The Ministry of Public Safety has finally released its proposed price list for rifles banned in May of 2020, and is seeking public consultation on it for one month, closing the consultation period on August 28, 2022.
First and foremost, it is, to be blunt, offensively simplistic. After over two years of development and millions of taxpayer dollars spent, the buyback structure makes no concessions for make or model. The same government that has crowed about banning over 1,500 models of rifle at every opportunity has winnowed that massive list of makes and models down to just 11 categories, lumping hundreds of thousands of different guns together for a common payout value based on category.
It is the equivalent of a used auto dealer offering fixed prices for trade-ins depending on if the vehicle in question is a coupe, sedan, or pickup truck and paying no mind to even broad specifics like the make or model, except, in this case, the smarmy used auto dealer we're referring to is the Minister of Public Safety and the trade-in is mandatory; punishable by law.
This means that, according to the wording on Public Safety's website, those that purchased a stripped AR-15 lower for $200 or less are entitled to the same compensation as someone that spent $3,000 or more on a premium, completed AR-15 from brands like Diemaco, Taran Tactical, or Noveske. Even the largest compensation figure on the chart, intended no doubt to assuage the legal frustrations of the well-heeled Swiss Arms owners, doesn't take into account the exceedingly collectable Special models that commonly carried price tags that could double that of the stated compensation. And the inflation that's occurred since all these rifles were locked away two years ago? Don't even think about that. The government sure hasn't.
Finally, you have the pitifully small figures awarded for big-bore and high-powered rifles; commonly historical heirloom-grade cased 10-gauge or larger shotguns, .50 BMG rifles, and big game safari rifles commonly used to hunt in Africa. Many of these guns vary in value from $5,000 to literally six figures - but all, according to this plan, will be regarded as the same category of newly prohibited firearm and thus warranting the same lowball figures of $2,684 or $2,819.
It is, in a word, a farcical effort that belies, certainly, the complete lack of respect this Government demonstrates at every turn towards gun owners in this country, and likely a similar lack of intent to actually complete their stated goal of seizing many of these rifles. After all, who cares what you'll pay someone for their 120-year-old cased English 10-bore when you don't expect to get any remitted?
So, how did the government arrive at such a ridiculously simplistic list that manages to offend gun owners through both it's lack of specificity and it's lowball values? Well, according to Public Safety's website, the price list Public Consultation,
"The price list was developed by using data sources that include: manufacturer prices, Canadian retailer prices, foreign retailer prices (e.g. USA/EU), pricing guidebooks and auction listings. Wherever possible, manufacturer prices and Canadian retail prices were given priority."
Public Safety
So not only do Canadian gun owners have to contend with gun crime in foreign countries being used to justify domestic gun control laws, those same foreign countries with vastly larger markets and lower overheads to industry are also being allowed to drive down the price of compensation for Canadian gun owners who paid frequently vastly higher prices for the same wares.
Both the USA and the EU represent vastly larger markets with significantly lower regulatory hurdles and subsequently, lower prices on firearms; a fact that is still borne out today. Moreover, when the pricing is determined with such a broad brush as "AR platform," or "Firearms with a >20mm bore or greater," what possible resource could have been used that justified these published price points? No auction house, guide book or retailer on the planet sells guns thusly; you cannot walk into a gun store anywhere in the world that will have the same price for all their 12-gauge shotguns, and a different but similarly homogenous price for all their AR platform rifles. Again, it'd be like finding an auto dealer that'll sell you a coupe, and coupe, be it a Ferrari or a Hyundai for one price. Because that's asinine.
Now, thankfully (although not optimistically given the government's performance on the gun file thus far), the Liberals are offering a one-month period of public consultation on these prices. The process is incredibly simple, and we strongly recommend all gun owners go through it, with some caveats.
The first caveat is large, and broad, literally: It is truly a public consultation. Instead of restricting the survey to gun owners, it is available to the public at large, and the ensuing survey does not differ regardless of how you check the first question on the survey:
Now, one doesn't need to struggle to see the problem with this; by allowing the public at large to consult on the buyback values the government could potentially justify even reducing these payout amounts if they face significant public pressure to reduce costs. And since the survey seems to be completely untracked (as in, there is no ID required to take it, and it appears you can take it as many times as you'd like), the capacity for this consultation to be extravagantly gamed or manipulated seems extremely high. This in turn automatically leads to questions about its validity.
This matter of validity is not helped by the survey's odd format, which again, treats all survey applicants equally. For example, once one self-identifies as an impacted gun owner, gun owner, or non-gun owner, the next screen repeats the initially proposed list and simply asks "Whether you are in possession of a now-prohibited firearm or not, does this list accurately capture the price of the firearms categories?" The options are yes, or no. If you select no, the next screen looks like this, regardless of if you self-identified as a gun owner or not:
The survey will ask non-gun owners what they paid for rifles they don't own, which makes (like so much of this process thus far) no sense and demonstrates a clear and obvious lack of care having been taken to undertake this "consultation." Hell, even the programming of the survey demonstrates laziness; while it claims to have a maximum capacity of 8 figures per line, it'll only accept seven. Don't ask how we discovered that.
As a result, were this survey presented with even a modicum of care, we'd strongly counsel gun owners to be careful with their responses lest they accidentally indicate possession of a formerly non-restricted rifle no longer in your possession, but honestly, given the downright careless nature of both the compensation list and conjoined consultation we are at something of an impasse: If the entire process looks, feels, and acts like an absolute farce that's not had one whit of government care put into it, should gun owners engage? We're not sure.
But what we are sure of, is that there is always a second method of making your opinion known to legislators: Contact them directly. Email, phone calls, and letters, and plenty of them. As the individual in charge of this program we ask all gun owners, impacted or not, to take five minutes out of their day to contact the Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino, by phone, email and letter - and if you live in the Eglinton/Lawrence riding? Make an appointment to discuss the matter at his Constituency Office as the House of Commons remains in recess until Fall. As a constituent, it's your right; he works for you. And as a quick reminder, mail to an MP's office does not require postage; you can print off your letter, address it, and simply write "postage not required" if you so desire - it will be delivered.
Marco Mendicino:
Phone: 416-781-5583
Marco Mendicino, MP
511 Lawrence Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
M6A 1A3
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