The move-to-Canada moment is now: After the Supreme Court’s gun and abortion rulings, Americans have their push

Now is that “move to Canada” moment for liberal Americans who are fed up with the latest Supreme Court gun-rights ruling, and its decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion protections. And I say this as someone who wrote a book urging a merger between our two fine nations.

My home country of Canada may be cold and have high taxes, but it wants lots of immigrants, about 400,000 a year. It offers universal health care and a dramatically safer society that continues to rapidly disarm. Three days after the Uvalde school massacre, the Canadian federal government issued tougher gun controls by freezing the sale of handguns, banning the sale of large-capacity magazines, removing guns from anyone involved in domestic violence or stalking, and empowering courts to force those deemed dangerous to surrender their firearms. Two years ago, Canada banned military-style assault rifles.

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Abortion in Canada has been legal since 1969 at all stages of pregnancy, regardless of the reason, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure by all provincial health-care systems across the country. In the United States, the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision established that women had a right to have an abortion up until the point of viability — until this week court overturned the ruling, allowing any state that wishes to ban abortion at any point to do so.

Maybe it’s time to dust off that passport and apply to live safely somewhere else. Canada is calling. (Shutterstock)

Canada has also diverged dramatically from the United States by cracking down on gun ownership. Its motto of “peace, order and good government” is in stark contrast to America’s “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” slogan, and its Second Amendment. The result is that, more than two centuries later, almost every American has the God-given right to own as many guns as he or she can afford. Today this includes ownership of modern-day assault weapons that can kill a small herd of deer within seconds, or dozens of kids in a classroom.

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America is home to more guns than people — or 120 for every 100 persons — compared with Canada’s 34.5 guns per 100 persons. This is why, in part, there are disproportionately more gun-related murders and suicides in the United States than in Canada. The latest figures show 40,175 gun-related deaths in the United States annually and 767 in Canada.

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American gun laws vary greatly across jurisdictions and are mired in legal tussles. On June 23, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional New York’s requirement that anyone who wants to carry a concealed handgun outside his home must get a permit. Only hours later, the U.S. Senate passed a gun control bill to enhance background checks, provide incentives for states to enact so-called red-flag laws and tighten a federal ban on domestic abusers buying firearms.

Most perplexing is the continuing reverence for guns based on a cock-eyed interpretation of an arcane clause in the Second Amendment, written in 1789: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” To Canadians, this is lunacy. A loner with a war weapon who sprays a school or church or workplace using a weapon that the Founders could never have envisioned has nothing to do with a “well regulated Militia.” He also is not necessary to preserve the security of a free state. He demolishes it.

This latest Supreme Court foray begs the question just who will serve in America’s bona fide “Militias” — the police or the National Guard — when its populace is increasingly armed to the teeth on its streets. Theoretically, the Supreme Court’s new ruling means more guns could be toted in Times Square than exist in small countries.

By the way, Canada is not the only oasis safe from America’s increasing gun mayhem. It’s merely close by. Another option is Australia, which is Canada with decent weather, and which also puts public safety ahead of individual libertarianism. Its leaders also listen to public opinion. In 1996, a young man with a semiautomatic rifle killed 35 and wounded 23 more. Within weeks, its government confiscated 650,000 of these guns through a mandatory buyback program, established a registry of all guns, and required permits. Murders and suicides in the land Down Under have plummeted.

By contrast, in America the free, a decision by a politically appointed Supreme Court can sweep away hard-fought gun controls. The simple truth is that, in civilized countries and regions, people realize that freedom is the right to swing your arm, but not hit anyone else with it — and certainly not with an AR-15 bullet traveling at 3,251 feet per second.

So maybe it’s time to dust off that passport and apply to live safely somewhere else. Canada is calling.

Francis is editor-at-large for the National Post, author of “Merger of the Century” and publishes a twice-weekly Substack newsletter about America.