The Liberals gun buyback program will allow retailers to surrender illegal firearms as part of the federal gun buyback program using courier and postal services starting this fall.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc unveiled the new regulations on Wednesday.
“These proposed regulations will make the affected firearms and devices mailable matter and will temporarily permit businesses taking part in the program to ship firearms or devices via post,” said Leblanc.
The buyback program, initially announced in 2020 following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia, banned over 1,500 makes and models of “assault-style” firearms. 500 additional firearm variants have since been added.
Tracey Wilson, Vice President of Public Relations for the Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights, criticized the program on the Andrew Lawton Show, stating that the Liberals have and plan to use this as a political wedge.
The original compliance deadline was April 2022, but the amnesty period has since been extended until just after the next federal election.
“The Liberals have done a really good job at marketing this as getting assault weapons off the street, which is completely inaccurate,” said Wilson. “These are regular sporting and hunting rifles, semi-automatic, limited to five rounds. No different than the stuff I take deer hunting right now.”
Anyone who currently owns recently touted illegal guns is expected to keep them stored, as they always have been. Illegal firearms can be surrendered to police, but there are no processes in place to receive compensation.
The buyback program’s first phase will allow businesses to use carriers they already work with to surrender firearms, which is expected to start this fall.
The second phase will allow private gun owners to sell their guns back to the government and is expected to begin sometime in 2025. The federal government expects to collect between 144,000 and 518,000 weapons, with costs estimated between hundreds of millions and over $1 billion.
Canada Post refused to participate in the gun buyback program, citing safety concerns for its employees.
Some provinces have pushed back, too, with the Alberta government calling the Liberals’ plan “reckless” and a risk to jeopardize the safe handling of weapons.
Leblanc said that Canada continues to offer “cost-effective delivery of the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program.”
Despite spending $42 million taxpayer dollars in March on the program, the Liberals have still not purchased a single gun from Canadians.
“What a mess and what an absolute devastation to taxpayers, because that money would be better spent focusing on reducing illicit guns,” said Wilson.
True North previously reported that legal firearm owners are seldom involved in gun homicides. While many homicides involve illegally obtained firearms, the majority of homicides also include assailants who do not possess a gun license.
“Of course, this had the exact effect we thought it would and has had zero impact on the crime and violence we’re seeing across the country,” said Wilson.