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The federal Liberals’ upcoming gun control legislation and the recent spike in rural crime are closely related.

No, I don’t mean that if the Libs can just do something about getting guns under control, they will reduce the rural crime rate, which has risen by more than 20% in many rural parts of the country over the past five years.

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Nope. From that aspect, past Liberal gun control measures have actually made rural crime worse.

Past gun controls — such as the firearms registry — have given criminals the impression there are fewer law-abiding citizens with guns out. And that has caused crime to rise because the bad guys have more confidence they will not meet armed civilians while out burglarizing innocent Canadians.

Whatever new controls the Trudeau government brings in, perhaps as early as this spring, are most likely only going to make rural crime worse.

Reports coming out of the Liberal caucus suggest the government wants to make it easier to ban all types of firearms and not pay compensation to owners who are forced to give them up. According to caucus sources, handguns (which are already severely controlled in Canada) and semi-automatic rifles will be particularly easy for cabinet, the RCMP or bureaucrats to ban without having to get permission from Parliament first.