(September 14, 2012 / 08:17:35) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p001.pdf .1 ARMING AND DISARMING A History of Gun Control in Canada (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:36) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p002.pdf .1 PATRONS OF THE SOCIETY Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP Gowlings Lax O’Sullivan Scott Lisus LLP McCarthy Tétrault LLP Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP Torkin Manes LLP Torys LLP WeirFoulds LLP The Osgoode Society is supported by a grant from The Law Foundation of Ontario. The Society also thanks The Law Society of Upper Canada for its continuing support. (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:38) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p003.pdf .1 ARMING AND DISARMING A History of Gun Control in Canada R. BLAKE BROWN Published for The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History by University of Toronto Press Toronto Buffalo London (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:38) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p004.pdf .1 © Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History 2012 www.utppublishing.com www.osgoodesociety.ca Printed in Canada isbn 978-1-4426-4639-1 Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Brown, R. Blake Arming and disarming : a history of gun control in Canada / R. Blake Brown. (Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-4426-4639-1 1. Gun control – Canada – History. 2. Firearms – Law and legislation – Canada. i. Title. ii. Series: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History series hv7439.c3b76 2012 363.330971 c2012-905645-6 University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for its publishing activities. (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:40) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p005.pdf .1 Contents foreword vii acknowledgments ix figures xi abbreviations xv Introduction 3 1 “Every man has a right to the possession of his musket”: Regulating Firearms before Confederation 13 2 “The government must disarm all the Indians”: Controlling Firearms from Confederation to the Late Nineteenth Century 46 3 “A rifle in the hands of every able-bodied man in the Dominion of Canada under proper auspices”: Arming Britons and Disarming Immigrants from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Great War 81 4 “Hysterical legislation”: Suppressing Gun Ownership from the First to the Second World Wars 132 (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:41) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p006.pdf .1 vi Contents 5 Angry White Men: Resistance to Gun Control in Canada, 1946–1980 159 6 Flexing the Liberal State’s Muscles: The Montreal Massacre and the 1995 Firearms Act, 1980–2006 199 Conclusion 235 notes 243 index 331 (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:41) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p007.pdf .1 Foreword THE OSGOODE SOCIETY FOR CANADIAN LEGAL HISTORY The topic of gun control is never far from the public eye in this coun- try, taking centre stage whenever a dramatic shooting occurs and in- variably featuring in debates about Canadian-American distinctions. Arming and Disarming: A History of Gun Control in Canada is the first comprehensive history of the subject, and we are delighted to be the publishers of what will be the standard work. Professor R. Blake Brown’s account of both gun use and its regulation from the early per- iods of European settlement to the controversy over the gun registry tells us a complex and at times contradictory story. Gun control is far from merely a contemporary concern. At many times in our history Canadian governments have evinced concern about gun ownership and use. Yet that concern has often been about who should have access to what sorts of firearms, and the urge to regulate has been tempered by campaigns to encourage gun use as a manly pursuit useful for train- ing citizens to be well versed in the practice of using firearms. Can- adians’ own views of the subject have not been uniform, with marked differences between urban and rural dwellers and across regions. This book is thus a rich piece of social, cultural, political, and legal history. The purpose of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History is to encourage research and writing in the history of Canadian law. The Society, which was incorporated in 1979 and is registered as a char- ity, was founded at the initiative of the Honourable R. Roy McMurtry, formerly attorney general for Ontario and chief justice of the province, (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:43) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p008.pdf .1 viii Foreword and officials of the Law Society of Upper Canada. The Society seeks to stimulate the study of legal history in Canada by supporting research- ers, collecting oral histories, and publishing volumes that contribute to legal-historical scholarship in Canada. It has published eighty-eight books on the courts, the judiciary, and the legal profession, as well as on the history of crime and punishment, women and law, law and economy, the legal treatment of ethnic minorities, and famous cases and significant trials in all areas of the law. Current directors of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History are Robert Armstrong, Kenneth Binks, Susan Binnie, David Chernos, Thomas G. Conway, J. Douglas Ewart, Violet French, Martin Fried- land, John Gerretsen, Philip Girard, William Kaplan, Horace Krever, C. Ian Kyer, Virginia MacLean, Patricia McMahon, R. Roy McMurtry, Dana Peebles, Paul Perell, Jim Phillips, Paul Reinhardt, Joel Richler, William Ross, Paul Schabas, Robert Sharpe, Mary Stokes, and Michael Tulloch. The annual report and information about membership may be ob- tained by writing to the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5H 2N6. Telephone: 416-947-3321. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www .osgoodesociety.ca. R. Roy McMurtry President Jim Phillips Editor-in-Chief (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:44) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p009.pdf .1 Acknowledgments This book, like all others, has resulted from the skill, hard work, and insight of many people. The editor-in-chief of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal His- tory, Jim Phillips, backed this project from its inception and offered extremely valuable advice on its themes, structure, and content. Mari- lyn MacFarlane handled all of the administrative issues that arose. The talented staff of the University of Toronto Press greatly improved the manuscript. Special thanks to Len Husband and Wayne Herrington at the Press, and copy editor Ian MacKenzie. Sandra Barry assisted in the preparation of the index. Several people commented on the manuscript, or parts thereof. The blind reviewers enlisted by the Osgoode Society asked many pen- etrating questions. Donald Fyson read a version of chapter 1, and Bill MacFarlane offered a gun-owner’s take. In addition, undergraduate students in my 2011 seminar class at Saint Mary’s University, “Guns, Violence, and the Law,” offered comments on several chapters. Funding support from several organizations allowed for the timely completion of this book. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council provided a substantial grant. The Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America (Fulbright Canada) awarded me a Visiting Research Chair at Vanderbilt Univer- sity in 2008. Fulbright granted extra travel funds to locate a place for my family to stay in Nashville. Joel Harrington, Vanderbilt’s assistant (September 14, 2012 / 08:17:45) 78436-1b_Brown_4023_Text_p010.pdf .1 x Acknowledgments provost for international affairs, quickly solved every dilemma I faced in Nashville, from locating housing to solving emergency child care is- sues. Esther Enns, dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Kevin Vessey, dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research at Saint Mary’s Uni- versity, proved strong supporters of this work. Saint Mary’s University awarded an Internal Research Grant for New Faculty and an Internal Research Grant for Established Faculty to complete parts of the neces- sary research. I also owe thanks to my colleagues in the Department of History who supported my request to take an unpaid leave of absence to take up the Fulbright chair. The research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Saint Mary’s allowed me to employ several re- search assistants without whose assistance this project would remain far from completed. Thanks to Saint Mary’s undergraduate students David Reynolds, Joana Galante, Angela Kinsman, Julie Reynolds, Lisa McNiven, Michael Hughes; Saint Mary’s graduate students Daryl Lee- worthy, Tammy Morgan, and Harris Ford; and law students from the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University: Jan Jensen, Kate Sal- danha, and Susanna Ashley. Many organizations and businesses kindly granted permission for me to reproduce images, including the Nova Scotia Museum, Library and Archives Canada, the Glenbow Museum, the City of Toronto Ar- chives, Savage Arms, the Royal British Columbia Museum, Sears Can- ada, Uluschak Creative Concepts, the Canadian Wildlife Federation, the Orangeville Citizen, the Winnipeg Free Press, Sun Media, the Globe and Mail, and the Canadian Press. Thanks also to the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association and the Canadian Historical Review for permitting me to republish material that first appeared on their pages. I owe both thanks to my wife, Jennifer Llewellyn, for talking through ideas presented in this book, and