Liberal government adds 179 new models to prohibited firearms

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OTTAWA — In the Trudeau Liberals’ latest attempt to shore up their floundering gun control policy, 179 new models were added to the government’s list of prohibited firearms.

This comes two months after the Liberals added 324 firearms to their ban list — despite amnesty periods in those moves expiring a little over a week after the legislated end of the current government.

Speaking to reporters Friday, Associate Public Safety Minister Rachel Bendayan said the move will take effect immediately.

“It is our hope, our government’s intention, that this be the last discrete listing of assault-style firearms for prohibition,” she said.

“If we finish the job well, we have all the tools necessary to ensure that new models of assault-style weapons will be captured and denied legal entry into the Canadian market.”

Bendayan insisted on describing the banned guns as “weapons of war,” though they largely consist of semi-automatic hunting and sporting firearms specifically marketed for the civilian market.

Despite government proclamations that disarming licensed, legal firearm owners will reduce gun crime, academics and police chiefs have said for years that most crime guns in Canada are models not available for sale in Canada, and smuggled into the country from the United States.

Bendayan said the government’s “buyback” program, underway since December, has been a success.

“As of today, nearly 7,500 firearms have been submitted by businesses across the country for collection and destruction,” she said. “A large majority of them have already been destroyed.”

That confiscation program will be expanded to individuals later this spring.

A review of current classifications will also be launched, but as such a move requires legislation to pass the House of Commons, Bendayan ducked questions about how that’s supposed to happen considering the ongoing prorogation and a looming federal election that could see the Liberals removed from office.

The Trudeau Liberals have been trying for nearly five years to set their gun control policies in motion.

Previous attempts to apply blanket gun bans proved so unpopular that even Liberal MPs spoke out against them.

In 2022, the Liberals quietly tabled two amendments to bill C-21 representing sweeping changes that would have outlawed legal rifles used daily by hunters and sport shooters.

The Liberals withdrew those amendments after massive blowback from hunters, sports shooters and First Nations, a move described by the opposition Tories as a “humiliating climb-down” for the prime minister.

Policy analyst and thegunblog.ca editor Nicolas Johnson told the Toronto Sun that Friday’s announcement feels like an 11th-hour scramble on the final business day before the PM retires.

“One piece of good news is that the Liberals cleared up any doubt about their intentions. They confirmed they will keep working to suppress the millions of men, women, and youth who use firearms every day safely and responsibly,” Johnson said.

Tracey Wilson of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights described the announcement as yet another deceitful and deceptive action on the firearm file.

“Gun-toting criminals are still kicking in Canadian doors and letting bullets fly on Canadian streets, and Liberals haven’t lifted a finger to stop this,” she said.

“We will not rest until these measures are repealed and those who show such contempt to society’s most trusted citizens are held accountable for their actions.”

A list of these newly-banned firearms has not yet been provided as of publication.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com

X: @bryanpassifiume