Saskatchewan introduces gun legislation in response to federal bill

Saskatchewan’s opposition to the federal government’s proposed gun ban was put into a piece of legislation Thursday.

The provincial government introduced The Saskatchewan Firearms Act, which the government said was designed “to protect the rights of lawful firearms owners.”

“This Act will help address concerns of responsible firearms owners and enhance public safety across Saskatchewan,” Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said in a media release.

“We take public safety seriously and support initiatives that reduce the criminal use of firearms, while preventing gang violence and stopping illegal guns from entering our province.”

On Nov. 24, the Saskatchewan government joined its counterparts in Alberta and Manitoba to protest the feds’ proposed amendments to Bill C-21.

The amendment moves to ban “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun, that is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner and that is designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed.”

The legislation would ban almost all types of semi-automatic firearms in Canada.

The proposal had gun retailers up in arms, with TnT Gunworks owner Darryl Schemenauer saying the ban — if it’s enacted — would “probably put us out of business and many other people in the trade.”

According to the Saskatchewan government, the provincial act would require and oversee fair compensation for any guns being seized, require forensic and ballistic testing of seized guns, and would establish licensing requirements for businesses or individuals involved in gun expropriation.

“(We) can’t have people just going out to residences and demanding a firearm. They must be licensed by the Province of Saskatchewan before they can consider confiscating that firearm,” Tell said after Question Period.

The minister has already sent a letter to the RCMP, letting it know the province opposes using any provincial funding to enforce the federal buyback. The province funds about 70 per cent of the RCMP’s operations in Saskatchewan.

Tell said if the federal government still directs the RCMP to enforce the buyback, then “all options are on the table” including reducing RCMP funding.

The legislation also would establish a provincial firearms regulatory system to promote the safe and responsible use of guns. The Saskatchewan Firearms Office would administer the legislation and also would take on an expanded role in prosecuting non-violent regulatory firearms offences.

“Since inception, the Saskatchewan Firearms Office has successfully handled public safety files and continues to work closely with police to ensure that gun safety laws are properly enforced,” Robert Freberg, the province’s chief firearms officer, said in the release. “The enhanced mandate this legislation provides will expand our office’s ability to promote responsible firearms use and improve community safety.”

Among other things, the legislation would create provincial statutes for unsafe storage of firearms, which would give police an option on charges when a violation was found.

“What this Firearms Act, in part, does is provides a provincial statute option not unlike we have with impaired driving. There are tandem provincial statutes to go along with impaired driving; this is the same thing,” said Tell.

She said the provincial ticket would also open the door to making sure the person in violation gets an understanding of what they did wrong.

“That Chief Firearms Office will follow up to make sure that that person understands what safe storage means and what that person has to do to ensure their firearm is stored safely,” said Tell.

The province said it has put more than $3 million into new initiatives this year, including:

• Establishing a Saskatchewan Firearms Ballistics Lab to support police services and provide timely access to Saskatchewan-based ballistics and firearms expertise;
• Establishing a Firearms Compensation Committee to determine the fair market value of any guns, ammunition and related accessories being expropriated by the federal government;
• Enhancing training and education regarding safe storage and gun licensing; and,
• Launching a made-in-Saskatchewan marketing campaign to promote gun safety and best practices.

The government added more firearms officers have been hired to investigate incidents connected to mental health, domestic violence and illegal activities involving guns.

Speaking Thursday after the bill was introduced, NDP Policing Critic Nicole Sarauer said it’s a very large bill and the opposition is going to have a lot of questions.

“In particular, there’s some provisions in there around criminality aspects that we just want to make sure that this passes constitutional muster,” said Sarauer.

She said the NDP is going to reach out to experts and ask questions at committee.

Wildlife federation reaction

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation issued a statement Thursday after the legislation was introduced, saying it’s looking forward “to working with the Ministry of Corrections, Policing, and Public Safety to mitigate the impact that this draconian Federal Legislation will have to the Saskatchewan firearms community.”

“The Federal Government have reneged on their promises to hunters, sports shooters, and farmers/ranchers, as evidenced by the prohibition of hundreds of regularly used firearms included in Bill C-21,” Gil White, the SWF’s recreational firearms community chair, said in the statement.

The federation urged gun owners to contact their elected Members of Parliament, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to voice their concerns about the latest change in Bill C-21.