Alberta Still Plans On Legislation To Protect Gun Owners This Spring

There's a provincial election looming on the horizon in Alberta, but even as the weeks tick down, the United Conservative Party is looking to protect firearms owners from impending federal firearms confiscation.

On March 1, Joseph Schow, Alberta's provincial House leader and MLA for Cardston-Siksika, said the UCP is working on a bill that will protect that province's firearms owners from federal plans to seize firearms under a so-called buyback plan. Details are limited, though; the Canadian Press quotes Schow as saying "“A number of firearms owners in this province have reached out to me and a number of my colleagues and feel that the federal legislation is an overreach.”

That might be the understatement of the year, as Alberta's UCP leadership has been in constant disagreement with the federal Liberal government since the Order in Council bans announced in May of 2020, and this disagreement has not been limited to only one or two UCP foot soldiers.

In early 2021, the UCP passed Bill 211, a provincial law intended to protect firearms owners' rights by dealing with the city-province jurisdiction issues raised by federal legislation. In early 2022, Alberta appointed firearms collector, author and expert Dr. Teri Bryant as the province's Chief Firearms Officer. In September of 2022, the province took a direct stand against federal firearms seizures, and convinced other provinces to join its ranks. In December, Alberta handed its crown prosecutors a protocol for handling firearms cases relating to guns banned by the federal government, and also promised a provincial Firearms Act by spring.

Spring is almost here, and we haven't seen that Firearms Act yet (although Saskatchewan announced its own Firearms Act in December). But before Albertans head to the provincial polls at the end of May, the legislature is sitting for a few weeks. If the UCP wants to get anything done, it must act quickly.

As for the contents of an Alberta Firearms Act? The Saskatchewan act was basically filled with run-out-the-clock tactics to make it more difficult for the federal government to seize firearms, including wordage demanding provincially-licenced personnel handling the buyback program. Perhaps Alberta's plan is more aggressive, as UCP leaders seem to be intent on crossing sabres with the feds, although they're certainly limited by their powers as provincial leaders. A delay tactic such as was introduced in Saskatchewan may be the quickest and easiest thing to push through at this point.