Regina police chief says many questions still unanswered about federal gun buyback

By around this time next year, the Canadian government plans to be implementing its ban on all assault-style firearms.

In order to get those guns off the streets, the government wants to buy the weapons back from their owners.

Currently, there is an amnesty period in place until Oct. 30, 2023.

An amnesty period is designed to protect individuals and businesses who, at the time the prohibition came into force, were in lawful possession of a newly prohibited firearm from criminal liability while they take steps to comply with the law.

Regina Police Service Chief Evan Bray is helping chair a firearms committee with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Speaking to Gormley on Wednesday, Bray said it was unlikely the feds will be able to get everything in place to buy back the guns by Oct. 30 next year.

“I was just informed on a call the other day that it is (more like) 2,000 styles of firearms that are going to be included in this ban. That in and of itself gets very complicated because you’re looking at characteristics of the firearms,” Bray said.

“I think it’s very safe to say we’re a long ways from rolling this out. I know they say they want to have this wrapped up by the end of October 2023, (but) I just don’t see that happening. They still don’t really have a plan about how this is going to roll out.”

While Bray controls policing on a local level, the Saskatchewan government has already told Ottawa that its provincial police services would not be collecting guns despite the ban by the federal government.

Alberta, Manitoba and New Brunswick have also come out against the gun buyback plan.

Bray said there are still too many questions and very few answers at this time to enforce such a rule.

“If you own one of these guns that’s going to be prohibited, there’s a whole bunch of things, including the price on what it’s going to be bought for by the federal government,” he said.

“That in and of itself is a nightmare. They don’t have a consistent price-setting process and that’s causing firearm owners a lot of concern. If you spent $2,000 on a firearm and now the government wants to buy it for $750, there’s a lot of people going to say, ‘I don’t like that idea. I’m not going to do it.’

“Well then, if and when the amnesty period ends, are you a criminal automatically because you didn’t abide by that? It’s quite a wicked web and it’s a long way from being resolved and I expect that date to be pushed back substantially.”

Bray thinks the biggest challenge for police is meeting the demands of the federal government.

“Having to go out and collect what is thousands of firearms in our province is going to be an administrative challenge and we aren’t really confident we are set up to do it,” he stated.

“But, then the real challenge comes when the amnesty period is over (as for as) who hasn’t turned over these guns and what are the expectations on police to knock on doors and retrieve these guns, which isn’t going to be an easy task.”