They will begin confiscating those guns soon, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc promised on September 24, 2024.[i]
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc insists he can confiscate banned firearms held by firearms dealers in a timely manner, despite the fact there is still no plan.
At that September press conference, LeBlanc said confiscations from firearms businesses would begin “in the next month or month and a half.”
That deadline passed without the confiscation of a single firearm, despite LeBlanc and the RCMP’s waste of over $75 million on “administration” of this non-existent program.
LeBlanc also passed an Order in Council to allow businesses to ship prohibited firearms via Canada Post, despite the corporation’s well-publicized opposition to the plan for safety reasons.[ii]
Let’s face facts.
Not one gun confiscated from licensed firearms businesses or licensed firearms owners will prevent another “Wild West” shootout like Toronto just witnessed on Queen St. West late on the night of November 11, 2024.[iii]
Only strengthening bail provisions and stopping gun smuggling will do that.
But Let’s Play Devil’s Advocate
Let’s pretend Domenic LeBlanc has a plan to start confiscating guns from firearms dealers “soon” and that he also has the resources to accomplish this task.
LeBlanc’s recent Order in Council states:
“The Storage, Display and Transportation of Firearms and Other Weapons by Businesses Regulations do not apply to the … transportation of a specified firearm … by post within Canada from the time the specified firearm … is posted to the time it is delivered to the addressee…”[iv]
While LeBlanc may be able to ship confiscated guns from dealers by Canada Post in other provinces, how will he accomplish when the Saskatchewan Firearms Act dictates how those confiscations must take place, beginning with licensing of seizure agents.[v]
- Every company or Crown corporation involved in confiscating firearms must be licensed. Failure to comply with this requirement results in a fine of “not more than” $100,000.
- Every employee involved in the confiscations, identified as “Seizure Agents” in the legislation, must also be licensed[vi] or face a fine of “not more than $20,000” and/or a prison term of 6 months.
Most Canada Post employees are not licensed to handle firearms and, because Canada Post employees would become “seizure agents” under the Saskatchewan Firearms Act, they must meet the licensing requirements of the Act.
This issue not addressed by Minister LeBlanc’s edict. Was that oversight accidental or intentional? Only the minister can answer that question.
The reality is that employees of firearms businesses must be licensed to work in a gun store and comply with all federal and provincial firearms law. It’s sensible and logical that any individual or company involved in the collection of prohibited firearms in Saskatchewan must meet those same requirements.
The Act also states:
4-18(3) A seizure agent shall not transport more than 3 firearms within a vehicle at one time. Each occurrence of this violation is subject to a $100,000 fine for the company that employs the seizure agent
4-19(2) No seizure agent shall store a restricted firearm or prohibited firearm except in accordance with this Act and the regulations.
The Act requires firearms to be stored unloaded and rendered inoperable by a secure locking device, in a vault or safe that is specifically “constructed or modified for the secure storage of prohibited firearms” that has no windows and is “fireproof up to a temperature of 1875 degrees Fahrenheit for a period of at least 120 minutes.”
4-19(3) Any premises used by a seizure agent to store a restricted firearm or prohibited firearm must be located at least 1000 metres from all of the following:
(a) a single or multi-family residential home or facility, including the home quarter section of a farm;
(b) a daycare, school, college or university; (c) a place of worship; (d) a theatre, arena, concert hall or other similar facility used to host entertainment events;
(e) an arena, fitness centre, stadium or any other facility used to host sporting events;
(f) a restaurant; (g) a hospital or medical clinic;
(h) a grocery store, shopping centre, pharmacy, department store or other similar location regularly attended by the public for the purchase of groceries, clothing, household goods or similar items.
These construction and location requirements are designed to ensure public safety is protected throughout the confiscation process. While the federal government wants to claim otherwise, there are a multitude of locations that meet these legislated requirements.
The Saskatchewan Firearms Act also protects the financial interests of firearms owners, because the structure of fair market compensation is built into the legislation.
Premier Scott Moe and his government are ensuring Saskatchewan citizens are protected by ensuring the federal government follows the Constitution of Canada as well as federal and provincial law.
It should never be easy for a government to confiscate private property from Canadians, and Saskatchewan gun owners are grateful for Premier Moe’s intercession on their behalf.
A Constitutional Crisis in the Making?
The Saskatchewan Firearms Act puts the federal government in the precarious position of treating Saskatchewan firearms owners and businesses differently than in every other province.
Should it attempt to do so, the federal government would be in violation of Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states:[vii]
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination …
Can the federal government exclude Saskatchewan (and possibly Alberta) from compliance with their firearms confiscation edict?
Not without violating Section 15.
“If this plays out as we think it might, every gun owner in Canada will wish they lived in Saskatchewan,” said Tony Bernardo, CSSA Executive Director.
Firearms Confiscations from Individuals
On October 11, 2023, the federal government delayed their confiscation deadline until October 30, 2025, afterthe next federal election.
“The delay is fantastic for the hundreds of thousands of government-licensed gun owners and businesses targeted by the Liberal attacks,” wrote Nicolas Johnson, editor of The Gun Blog.[viii]
Despite burning through over $75 million of your taxpayer dollars, this federal government still has no clue how to carry out the confiscations mandated by Justin Trudeau’s virtue-signalling 2020 gun ban by Order in Council.
This is why they keep pushing back the deadline.
CSSA advises all firearms owners to obey the law to the letter.
Do not surrender your firearms to the government until October 30, 2025.
Move to Saskatchewan?
Justin Trudeau’s federal government wants to confiscate your legally owned and legally acquired property, while releasing violent criminals and then ignoring those drug dealers and gang members who turned a Toronto street into the Wild West on Remembrance Day.
It’s a miracle that two police officers weren’t killed as the bullets flew all around them.
Welcome to Justin Trudeau’s Post-Modern Canada – a nation where criminals run free and decent citizens fear for their lives.
If it’s feasible for you and your family, you may want to move to Saskatchewan, where Premier Scott Moe, Tim McLeod, the Attorney General, Minister of Justice, Corrections, and Policing, and Firearms Commissioner Robert Freberg all have your back.
[i] https://www.youtube.com/live/dtapTH5MJ24?feature=shared&t=1882
[ii] https://thegunblog.ca/2024/05/30/canada-post-ceo-were-not-comfortable-helping-liberal-gun-confiscations/
[iii] https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/warmington-cop-car-shot-22-arrests-guns-seized-in-wild-west-shootout
[iv] https://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2024/2024-11-06/html/sor-dors208-eng.html
[v] https://www.canlii.org/en/sk/laws/stat/ss-2023-c-8/215969/ss-2023-c-8.html
[vi] https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/CSSA/PDF/Saskatchewan-Fireams-Act–Bill-29-117.pdf
[vii] https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/check/art15.html
[viii] https://thegunblog.ca/2023/10/11/liberals-extend-deadline-again-for-their-failing-firearm-confiscation-fantasy/
