Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree stated that the government is not prepared to disclose the duration and further extension details of the gun amnesty initiative, which is due to expire in six weeks. Anandasangaree mentioned that additional information will be shared as the program unfolds, during his arrival at the Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Following the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history by a gunman in Nova Scotia, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau implemented a ban on over 1,500 models and versions of “assault-style firearms.” The initial list of prohibited models, announced on May 1, 2020, has now expanded to approximately 2,500.
The ban was accompanied by a two-year amnesty period, allowing owners of firearms like the AR-15 to surrender their weapons by April 30, 2022. This amnesty period was first extended by a year in 2022 and subsequently by another two years in 2023.
Anandasangaree indicated in August that the current extension, scheduled to conclude on October 30, would need to be prolonged. The government has committed to compensating owners of such firearms through a buyback program, estimated by the Parliamentary Budget Office in 2021 to exceed $750 million.
Although the buyback program for individual owners has not yet commenced, the federal government anticipates its launch later in 2025. However, the program for businesses remains active. As of April 30, businesses across Canada have submitted 12,195 compensation claims for banned firearms.
During the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to revitalize the assault-style firearm buyback program under a Liberal administration. In addition to enhancing the amnesty and buyback initiative, the Liberal election platform included various crime-fighting measures, such as automatically revoking gun licenses for individuals convicted of violent offenses, empowering the RCMP to classify new firearm models, increasing funding for forensic laboratories, and bolstering oversight on firearms licensing and enforcement.
Carney emphasized the importance of being tough on gun control to combat crime effectively, especially intimate partner violence. He assured that while pursuing these reforms, the rights of hunters and Indigenous peoples to use firearms for recreational and traditional purposes would be respected.