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*. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Firearms and the Common Law Tradition symposium hosted by the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC, in September 2016 and the British Association for Canadian Studies annual meeting in April 2017. The author wishes to thank the Social Science and Humanities Research Council for supporting this research and Breanna Denton for her able work as a research assistant.
Introduction
In July 2014, the Conservative Public Safety Minister of Canada, Steven Blaney, announced amendments to Canada's gun laws and asserted that "To possess a firearm is a right," although "it's a right that comes with responsibilities." Journalists quickly took note of his comment since most Canadians associate a right to bear arms with the American legal tradition. Terry Pedwell of the Canadian Press evaluated the veracity of Minister Blaney's statement, concluding that the claim deserved a rating of "full baloney" on a "baloney meter."1This was not the first time the Conservative Party had alluded to the "rights" of gun owners. For example, in its 2006 election platform, the Conservatives promised to abolish the long-gun registry and to work with the provinces on firearm control programs "designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting the rights of law-abiding Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly."2The assertion of a right to possess a firearm, however, was new.
This article seeks to understand why and how some Canadians asserted a right to firearms from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. It demonstrates that the idea of such a right was not new in 2014. A handful of nineteenth-century politicians asserted a right to arms for self-defense, though Canadians subsequently forgot about this "right." This changed in the late twentieth century, when some gun owners fought against new firearm regulations by dusting off the English constitutional tradition, asserting a right to arms based upon the English Bill of Rights, William Blackstone, and the common law. This claim to a historically-based right helped unify firearm owners spread across the country. It demonstrates how individuals and groups of Canadians have attempted to define themselves "through the medium of historical narratives."3In this case, gun owners found unity in...