The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has called on the federal government to scrap its contentious gun buyback program, citing a lack of evidence that it improves public safety. The group's findings, obtained through access-to-information requests, reveal that Ottawa has no data to support claims that confiscating legally owned firearms reduces violent crime.
No Data on Public Safety Impact
On Tuesday, the federation urged Ottawa to abandon the program, stating that their research backs up repeated assertions that the gun grab will do little to curb violent crime. Gage Haubrich, the federation's Prairie director, told the Toronto Sun: "Ottawa is spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars on this gun grab and the government can't point to a single study or shred of proof showing it will actually make Canadians safer. It's ludicrous that the feds are making taxpayers pay for a program that looks like it has zero evidence behind it."
An April 14 response from the Office of the Information Commissioner to an access-to-information request for "all analysis from the department on the efficacy of the assault-style firearms compensation program and its effect on crime rates/public safety" stated: "After a thorough search, no information related to your request exists within Public Safety Canada."
Police and Experts Oppose the Program
While the federal government and gun control activists hail the gun grab as a means to improve public safety by confiscating private property from licensed firearm owners, police services have long told the government that legal gun owners are not the problem. Experts, academics, and even Canada's police chiefs have testified before committees that the majority of crime guns—many already prohibited under Canadian law—are smuggled into Canada from the United States.
Last week, New York State Police stopped a Ford Explorer containing three men allegedly attempting to smuggle 89 firearms, including numerous stolen weapons, from the U.S. into Canada. The three suspects, reportedly from Hamilton, remain in custody in Westchester County.
Origin of the Gun Grab
Canada's current effort to confiscate weapons was introduced in response to the April 2020 Nova Scotia attacks, where a 51-year-old gunman used firearms smuggled from the U.S. to kill 22 people. That prompted the Trudeau Liberals to enact a May 2020 order-in-council banning the sale, transportation, or use of so-called "assault-style" firearms.
In 2022, the Liberals quietly tabled two amendments to Bill C-21 that would have outlawed legal rifles used daily by hunters and sport shooters. They withdrew those amendments after massive backlash from hunters, sports shooters, and First Nations, a move described by the opposition Tories as a "humiliating climb-down" for the prime minister.
Widespread Refusal to Participate
Police forces across the country—including several of the largest—have officially declined to take part in the gun grab, as have all provincial governments except Quebec and British Columbia. "Real law-enforcement experts have been saying this from the beginning: It's time for Ottawa to finally listen and scrap this program that Ottawa itself knows won't work," Haubrich said. "Taxpayers can't afford another government program that won't meet its goals."
