Southern Alberta teen spearheads national campaign to scrap gun control bill

Teenager’s firearms petition gains momentum A Coalhurst Grade 9 student has launched one of the fastest growing parliamentary petitions ever, calling on Ottawa to scrap proposed changes to gun laws. Terry Vogt reports.

An electronic petition that was started by a Coalhurst teenager to quash the federal government’s much-anticipated gun control bill is gaining momentum across the country.

Bill C-71 includes measures to broaden background checks for gun owners, toughen rules around the transportation of handguns, and tighten record keeping requirements for the sale of firearms.

Ryan Slingerland is interested in politics and was visiting Lethbridge MP Rachael Harder’s office in Ottawa when the federal government introduced the bill.

Slingerland says the bill doesn’t tackle the real problem of gun violence and adds more red-tape to law abiding firearms owners.

He says more resources should be devoted to policing in Canada and he has launched a nationwide campaign to scrap the bill.

“And just hearing her staff talking about it, got me motivated to put forward this petition,” said Slingerland.

Electronic petitions need the sponsorship of a member of parliament to be open for public signing and Harder has thrown her support behind it.

So far the petition has received over 40,000 signatures from people in every province and territory.

According to one Toronto geopolitical analyst, it’s the fastest signed parliamentary petition and fifth most signed petition of all time.

"I'm quite impressed for only five days, to have this many signitures, it's quite impressive," said Slingerland.

Slingerland isn't sure anything will come of his petition but says it is a way for Canadians who feel like he does, to send a clear voice to the federal government.

The petition will continue to accept signatures until July 26th.

Click HERE to view the petition.

(With files from Terry Vogt and CTVNews.ca)