Anne McLellan Quotes
This government does not believe that public safety is enhanced by carrying weapons. In fact, it has been a long-standing Canadian government practice to discourage the use of personal defense weapons. Once public possession of one type of weapon is condoned for personal defense, the situation of weapon possession for protection starts to spiral upwards towards more powerful and dangerous weapons
Anne McLellan, Canadian Minister of Justice & Minister of Health (Liberal), Letter, January 13, 1999
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Shortly thereafter the Canadian government took a major step in that direction and established mandatory gun registration throughout Canada amidst much controversy. See {588006}, {588014}, {588017}
She advocated armed self-defense for Blacks.
He was unhappy about the fact that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were still routinely carrying guns on duty. In England and Canada there has been a tradition of police officers on their beats being unarmed. When more force is needed special armed police are dispatched.
Defending the administration's ban on imported assault rifles:
The gun control debate has been so polarizing over the years, that the extremists on each side actually consider the other side as doing great damage to the society if not causing death of innocent people.
Thirty young black men and women carrying pistols, revolvers, and shotguns, appeared at the grand entrance of the California Capitol Building. The capital police stopped them and asked what they were going to do with their guns. Bobby Seal replied by asking the police officer what he was going to do with his gun. Seale and the Black Panthers then quoted the Second Amendment to the Constitution and insisted that they had a right to carry guns. Seale led his overtly armed followers inside while police and legislators looked on in horror. They were breaking no law. See the linked quote for Seale’s statement at Sacramento.
There were very few people who believed that a pistol would have no defensive value then and there are very few today. The advocates of gun control grant its defensive value, but argue that the rise of using a gun is greater than the benefit of the use. Add to that the deaths from suicides and gun accidents which kill more Americans than those who are shot and killed intentionally.
Although written by a science fiction writer, this is one of the best quotations arguing for widespread gun ownership.
A. Anne McLellan PC OC AOE is a Canadian academic and politician. She was a cabinet minister in the Liberal governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, serving most recently as the ninth deputy prime minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
