At least one Canadian province is standing up to the Maple Fist of Justin Trudeau. Trudeau’s government has made gun confiscation a priority, which also involves a mandatory buyback program. Alberta does not plan to cooperate.
The CBC reports that the province’s justice minister, Tyler Shandro, received a letter from the minister of public safety, Marco Mendocino, announcing the impending confiscations. He said the province will not submit to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police taking guns, particularly those the CBC refers to as “assault style weapons.”
“Alberta taxpayers pay over $750 million per year for the RCMP,” remarked Shandro, “and we will not tolerate taking officers off the streets in order to confiscate the property of law-abiding firearms owners.”
According to Canada’s National Post, Shandro has accused the Canadian government of fearmongering by referring to multiple guns as “assault style” to scare the part of the public that may be unfamiliar with firearms. He has also said that the confiscation was politically motivated. In June, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe called a gun freeze virtue signaling by the federal government.
According to CTV Canada, the Canadian federal government announced the ban this past spring. The ban prohibits 1,500 models of guns and related products, many semi-automatic guns that were already restricted, and many guns that had not been restricted before the ban. The country has already banned the sale or transfer of handguns, including their importation, although current owners can retain their weapons.
For his part, Mendocino has said the buyback will go on as planned. Shandro said he will not permit the police in his province or the RCMP to do anything of the sort. While Shandro said he plans to join current legal challenges, Mendocino argues that the buybacks and confiscations are within federal jurisdiction. He added, “Assault style rifles are not used for hunting. They’re used and were designed to exert the most amount of lethal force in the shortest period of time.” Mendocino also referred to Shandro’s unwillingness to cooperate as “reckless” and a “political “stunt.”
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Shandro is not being reckless. Far from it. He undoubtedly remembers what Trudeau did to the Canadian truckers, and he quite rightly sees how the measure could easily reach far beyond “assault-style” weapons, and how loosely that phrase is thrown around. He also understands that whether it is guns, land, taxes, personal rights, or candy bars, what the government takes, it never gives back.
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