Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the Liberals were adding 324 more ‘unique makes and models’ of ‘assault-style’ firearms to it’s list of banned weapons
OTTAWA — The federal government is adding hundreds more types of firearms to its list of banned guns and looking to send some of them to Ukraine.
On Thursday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the Liberals were adding 324 more “unique makes and models” of what he called “assault-style” firearms to its list of banned guns, taking effect immediately.
All current and future variants of these guns would be prohibited. The total number of affected firearms sits around 14,500, according to Public Safety Canada.
The announcement comes on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique shooting in Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989, where a gunman targeting women killed 14 and injured 10 others.
Honouring those killed in mass shootings means taking action on gun control, LeBlanc said.
In May 2020, the Liberal government announced it was banning some 1,500 types of firearms, promising to compensate gun owners and businesses through a still yet-to-be-functioning buyback program, which the Parliamentary Budget Officer estimates could cost upwards of $750 million, depending on its design.
An amnesty order protecting gun owners and businesses with prohibited inventory they acquired lawfully from prosecution is currently in place until October 2025.
LeBlanc said on Thursday that the pilot phase of the program targeting businesses is underway, with four having participated.
It would be open for all businesses “in the coming days.”
“As part of that process, the Government of Canada has committed to the Ukrainian government to identify whether some of these guns could be donated to support the fight for democracy in Ukraine,” he said.
Defence Minister Bill Blair said the Liberals reached out in October to see if Ukrainian troops could use some of the guns Canada has banned in their war against Russia .
“They confirmed that indeed, some of the weapons that are part of the program, would be suitable,” said Blair.
Companies that choose to work with the defence department on the initiative would be compensated, he said.
LeBlanc said more gun control measures are coming, with the RCMP studying what to do about the SKS, a popular hunting rifle, which he committed would happen by next February, when the government will come out with its next list.
He pointed to how many First Nations and Inuit hunters use this weapon, which makes potentially banning it complicated.
National Post
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