The federal government extended the amnesty period for 2,015 banned firearms — a move the industry says it expected due to the “staggering costs and enormous manpower” Ottawa requires to confiscate the property. .The Canada Gazette was updated on Wednesday to defer the amnesty period for a May 1, 2020, Order in Council that currently bans 2,015 different makes and models of common firearms, from April 30, 2022 to October 30, 2023..All these guns — totalling hundreds of thousands across Canada — are now considered prohibited weapons, but the federal government has no way to implement confiscation, Tony Bernardo, head of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association said..“No one is willing to collect them and there is nowhere to take them,” Bernardo told the Western Standard. “There are no secure facilities where these things can be put.”.A Criminal Code amnesty period is designed to protect those who legally owned the firearms when the prohibition came into force and give them time to comply with the law, such as by deactivating their firearms and delivering them for destruction..The federal government has promised fair compensation to owners since their firearms were purchased legally, but Ottawa underestimated this would cost them billions, Bernardo said. .Meanwhile, the police declined the government’s request to collect the firearms and gun dealers also refused to become collection points, Bernardo said..Even if the firearms were collected, the government has nowhere to store them, he said. The guns can’t be melted because of plastic parts, and the different types of metals can’t be easily separated either, he said. .Owners of the prohibited guns can’t move or store them — they can only lock them up in storage “much like they were on the day they were first purchased,” Bernardo said..Ottawa “bit off way more than they can chew,” he said, and the deferment is “another year and-a-half for them to aimlessly wander around in circles saying ‘What are we going to do?’” .Public Safety Canada, the department responsible for firearm prohibition, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the deferment on Wednesday..Rachel Emmanuel is an Ottawa Parliamentary reporter for the Western Standard
