Public Safety Minister indicates new long gun ban OIC "in coming days"

Yesterday, in response to a question from Bloc MP Kristina Michaud, Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc testified before the Standing Committee on Public Safety (SECU) that the government intends to issue another OIC prohibiting yet more long guns “in the coming days.”

Prefacing her question by citing the pending 35th anniversary of the tragic massacre that occurred at Polytechnique on December 6, 1989, Michaud then went on to repeat a line of inquiry often put forward by anti-gun lobbyists Polysesouvient; stating that although the government banned 1,500 firearms on May 1, 2020 (a number that has since eclipsed 2,000 as a result of ongoing prohibitions by FRT) there remain hundreds of “similiar firearms” that are not banned, and that unless those firearms are also prohibited, gun owners will simply take the compensation the government provides them in exchange for their prohibited firearms and purchase one of these similiar, but non-restricted firearms - rendering the entire program moot. She then closed, asking LeBlanc “can we expect a total ban of assault-style firearms before implementation of this program?”

LeBlanc’s circuitous response was to the affirmative; saying that yes, a new OIC is going to be presented in the coming days with a “final list of prohibited weapons” that will prevent the situation Michaud laid out and prevent gun owners from being able to buy a “modern version” of their prohibited firearm. He specifically referred to a “gap list,” presumably indicating the existence of a new list of firearms the government believes it failed to prohibit initially, and so it appears the government intends to expand the list of prohibited long guns significantly, and imminently - likely in conjunction with the upcoming anniversary of the Polytechnique mass murder.

LeBlanc also mentioned the existence of a “task force” that will work with the RCMP to achieve this objective, and that this “technical team” has had numerous meetings, with the most recent one occurring just last week. This is noteworthy both because it indicates that the government has abandoned its commitment to reconvening the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, instead preferring to use a murky, entirely non-transparent “task force” to produce the so-called “gap list.” Additionally, the comment that this team “works with the RCMP” would seem to indicate that they do no work for the RCMP - meaning it is not comprised of members of the RCMP’s Firearms Program.

More on this developing story as it unfolds.