Most Canadians want feds to focus on gun crime, not confiscation: Poll
“Planning to spend potentially billions of dollars on a program that Canadians don’t think is effective is a waste of money," said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Gage Haubrich
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OTTAWA — As Canada continues to battle high crime rates, most Canadians want the federal government to focus on criminals rather than law-abiding firearms owners, according to a survey.
In a Leger survey commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, 55% of those polled say Canadian gun policy should focus on introducing tougher measures to stop illegal firearms from being smuggled into Canada from the United States.
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Just 26% want the government to instead ban the sale and ownership of certain models of firearms, and to compel owners to turn over their property via the Liberals’ “buyback” program.
“The poll shows that Canadians know the real problem is illegal gun smuggling, not firearms owned by licenced Canadian gun owners,” said Gage Haubrich, the federation’s prairie director.
“Planning to spend potentially billions of dollars on a program that Canadians don’t think is effective is a waste of money.”
Introduced by the Trudeau Liberals, Canada’s gun policy has largely focused on disarming licenced Canadian gun owners over closing Canada’s porus borders to smugglers illegally importing weapons from the United States.
Attempts to strengthen Canada’s gun laws was a long, messy road for the Trudeau Liberals.
Experts, observers and even Canada’s police chiefs have long stated that most crime guns seen on Canadian streets are prohibited firearms that were never legal for sale in this country.
The Liberals have been trying to enact their firearm confiscation program since 2020 with little success.
As of last September, $67 million has so far been spent on the program without confiscating a single gun.
As well, a key plan in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s gun platform during the recent federal election — revoking gun licences for those convicted of domestic violence — is already Canadian law.
A 1985 amendment to the Criminal Code — Section 109 — states those convicted of violent crimes against a person are subject to mandatory firearms bans.
As well, specific regulations separating intimate partner violence as a separate aspect to the offence, was introduced by the Justin Trudeau Liberals in 2019 as part of Bill C-75.
Licenced gun owners in Canada are already subject to automatic and daily criminal record checks.
The poll was conducted among 1,537 adult Canadians via Leger’s online panel between May 16 and May 18, 2025.
As margins of error cannot be applied to online panels, an equivalent probability sample would yield a margin of error of ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.f ±2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
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