Saskatchewan Firearms Act Passes With Unanimous Approval In Legislature

It's been a busy week in the Saskatchewan provincial legislature, with second reading and then final approval of the new Firearms Act. And despite decades of disagreements between left-wing and right-wing politicians over gun control, everyone in the provincial government was able to agree on this new Act, as it passed with unanimous approval, even from the NDP opposition.

Saskatchewan hasn't published an official press release about the move, but back when the Act was introduced in December of 2022, Corrections, Policing and Public Safety Minister Christine Tell said "This Act will help address concerns of responsible firearms owners and enhance public safety across Saskatchewan," while also emphasizing an equal interest in public safety and cracking down on gang violence and illegal guns.

Talk is cheap, but the provincial government put its money where its mouth is. At the same time as it was working on passing the Firearms Act this week, Saskatchewan's Firearms Office signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saskatoon Police Service to house its new ballistics lab in the department's facility for the next two years.

In other words, this isn't just a big push back against perceived overreach by the federal government with recent gun control legislation—but it certainly is that. The Act requires any personnel involved in firearms seizures to be licenced by the province, which gives it a major amount of control over the whole process, especially since the Act bans police from doing firearms seizures. It also establishes a Firearms Compensation Committee that determines the fair market value of "any firearms, ammunition and related accessories being expropriated by the federal government." Translation: If the feds take your AR-15, Saskatchewan seems ready to make sure they pay for all your rails and foregrips and everything else, too.

The Act also requires ballistic and forensic testing of seized firearms. This is another potential roadblock for the province to throw at the federal government, as it could drastically slow down the seizure process. On the other hand, now that Saskatchewan has its own ballistics lab now, the province can also use that resource to test seized firearms to see if they've been used in cold cases.

What next?

Alberta and Saskatchewan are both taking strong stances against federal gun control; Alberta's own Bill 8, with similar intentions to Saskatchewan's Firearms Act, is currently working its way through the legislature there. Expect more news on that soon.

But does any of this matter, or is it all posturing? Remember that ultimately, Ottawa generally gets its way on gun control. All the West may be doing is adding time to the clock. As the next federal election grows nearer, maybe that will be enough to help the voters of those provinces, though.