Alberta urges Ottawa to cancel 2020 firearms ban

Bryant says prohibiting specific types of firearms is an approach that has proven to be ineffective in improving public safety.

“Requiring mandatory confiscation or deactivation represents an unacceptable intrusion into the personal lives of Albertans and other Canadians and a serious infringement on their property rights. Owners of the affected firearms acquired them in full conformity with the law at the time. They have not done anything wrong, yet they are to be forcibly deprived of their property or forced to effectively render it useless through compulsory deactivation.”

In addition to the cancellation of the prohibition, she also asked for an extension of an amnesty period in the policy.

It is currently set to expire on April 30, 2022, but she would like to see that pushed to October 30, 2023.

“While the extension of the amnesty is welcome, a longer period of time is required to address a number of concerns with the impact of the federal government’s plans on law-abiding Albertans. Therefore, I strongly urge you to consider adjusting the direction of the May 1, 2020, Order-in-Council and, at the very least, further extending the amnesty, as indicated below.”

Bryant continues to state in her letter that the money being spent by Ottawa to implement the firearms prohibition could be better utilized elsewhere.

If the cost of the ban was constrained to “just $2 billion,” she says that could pay for about 12,000 person-years of specialized law enforcement, regulatory, and social services personnel.

“Surely, this would offer better value for the taxpayers’ hard-earned dollar.”

Other recommendations she made to the federal government include:

Improving identification, tracking, and prosecution of firearms traffickers, straw purchasers, and others who use firearms to commit crimes
Improve social programming initiatives to address criminal behaviour and addictions issues
Provide provinces with the option to opt-out of the firearms prohibition and instead use the funding to create alternative solutions
Increase staffing for law enforcement agencies and enhance communication capabilities between them

“Since becoming Alberta’s first provincially appointed chief firearms officer under the Firearms Act, Albertans have been consistently telling me the 2020 federal firearm ban is unrealistic, unworkable, and unhelpful. I hope this letter sends the message to Ottawa loud and clear – Albertans deserve sensible and effective firearm legislation.”

Use this link to read Bryant’s letter in full.

Her letter follows the recommendations of the Alberta Firearms Advisory Committee, which were accepted by the Alberta Government earlier this week.

by David Opinko

Alberta urges Ottawa to cancel 2020 firearms ban

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