Today the RCMP confirmed that the Nova Scotia mass murderer was illegally in possession of his firearms. We have to examine how he was able to illegally get his hands on them and close these routes and harshly punish gun smugglers. 1/n

But we also need to examine something else. @BillBlair interrupted the Commissioner of the RCMP when she was asked if the murderer had a gun license, and he said it “would be irresponsible to answer”. 2/n

It’s not that the RCMP would be unaware. All it takes is a simple CPIC check. I certainly hope that the reason it was “irresponsible to answer” wasn’t so that facts could be obscured while the Minister attempted to gain political points by scapegoating gun owners. 3/n

Particularly in the wake of tragedy we need to take the politics out of firearms issues and all act in the interest of public safety. We need to do things that actually work, even if they’re tough. And we need to focus on targeting criminals. 4/4