‘Do not enforce’: Alberta tells police to ignore Liberal gun confiscation order

Amidst criticism over the government’s looming gun confiscation program, the Alberta government is drawing a line in the sand, instructing police within its jurisdiction to focus on other priorities.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Amidst a firestorm of criticism over the Liberal government’s looming gun confiscation program, the Alberta government is drawing a line in the sand, instructing police within its jurisdiction to focus on other priorities.

In a Tuesday news release, Alberta’s Minister of Justice Mickey Amery and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis made the provincial government’s position clear.

“Simply put, Alberta’s government will not be enforcing this gun grab, and we will make clear to law enforcement that this is not an enforcement priority. We expect them to focus their time and resources on real provincial policing priorities – like violent criminals, not hunters and sport shooters,” said the ministers in a joint statement.

The two ministers clarified that Alberta has already taken steps to limit the reach of the program, including blocking municipalities from creating patchwork firearms bans and requiring anyone who seizes, stores, or destroys firearms in Alberta to be licensed through the Chief Firearms Officer.

They added that they would continue to advocate for legal firearms owners in Alberta and their rights to own, collect, and use firearms for hunting and sports shooting.

The announcement follows weeks of contradictions in Ottawa’s messaging.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has repeatedly called the buyback “voluntary,” even as he and other Liberals confirmed that Canadians who fail to surrender their firearms once the amnesty expires will be considered criminals under federal law.

In recently leaked audio, Anandasangaree privately admitted he doubted police had the resources to enforce the plan. He told the tenant of one of his rental properties that he would bail him out of jail if he were arrested. Andasangaree tried to dismiss the remarks as a “bad attempt at humour” only a day later.

Alberta officials said the contradiction shows Ottawa itself knows the plan is unworkable.

“The federal Minister of Public Safety said himself that he doesn’t think the police can properly enforce the program and acknowledged that the Ontario Provincial Police will not enforce the program in that province,” Amery and Ellis said. “Further, the minister has made it very clear that they are only keeping this program to satisfy Liberal voters in Quebec.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had already promised to use every power available to her government to defend firearm rights and fight the Liberals’ gun confiscation scheme.

Smith similarly said that her government has told sheriffs and municipal police that anyone wanting to participate in the confiscation scheme will require a permit from the justice minister, but that none would be provided.

She also explained previously that her province is within its jurisdictional right to legislate firearms.

“We’re working right now on what a legislative framework for an Alberta firearms license would look like. We’re going to fight it out because property and civil rights are our jurisdiction,” she said.

Ellis and Amery said Ottawa should abandon the program, which has a $742 million budget cap despite costs expected to come closer to $2 billion.

“The Liberal government should end this program, which will waste over $700 million and counting and directly attacks firearms owners, and instead prioritize measures that will actually keep Canadians safe,” reads the joint release.

Alberta’s refusal to enforce means that while gun owners in other provinces may face police action if they refuse to surrender their firearms, those in Alberta are unlikely to.