The Toronto police force has begun a so-called “gun amnesty” program today. But they are using a different dictionary than the rest of us.

According to the press release, this “amnesty” targets legal gun owners who are encouraged to “change their lifestyle”, to avoid letting their property “be turned into a crime gun” since guns are so “susceptible to theft”. They should “surrender” their firearms to the police, it is presumed for purposes of destruction.

But the word “amnesty” means:

1. Forgetfulness; cessation of remembrance of wrong; oblivion.
2. An act of the sovereign power granting oblivion, or a general pardon, for a past offense, as to subjects concerned in an insurrection.
[1913 Webster]

The problem is, of course, that legal gun owners have done no wrong. There is no past offense to pardon. To label this event an “amnesty” implies an air of criminality about a perfectly legal, highly regulated, safe activity.

This is a disgusting political smear, and the police and parroting press should be ashamed.