This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Harold Hutchison
Canada may turn to retired police officers to carry out a door-to-door confiscation of firearms, a senior official told a member of Parliament during a March hearing.
Then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation known as C-21 to freeze handgun purchases and a “buy back” of military-style semi-automatic firearms in May 2022, with the bill receiving Royal Assent in December 2023. Conservative Member of Parliament Dane Lloyd of Alberta questioned Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree about the apparent large-scale refusal to comply from gun owners.
“Minister, the declaration period for firearms owners is scheduled to end next week. So far, only 2.5 percent of the estimated two million effected firearms have been declared and 98 percent [of] firearms owners haven’t made a declaration,” Lloyd said. “So, if they’re not declaring by next week, what’s your plan, Minister?”
WATCH:
The legislation contained an Australia-style “buyback” of so-called “assault weapons” after Trudeau’s government banned over 2,500 types of modern semiautomatic firearms following a 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.
“The plan we have is as of March 31st, the time to complete the enrollment, will be, will be done and then the RCMP and other agencies will be available throughout the spring and the summer to do the collection,” Anandasangaree responded, prompting Lloyd to ask, “So Minister, you’re saying that RCMP members, we just heard an Auditor General report saying we’re short 3400 members, we’re dealing with a wave of violent crime across this country, and you’re saying that your plan is over the spring and the summer to deploy RCMP officers to go door to door to firearms owners and seize their firearms?”
“The RCMP resources and the resources we will use with law enforcement, does not contemplate in any way using existing resources,” Anandasangaree replied. “These are additional resources, so these are those who are off duty, those who may be retired, Quebec, for example, SC, for example, has their own, mechanism. But let me be very clear, it is in no way to take away from existing police resources.”
The National Rifle Association issued a statement denouncing the planned Canadian confiscation.
“Canadian officials swore up and down that their so-called ‘common-sense’ gun grab was only about public safety. We told you exactly where this was headed: mandatory registration and mass confiscation,” NRA Director of Public Affairs Justin Davis said in a statement posted on X. “This should not be a surprise; the endgame for all gun-grabbers is always gun confiscation-every single time. Americans should take note that once they start down this road, they never stop at ‘reasonable’ restrictions. They keep coming until your rights are gone.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans for a mass confiscation of firearms in response to a December 2025 terrorist attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach that was inspired by the radical Islamic terrorist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
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The experience in New Zealand is that only 5% of weapons were turned in after they were declared illegal. The rest got buried. Expect the same for Canada and Australia.