By Rachel Emmanuel
Alberta is increasing financial support to its Chief Firearms Officer by over $700,000 this year to speed up the process of gun licences and transfers.
Since the federal government announced an impending ban on handgun sales and transfers, Albertans have rushed to buy or transfer handguns while they still can.
The funding will allow the Chief Firearms Officer to hire more staff to process licence applications, transfers, authorizations to carry and more from Alberta, said Justice Minister Tyler Shandro.
“Funding provided today will patriate administrative work that Albert is able to legally take over under the Firearms Act, enabling this work to fall under the direct authority, under the supervision and under the management of the Alberta Chief Firearms Officer,” Shandro said Thursday morning.
Recent federal legislation effectively banning handguns has led to an unprecedented increase in sales and transfers of more than 178,000 handguns since spring, according to a government briefing. Applications are typically processed in Miramichi, N.B., by the Canadian Firearms Program, which is administered by the RCMP.