Amnesty Period for Banned Firearms Should Be Extended: Advocacy Group

Hunting rifles and shotguns at a gun store in Toronto, in a file photo. (Kevin Frayer/The Canadian Press)

The Oct. 30 deadline to relinquish banned firearms before their possession becomes a criminal offence is looming, but the ambiguous definition of what constitutes those weapons warrants an extended period of amnesty, says a non-governmental partner in the federal Firearms Buyback Program.

“There’s a current prohibition on the Canadian Criminal Code for these firearms and the only thing that exempts you from prosecution is the amnesty,” Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA) president Wes Winkel told The Epoch Times.

“They’re still building the parameters around it.”

The Liberal government, which worked with the CSAAA on the program, announced in 2020 it was adding over 1,500 firearms to the prohibited list and that it would buy them back from Canadians. Mr. Winkel says the situation is complicated by mismatched parts in different firearms.

He says this has thrown a wrench in the works and confused legislators who have yet to release salient details about which firearms are and aren’t legal, which could leave many unwitting gun owners in the lurch.

“What everyone doesn’t understand is that this category of firearms ... is rarely sold as an assembled unit,” Mr. Winkel said.

“The industry’s list of requests or demands is higher than what they initially thought it was going to be and they’re just been overwhelmed by the volume of product that’s out there in the country.”

The federal government, however, reiterated in April that its sights are set on a particular class of firearm.

“Assault-style firearms like the AR-15 have no place in Canada,” then-minister of public safety Marco Mendicino said in a statement. “That’s why we banned them, and why we’re launching a buyback program to get them off our streets while fairly compensating owners.”

Mr. Winkel is concerned that without some clarification, otherwise law-abiding individuals and companies could find themselves in legal jeopardy, he says.

“Businesses that are in a criminal situation don’t get approved for import permits and are not allowed to conduct business,” Mr. Winkel said.

It is unknown how many firearms there are in Canada, but a Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report from 2021 estimates the Firearm Buyback Program compensation could cost taxpayers up to $756 million.

The National Police Federation has questioned the potential efficacy of the program, stating it wouldn’t address criminal activity, gang crime, cross-border gun smuggling, or the general proliferation of illegal firearms.

“Costly and current legislation, such as the Order in Council prohibiting various firearms and the proposed ‘buy-back’ program by the federal government targeted at legal firearm owners, does not address these current and emerging themes or urgent threats to public safety,” said its position statement.

However, gun control proponents point to mass shooting incidents in Canada as reason to restrict firearm ownership in the country.

Gun control group PolySeSouvient asked the Senate to quickly pass gun control Bill C-21 before the summer break. “There is no more important responsibility for senators than to protect the security of Canadians, including against armed violence,” said spokesperson Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique mass shooting in Montreal.