Parliament has been meeting quite irregularly since the 2019 election, the opposition has not been very effective, and our Fearless Leader's support in the polls is jumping. Just to add to the fun, an "armed" active-duty Canadian Forces reservist just
burst through the gates around Rideau Hall by ramming them with a black truck at 6.40 am on 2
or 3 July. He was apprehended by the RCMP at 8.30 am after the crash disabled his vehicle. (So there were almost two hours of "dialogue" between break-in and arrest).
Its wonderful how some kinds of people can be peacefully apprehended while carrying a weapon and committing violent crime within earshot of the Prime Minister and Governor General, while other kinds of people get tossed to the ground or run over by the same police force for being insufficiently submissive, isn't it?
Edit: the suspect now faces 21 different firearms charges, including possessing a restricted or prohibited weapon, and one witness thought he was carrying a long gun. I would expect someone in his position who had not been preparing to commit a crime for some time to have a semiautomatic rifle with plenty of 5-round magazines, and possibly a pistol or revolver with a capacity of up to 10 rounds (but transporting that would get much more attention from police if he was stopped on the long drive from northern Manitoba).
Edit: and oh wow, now they say he was carrying four loaded firearms, including a M-14 with a high-capacity magazine (probably a standard-issue 20 round mag from the USA) and uttered a threat against the prime minister. A battle rifle is no joke, even in semi-automatic only and with mostly 10-round magazines. Assassination has not been a part of Canadian politics since
Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the Chilcotin War, but now two prime ministers in a row have been attacked by lone gunmen.
Edit: and yep, he had "a Norinco M-14," a "high standard revolver" (High Standard
seems to be a manufacturer), and two non-restricted shotguns (that could mean break-open, could be pump-actions with a significant magazine capacity, what was available probably depended on the local hunting laws). As a Canadian Ranger he would have been issued with a Short Magazine Lee-Enfield or a similar bolt-action rifle. And he started posting a lot of pandemic conspiracy theories in March.
The
one high-capacity magazine is significant, anyone can make something which goes bang but reliable magazines to feed rapid fire are hard, so banning them is an effective means of harm reduction. And
the charge sheet includes uttering threats of death or bodily harm.