BC NDP to focus on guns and gang violence if elected, says Eby

Speaking in Surrey Sunday, BC NDP Leader David Eby discussed his party’s pledge to support police enforcing gun regulations to get illegal weapons off the streets.

He spoke alongside other NDP candidates, saying he will continue anti-gang programs like the Integrated Gang Homicide Team.

Eby says the team will focus on investigating gang-related homicides and improving intelligence coordination related to their activities.

“Gangsters and criminals, some of them are smart. Some understand the law, and they work at the very edge of that law,” he said.

“And if they get the message from the province of British Columbia that we’re not going to enforce the federal laws around handguns and semi-automatic rifles, well, guess what they’re going to do?”

Eby says police need every available tool to keep our neighbourhoods and schools safe.

“We have serious plans to deliver safety in communities across British Columbia, and we won’t stop until the job is done,” he said.

He highlighted the importance of having laws that address domestic violence.

“We need to ensure that law enforcement has all of the tools to disrupt this activity, and we need to do more,” he said.

Eby also criticized BC Conservative Leader John Rustad’s stance to not invest in or enforce federal gun laws.

“Federal gun laws target the weapons that gang members use to kill each other and terrify neighbourhoods,” he said in a news release.

“John Rustad’s clear, public, and repeated plan to block police from using these laws has criminals celebrating, and police worried.”

Rustad has previously said he would “go after the source” of gun and gang violence by preventing weapons from entering B.C. through its ports.

Rustad and BC Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau did not make any campaign announcements Sunday.