridiculous. The Liberals have been advancing two simultaneous narratives. One they’ve made publicly and loudly, fuming that there’s a problem in Canada and they’re gosh-darned determined to fix it! No options are off the table! “Assault weapon” bans? We’ll look into that! A handgun ban? Being considered! That’s the one intended for public consumption, especially now, as the Liberals find themselves down in the polls and desperate to shore up a demoralized and angered base.