For all the gun control activists in America who continually shout, “NO ONE IS COMING FOR YOUR GUNS!” while at the same time pushing ever-increasing gun control, our neighbor to the north is giving reason for vigilance. Canada is demonstrating if enough citizens become complacent and disengaged, then yes — the government will, in fact, come for your guns.
March 31 was the deadline for gun-owning Canadians to “declare” and “register” for the government’s forced-buyback (read confiscation) program if they own any of the 2,500 different types of firearms that the government deemed were “designed for war” and “for killing people.” That includes AR-15-style semiautomatic centerfire rifles — or Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) — but also thousands of varieties of hunting firearms and those purchased for self-defense purposes. So far, the compliance rate with the mandatory declaration is a paltry 2.5 percent.
If gun owners refuse to participate in the Canadian government’s forced confiscation program — which would pay taxpayer funds for something they already purchased and own — they can “stay within the law” by “deactivating their firearms at their own expense, turning them in to local police for no compensation or exporting them if they hold an export permit,” according to Canadian media.
Turns out, if those same gun-owning Canadians simply ignore the government’s gun confiscation proclamations, they can expect a knock on the door.
‘We’ll Be Available to do the Collection’
The Great Northern Gun Grab was announced back in 2021 by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At the time, the Liberal Party leader made the unilateral announcement that the government would confiscate more than 1,500 makes and models of firearms under an expanded “assault weapon” definition. That gun grab started with an attempt to confiscate an estimated 150,000–200,000 firearms. Since then, unsurprisingly, the number of firearm varieties nearly doubled, greatly expanding the scope of targeted firearms and putting the estimate closer to 2 million.
Also, to no one’s surprise, a previously attempted Canadian gun registration and confiscation scheme was a colossal failure. Originally pitched as costing “only $2 million,” the costs exploded to over $2.7 billion before being scrapped.
Fast forward and they are trying again.
At a recent Canadian Parliament hearing, Conservative MP Dane Lloyd questioned Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree about the scheme and what would happen if Canadians simply didn’t comply.
“Minister, the declaration period for firearms owners is schedule to end next week. So far, only 2.5 percent of the estimated 2 million of the effected firearms have been declared and 98 percent of firearm owners haven’t made a declaration,” MP Lloyd stated. “So if they’re not declaring by next week, what’s your plan, Minister?”
“The plan we have is that as of March 31st, the time to complete the enrollment will be done and then the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and other agencies will be available throughout the spring and the summer to do the collection,” Minister Anandasangaree stated plainly.
When MP Llyod pushed back, noting that Canadian law enforcement was already short-staffed by 3,400 officers and the country is dealing with spikes in crime, the public safety minister doubled down. “We are using additional resources for this program, these may be off duty, these may be retired,” the minister said.
In other words, the Canadian government doesn’t have enough existing resources or manpower to keep their citizens safe as it is, but they are now going into more government debt to try and send law enforcement door-to-door to confiscate lawfully purchased firearms from law-abiding Canadians.
MP Lloyd summed it up, stating “Minister, I just find that very concerning that we’re going to be sending police officers door-to-door because, frankly, many police forces across the country are refusing to participate in your program.”
Not Solving Any Problems
With all the law-abiding gun owners there are in Canada — a number still in the several million — the Canadian government’s solution through this confiscation program is admittedly short-sighted.
According to CTV News, the funding already secured for the “voluntary” confiscation program will “cover compensation for about 136,000 firearms.” During the initial phase of the collection program, only about 12,000 firearms were collected from firearm businesses, not even beginning to account for private ownership.
The cries from Canadian gun control groups supporting confiscation may sound familiar to Americans who revere and respect Second Amendment rights — something Canada doesn’t have.
“Several groups that advocate stricter gun controls said Saturday the national launch of the buyback program is ‘a win for public safety in Canada’ that addresses the risks posed by firearms ill-suited for hunting,” CTV News reported.
As is all too familiar here in the states, that argument from gun control activists falls flat simply because the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting and criminals ignore the law anyways.
The entire premise of Canada’s confiscation scheme is laughable if it didn’t demonstrate how utterly unserious its elected officials are about public safety.
Firearms are a tool that have been around for hundreds of years. Yes, of course they are utilized in hunting and target shooting. But they are more importantly about safety — individual safety. Protection against those who ignore the law and seek to harm others and to protect one’s property, family and life when law enforcement is not able to respond.
Governments can and do “come for the guns.” Just look to the north to see it.
– Larry Keane
