
Ep. 185: 37 Dead at the Bluebird Cafe: Why Canada Won't Talk About It with Dr. Noah Schwartz
The Silvercore Podcast with Travis BaderShow Notes
Dr. Noah Schwartz is the political scientist who decided he could not write honestly about Canada's gun community without going through the licensing system himself. He took the PAL. He took the RPAL. He sat at 84 kitchen tables across this country. What he found is a story most Canadians have never heard. In this episode we cover the largest deliberate mass casualty event in Canadian history that almost nobody remembers, why the handgun freeze was announced after a shooting in Texas, the policy framework Czechia used after a university massacre that did the opposite of what Canada did, and what it means that single-shot black powder pistols were banned alongside Glocks.
Get Targeted: https://amzn.to/4wbl61w More from Noah: https://noahschwartz.ca and @NoahSchwartzy on X _____ Silvercore Club - https://www.silvercore.ca/club Online Training - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/canadian-firearms-safety-course-online Other Training & Services - https://www.silvercore.ca/course/category Merchandise - https://www.silvercore.ca/collections/all-merchandise Blog Page - https://www.silvercore.ca/blog Host Instagram - @Bader.Trav https://www.instagram.com/bader.trav Silvercore Instagram - @SilvercoreOutdoors https://www.instagram.com/silvercoreoutdoors ____
Timestamps
00:00:00 Cold open and Silvercore Club 00:01:16 Welcome and meeting at the NFA event 00:02:01 What political science is and how Schwartz fell into firearms research 00:05:18 Breaking suburban-Ottawa preconceptions, his first time shooting in rural Alberta 00:08:51 American gun rights vs Canadian citizenship, the load-bearing distinction 00:11:27 What being treated fairly looks like, the handgun freeze and inheritance 00:13:55 Teaching gun politics at university, viewpoint diversity in the classroom 00:17:54 Storytelling, evolution, and why narrative beats statistics 00:23:00 Mass shootings, mental health framing, and why fear overrides evidence 00:25:46 Why Targeted exists, and who it is actually written for 00:27:30 The two factions of Canadian gun advocacy, hunters and sport shooters 00:31:23 Civilian-military reconnection, rifle shooting as the first federally funded sport 00:33:18 The aesthetics theory, what black rifles communicate to both sides 00:36:14 Canadian identity, the CBC, the National Film Board, and the gunless cowboy 00:39:20 Finland and the Nordic security model 00:41:11 The case for a Canadian firearms museum 00:43:41 Making the gun the object instead of the person 00:45:00 The largest deliberate mass casualty events in Canadian history, including Bluebird Cafe 00:48:13 Why cars and alcohol kill more people but face less regulation 00:51:13 The 6 percent problem, gun owners as a political minority 00:53:01 Interest group capture and why the community loses 70 percent of the time 00:55:30 Reconnecting firearms to national defence, Carney's civil-servant proposal 01:01:30 The OIC, executive overreach, and why parliament matters 01:04:35 Black powder pistols banned alongside Glocks 01:05:15 Why the handgun freeze was announced after Uvalde, Texas 01:08:19 The Czech Republic, Charles University, and a different policy response 01:10:30 The real causes of crime, mental health, and harm reduction 01:12:30 How current laws stop gun owners from seeking mental health help 01:17:51 Blake Brown and the Angry White Men question 01:22:32 Why treating the media as the enemy is a losing strategy 01:25:23 Personal agency and not outsourcing your voice to organizations 01:28:04 RCMP variant reclassifications and the case for objective criteria 01:33:00 The Bader 2020 OIC affidavit, prohibited weapons absurdities, charge stacking 01:37:15 What he would tell a PhD student starting on Canadian firearms policy 01:39:00 Suppressors and the next policy fight 01:40:29 Closing message to young Canadian hunters and sport shooters 01:42:34 Wrap
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