Gun rights and taxpayer watchdog groups are calling on Liberal Leader Mark Carney to stop the gun buyback program following his promise to “reinvigorate” it if elected.
The program has already cost Canadian taxpayers millions, although no guns have yet been collected.
“Carney needs to scrap this plan and stop wasting taxpayer’s money on it. Planning to spend potentially billions of dollars on a program that is not going to make Canadians safer is a waste of money,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Prairie director Gage Haubrich in a statement released Thursday
“Carney needs to be cancelling this wasteful plan, not doubling down on it.”
Carney published the Liberals’ plan to “fight crime, protect Canadians, and build safer communities” on Thursday, which vowed to take “responsible action to keep assault-style guns off our streets.”
“We will reinvigorate the implementation of an efficient gun-buyback program for assault-style firearms,” wrote Carney, while promising to “respect the longstanding traditions of hunting and sport shooting” in Canada.
“Unfortunately, the only guns they are banning and buying back are those of licensed gun owners,” Rod Giltaca, executive director of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights told True North.
“If Carney wins the election, the buyback that the liberals are promising will surely cost somewhere around $10 billion to complete. One can only imagine what deficit spending at that level could accomplish for public safety if used more wisely.”
In the final days of the Trudeau government, former prime minister Justin Trudeau added nearly 200 additional firearm models to its mandatory buyback program, first introduced in 2020 to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens.
The decision to prohibit 179 additional makes and models of so-called “assault-style” firearms was announced by then-Associate Public Safety Minister Rachel Bendayan, with the new restrictions effective immediately.
“Let’s be clear, these are weapons of war, firearms designed specifically to kill as many people as possible in the least amount of time possible,” said Bendayan at the time, who Carney has since selected to be minister of immigration under his new cabinet.
However, Canada’s current firearm laws already have limits placed on magazine capacity, including five rounds for almost all semi-automatic rifles and 10 rounds for pistols.
The newly banned firearms were added to the 2020 order-in-council, which initially prohibited over 1,500 guns. Since then, the Liberals have expanded the scope of the order, now including a ban on over 2,500 firearms.
“Canadians who are genuinely concerned about public safety, Must have been furious while listening to Mark Carney’s latest statement,” said Giltaca. “He promises to complete the buyback involving millions of firearms commonly used for sport shooting and hunting.”
Following the announcement of the newly banned firearms, the Trudeau government extended amnesty for current owners until Mar. 1, 2026. While a detailed list of the newly added items isn’t yet public, it does mean that any owners of these firearms will no longer be able to use, sell or lend them.
The Liberals also earmarked another $597.9 million over three years in taxpayer funds to confiscate guns from law-abiding firearms owners as part of their Fall Economic Statement.
“The government said the buyback would cost taxpayers $200 million in 2019. Only buying back the guns could cost up to $756 million, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Government documents show that the buyback is now likely to cost almost $2 billion,” writes the CTF.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre vowed to scrap the Liberals’ firearm buyback program, arguing that taxpayer funds would be better spent on securing the border against firearms trafficking.
The Toronto police have said that guns illegally imported into Canada account for 85 per cent of the crimes committed.
“Comically. Carney promises to bring forward measures to automatically revoke gun licenses for individuals convicted of violent offences. Not only do the red and yellow flag laws exist today as part of bill C21 that was passed two years ago, but those same laws existed for 30 years previous to that and were used often. The liberals have become a joke of their own making,” said Giltaca.
“Again, here we are with the government that is rolling out what they think their base will respond to, and what will manifest itself into votes in the upcoming election. All this while public safety be damned.”