QAnon Congresswoman takes aim at Trudeau for handgun control, evokes conspiracy theory


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s move Tuesday to ban buying handguns attracted the ire of one of the United States’ most controversial members of Congress.

When Marjorie Taylor Greene — the Georgia representative who has loudly supported QAnon conspiracy theories — took aim at Trudeau over Twitter Tuesday, a conspiracy theory reference came in the very first line.

“Trudeau quickly filled his father’s shoes,” she posted to Twitter. “But in Canada not Cuba.”

The quip appeared to be a reference to the baseless online conspiracy theory that Justin Trudeau is Fidel Castro’s son. It originated in right-wing chat rooms around 2018 and re-emerged around the time of the Freedom Convoy this winter. Justin Trudeau’s father was former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

QAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory that posits a shadowy “deep state” has been secretly controlling world authorities and abusing children, and that former US president Donald Trump was destined to defeat this nemesis.

The larger context of Greene’s tirade against Trudeau was not about his parentage, but guns.

Trudeau this week moved to ban buying new handguns, expanding a suite of measures the Liberal government has advanced in an attempt to limit the number of firearms in circulation in Canada.

Numerous gun rights promoters in the US, already on the defensive following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 students and two adults, reacted to the news from Canada with disdain.

In a Twitter thread aimed at Trudeau, Greene wrote that the move was a “terrible violation of rights to innocent Canadians” and suggested that Canada needs private citizens to be “heavily armed” in order to deter attacks from other countries, like Russia.

In fact, there is broad support for gun control in Canada, and the sale and carrying of handguns already face severe restrictions.

Recent polling shows that 82 per cent of Canadians support banning assault-style weapons, while only 63 per cent of Americans do.

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