As the Canadian government moves forward with its scheme to confiscate a vast number of common semi-automatic firearms through its so-called “buyback” program, one province is doing something about the debacle.
In 2020, the government announced a ban on over 1,500 models of “assault-style” firearms as part of its broader efforts to address gun violence. The ban encompasses a range of legislative and regulatory initiatives, as well as programs to reduce the number of prohibited firearms. One such program offered market-rate compensation to owners for surrendering newly prohibited firearms, along with an additional incentive for early participation.
Last year, the government added another 179 makes and models of firearms to the country’s banned “assault-style” firearms list. To date, the government has only been able to collect fewer than 13,000 of the hundreds of thousands of guns it has banned possession of over the past several years.
In January, a pilot program set up by the government to get the confiscation ball rolling resulted in a dismal failure. According to a report at the National Post, only 25 firearms were turned in as part of the “test run,” which was aimed at collecting 200 banned guns. The total was only 12% of their goal—not a good success figure at all.
Undaunted, the government proceeded with the compensated confiscation program, prompting pushback from the province of Saskatchewan. The provincial government recently expanded its firearms legislation further to include vouchers for owners of prohibited firearms who have not received compensation from Ottawa.
“Each and every province but one is not in favor of this gun confiscation,” Premier Scott Moe said during an address to the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention. “To protect the gun owners in Saskatchewan, we have done a number of things … restricting who would be able to come and confiscate firearms.”
The voucher certificate will allow the owners to retain the right to continue to possess their prohibited firearms on behalf of the province. The certificates will remain in place until the federal government “fairly compensates” the gun owners.
“[The federal government has] to provide fair market value, and until they do, you can continue to store your own firearm if you are storing it in a safe and appropriate way,” Minister of Justice Tim McLeod told reporters. “By doing that, you’re doing that for the benefit of the province so that we don’t have to do it on your behalf.”
Incidentally, the latest estimates indicate that the government is spending more than $25,000 per confiscated firearm, further highlighting what a mess the gun scheme has become. In a recent report, the National Rifle Association (NRA) cited Daniel Fritter of the Canadian gun magazine Calibre, who refers to government sources showing that “the current known, documented cost to the taxpayer” per gun surrendered or confiscated is approximately CAD$25,000, with the “undocumented cost being even higher” because the “costs accrued by more than a dozen partner agencies” involved haven’t been included.