Latest ASFCP Communication Blurs Lines Between Police, Politics

Earlier today, firearms owners received the above email (text follows below):

REMINDER OF COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

Our records indicate that certain firearms previously registered to you were deemed prohibited by a change to their classification in 2020, 2024 or 2025.

This email serves as a reminder that these prohibited firearms must be disposed of by the end of the Amnesty Orders. These Amnesty Orders end on October 30, 2026. After this date, you will be in illegal possession of these prohibited firearms.

Several options are available to you to ensure compliance prior to the expiry of the Amnesty Orders. One disposal option is participation in the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program (ASFCP). To participate in the ASFCP you must declare your firearm(s) by March 31, 2026.

Other options to dispose of your prohibited firearm(s) before October 30, 2026 include:

deactivating your firearm(s) without compensation
surrendering your firearm(s) to police without compensation
exporting your firearm(s)

For further information about the ASFCP, please visit the Public Safety Canada website at https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/campaigns/firearms-buyback.html.

Registrar of Firearms
Canadian Firearms Program
Royal Canadian Mounted Police

This marks the third email firearms owners have received regarding the ASFCP, all from the same email address, but most notably is the first to be issued on RCMP letterhead and with the RCMP formally recognized as the signatory. All prior emails were marked with Public Safety Canada's letterhead, and signed as follows:

The Canadian Firearms Program facilitated the delivery of this notification on behalf of Public Safety Canada and has not shared or disclosed any licence holder names, addresses or personal information with Public Safety Canada.

Obviously both this recent communique's tone and content reflect a dramatic departure from previous communications, and in doing so, worryingly blurs the lines between politics and policing.

To explain: The RCMP, as Canada's federal police agency, are tasked with enforcing the law. The Canadian Firearms Program, which is operated by the RCMP's Specialized Policing Services branch, is responsible for the administration of the Firearms Act, with its Registrar of Firearms specifically tasked with the issuance and revocation of firearms registration certificates and carriers' licences, in accordance with the Firearms Act.

However, the ASFCP is not part of the Firearms Act. In fact, the ASFCP is not contained in any legislative act, because the ASFCP is not law. It is an optional compensation program provided and administered by Public Safety Canada that has become one of the most controversial federal programs in recent memory: Quebec is the only provincial government who remains supportive of the program, and with recent news that all potential NDP leadership candidate oppose the program, the Liberal Party of Canada is the program's sole national political backer in the House of Commons.

So for the RCMP to tacitly threaten gun owners with the considerable criminal charge of illegal possession of a prohibited firearm if they do not comply with a deadline still eight months away, while also misleading them by believe no alternative methods are available in the interim to receive compensation for said firearms (owners who choose to deactivate their firearms are compensated for doing so), may not only be beyond the scope of the RCMP and the Canadian Firearms Program, but also an obvious effort to drive participation in the ASFCP, and as such, is tantamount to the RCMP carrying water for a program that by any metric can be accurately described as a nakedly partisan Liberal Party of Canada effort.

And this sets a dangerous precedent, because in no uncertain terms, most recipients of this recent email - all of whom who get daily criminal record checks conducted by the RCMP - are interpreting this missive as a threat, delivered by those same RCMP to support a Liberal Party program. It blurs the lines between political and policing efforts, and in doing so, subverts the ability of the latter to the benefit of the former.