Some Canadians pull out of federal gun grab program at the last minute

CALGARY — Tuesday marked the final day for Canadian gun owners to declare their prohibited firearms and receive compensation as part of the Liberal government’s gun grab program, and some gun owners are backtracking on their declaration.Earlier this month, Public Safety Canada announced that more than 47,000 firearms had been declared across Canada after two months of the program — a number that represented roughly 2% of all guns prohibited by Ottawa, according to some critics..Now, with deadline day arriving, some gun owners are regretting their decision to comply and are withdrawing from the Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program (ASFCP).One user on the subreddit r/canadaguns cited remarks made by MP Nathalie Provost (Chateauguay—Les Jardins-de-Napierville), a gun control advocate and survivor of the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre, during a recent press conference as the reason for their decision, alleging her comments pushed them to withdraw as a form of protest.The individual — who identified as a Quebec resident — said they had originally “registered in a panic when registration opened up, especially as I could have really used the money.”.However, over the past few months, the individual said they had been “feeling incredibly guilty and regretful about my decision to take part in this.”“I was also hugely inspired by hearing the numbers they published, and how many people had held strong in solidarity,” the Reddit user said, adding that one of the most important factors in their decision was Provost’s behaviour, calling it “absolutely disgraceful.”“She has absolutely no place in government,” the Reddit user went on.“That ended up being the last straw for me, especially the part where she started yelling at us to ‘do our civic duty’. So Nathalie, if you’re reading this, well done; you pushed me to do my actual civic duty.”The individual went on to describe the withdrawal process as relatively straightforward, saying they contacted the program’s call centre and were connected to an agent within minutes.After providing identifying information, they were informed their file would be marked inactive but retained temporarily, and would be “destroyed after two years.”.GUN GRAB FAIL: Firearms program flops as deadline looms.According to the Reddit user, participants who withdraw may still be required to comply with government requests related to their firearms, and previously submitted information could still be used for monitoring purposes.The individual also added that “if the government comes asking me about my firearms, withdrawal doesn’t mean I am exempt from cooperating with them.”The Reddit user revealed the entire process took roughly 13 minutes.Despite forfeiting compensation, the individual stated they believed withdrawing from the program was the right move.“The prospect of losing the cash hurts, but what hurt more was, over the past months, knowing I didn’t do the right thing,” the Reddit user said.“With the absolutely catastrophic participation, and the upcoming Supreme Court challenge, we have a better chance than ever. In any case, no matter what happens, see y’all at the range.”.Reaction online was predominantly supportive of the Redditor’s post, with one X user saying that they were guessing Canadians are “going to get stonewalled on the number of withdrawals.”“It's pretty obvious to most people that the completion rate for this program is going to be much lower than currently advertised,” the user said.“No one has been more harmful to the cause of anti-gun support than the anti-gun lobby," another commentator said. "They stand on a foundation of lies and feelings."Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he wanted to thank those who worked on the gun grab program and “made it possible,” as well as gun owners who “brought forward their weapons for compensation.”When asked if the number of firearms that had been declared was close to the government’s estimates, the prime minister did not give a clear answer as to exact numbers. “It’s not as high as the estimates of the number of guns,” Carney said.“There’s obviously a gap there.”

Some Canadians pull out of federal gun grab program at the last minute

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