‘Do not enforce’: Alberta tells police to ignore Liberal gun confiscation order
by Isaac Lamoureux
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.
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.