(Ottawa) The federal Liberal government announced it would extend for two years the firearms amnesty order it banned following the deadly shootings in Nova Scotia in 2020.
Public Safety Canada quietly posted on its website Wednesday the extension of the yet-to-be-developed gun buyback program, saying the amnesty period that was set to expire at the end of the month would remain in effect. in force until October 30, 2025.
The amnesty applies to those who own one of the more than 1,500 models of firearms that Ottawa announced it was banning, saying “assault-style” firearms, like the AR- 15, have no place in communities.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the ban in May 2020, days after a gunman committed the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history, in Nova Scotia.
At the time, the Liberals promised to compensate those who own such weapons through a buyback program which, according to what the parliamentary budget officer said in 2021, would cost more than $750 million.
The amnesty decree was originally set to expire in spring 2022, but the Liberals extended it until October 2023, saying a buyback program was still in the works.
Former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino announced in April that his department was beginning work on the first phase of this program, starting with determining how to compensate retailers.
The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Industry Association (CSAAA), the group with which Ottawa says it is working to develop its commercial buyback program, welcomed Wednesday’s news.
A statement on its website said the organization encouraged authorities to extend the amnesty order.
In a press release, the spokesperson for the Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, declared that the government “is committed to implementing a firearm buyback program that will allow respectful firearm owners of the law to surrender their firearms and receive compensation.”
“While we are working on its implementation, we have made the decision to extend the amnesty order until October 30, 2025,” Jean-Sébastien Comeau said in an email on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Trudeau had promised to ban what the Liberals called “military-style assault” firearms and establish a buyback program during the 2019 federal election, which gave him his second term .
The Liberals made a similar promise during their last election campaign in 2021.
Electoral law states that the next fixed date for a federal election is October 20, 2025, although an election can be called before that date.
Lack of progress
“The lack of progress in the implementation of the buyback program, three and a half years after the announcement of the initial prohibitions, is extremely disappointing,” lamented PolySeSouvient in a press release.
The gun control advocacy group includes students and graduates of Montreal’s École Polytechnique, where a gunman killed 14 women with a Ruger Mini-14 in 1989.
The organization said the amnesty extension “reflects the government’s overall mismanagement of the assault weapons file,” including Bill C-21.
This bill, which the Senate is still studying, has been criticized by many gun owners, the Assembly of First Nations and federal Conservatives, for attempting to ban rifles commonly used by hunters.
The bill’s progress in the House was stalled for months due to backlash over a proposed definition that would have expanded the ban to 482 additional gun models.
The government ultimately withdrew this definition, and instead opted for a regulatory approach that would ensure firearms are properly classified before entering the Canadian market.
Physicians for Better Gun Control, another gun control advocacy group, said in a statement Wednesday that it was “disappointed by the lack of a clear buyback plan to accompany the extension of the amnesty”.