Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the federal firearm “buyback” program has been mischaracterized, insisting it’s not a confiscation scheme but rather a “voluntary” initiative.Speaking on the Wednesday episode of Real Talk with Ryan Jespersen, Carney said the program has been widely misrepresented..“This is not about confiscation. This is about the voluntary return of firearms for compensation,” Carney said.While Carney’s government frames the initiative as a targeted safety measure focused on so-called “assault-style” rifles, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and other conservative leaders have cast it as federal overreach into provincial jurisdiction and an attack on law-abiding gun owners.Smith told an Aug. 27 Alberta Next town hall that her government would fight the federal program at every turn.She outlined steps her government had already taken, including ordering municipalities not to enforce a handgun ban, directing the RCMP and sheriffs to avoid participating in the program, and requiring municipal police forces to obtain permits from the provincial justice minister before taking part.“We’ve also passed our own Firearms Act, and we will do everything we possibly can to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to get the permit that they need to participate in the program,” Smith said, adding that Alberta and Saskatchewan would work together to resist the federal plan..Federal firearm ‘buyback’ has yet to collect a single gun $67 million and four years later.Carney accused critics of deliberately misleading Canadians about the scope of the program.“We’ll run a process. We’ll have different processes in different provinces that respect the decisions of the province of Alberta in its areas of jurisdiction, but this process will roll out,” he said.“We’re not confiscating guns. That is a mischaracterization. What it is, is an opportunity for Canadians to return guns for compensation.“We’re not talking about hunting rifles or sport shooting or anything like that, we’re talking about assault rifles. We’re talking about serious weapons.”The debate is far from settled as Ottawa struggles to meet its own deadlines.The “buyback program,” first announced in May 2020, has already missed three target completion dates.Federal officials now say it will be wrapped up “no later” than the end of 2026, according to an Aug. 18 Toronto Star report citing Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree.
