Marco Mendicino Says Government Will "Buy Back"Guns Banned By C-21, But They're Still Working On The Plan

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says the federal government will "buy back" the firearms they intend to seize through Bill C-21, but they are still working on a plan to effect their mass firearms confiscation.

Mendicino's remarks were published by the Globe & Mail on January 1. The paper first mentions the hundreds of firearms banned in the May, 2020 Order in Council, and then quotes Mendicino as saying "We respect law abiding gun owners, including hunters and farmers and Indigenous Peoples. And we will take a fair and equitable approach when it comes to compensating them for firearms which are ultimately determined to be prohibited under Bill C-21."

However, Mendicino said the government is still looking at how to make this actually happen, promising more news in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, police forces across the country have repeatedly stated their opposition to the Liberal government's push for gun control in recent years, on the ground that the measures announced only target law-abiding firearms owners, drawing resources away from actual crime-fighting.

Some of those police officers have suggested the government look at alternative bodies to organize and carry the planned firearms seizures, and indeed, Mendicino seemed to indicate that's what's being considered.

Calibre readers should not be surprised, as we went over all this back in March of 2022, when we told you about the plan (devised with help from IBM) to run a gun seizure program through the parcel system. A gun crackdown, orchestrated by the mailman? It might sound crazy, but it seems as if the Liberals are really thinking outside the normal channels of government and law enforcement.Sounds like there's still lots of work to do on this plan, despite the months of work and millions of dollars spent.

Of course, there's also lots of work left to do on Bill C-21. Although the bill is headed for third reading, the Opposition members on the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety (SECU) appear unwilling to pass it in its current form. If the NDP and Bloc Quebecois aid the Conservatives in their resistance to C-21 (probably headed for a run-out-the-clock play in the early months of 2023), then who knows? The firearms seizure plan will certainly not go as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet envisioned.