BERNARDO: This mail will not go through, if it's a gun

On April 23 2024, news broke that Canada Post notified Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government that it will refuse to participate in the collection of firearms prohibited by the May 1 2020, Order in Council, or ship them for destruction.Canada Post’s refusal is “based on concerns about its employees' security” and other issues. "It's a challenge, but we do not think this jeopardizes our timetable or the government's desire to move forward," said an unnamed federal source.What an odd statement from this unnamed source. The government has no timetable, no funding allocated and no method to confiscate banned firearms from their licensed owners. “Ottawa's plan is to have owners of banned guns place the unloaded and secured weapons in government-issued boxes and then send them back to the government to be destroyed. The owners would then be financially compensated.” Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant described the government’s position extremely well. “Canada Post is a money-losing Crown Corporation. It is completely controlled by the federal government. It needs money from Trudeau. “Yet Canada Post took one look at Trudeau’s stupid suggestion (to collect and transport banned firearms) and said no. That is how bad an idea this is.” This is the latest in a long list of failures for Trudeau’s government following their May 1 2020, proclamation that “over 1,500 models and variants of assault-style firearms” “cannot be legally used, sold, or imported.” Saskatchewan and Alberta passed legislation dictating how and by whom firearms confiscations may take place. Manitoba, New Brunswick and Yukon all said NO to the Liberal confiscation scheme.As a result of these and other pressures, Justin Trudeau’s government has repeatedly pushed the deadline for compliance, originally set for April 30 2022. Domenic LeBlanc is Canada’s third Public Safety Minister on the firearms confiscation file, preceded by Marco Mendicino and Bill Blair. Bill Blair attempted to hire someone, anyone, to manage the confiscation scheme but repeatedly failed to entice a single company to apply for the job. Marco Mendicino ran around the country extolling the virtues of confiscating guns from licensed owners but did little to stop repeat violent offenders from obtaining smuggled guns. In October 2023, Dominic LeBlanc committed to introduce another Order in Council to “complete the 2020 ban.” So far, LeBlanc continues to operate like his predecessors. Make grand pronouncements and do nothing to implement them. Justin Trudeau’s government has no plan to seize and destroy “tens of thousands of assault weapons prohibited in 2020” including an estimated 90,000 AR-15s, despite wasting $42 million so far. They have not confiscated a single firearm. CBC reports, “The government has promised to carry out the buyback in two phases, starting with weapons and parts still in the hands of businesses and then proceeding to guns owned by individuals. The first phase could begin soon; the second phase is expected to take longer and be more complicated.” “Could begin soon…” The current deadline for compliance with the confiscation scheme is after the next federal election, an indication that Trudeau has no intention of moving forward with his confiscation scheme."Instead of taking aim at gangs and contraband guns, the Liberals are implementing a (firearms confiscation scheme) that punishes legitimate gun owners and ignores the real source of most gun crime in Canada," said Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus. A government's moral right to use state power against its citizens is justified and lawful only when consented to by those over which that political power is exercised. According to multiple credible researchers covering Canada’s gun laws from 1937 until today, at no point has voluntary compliance reached 60%. For a law, any law, to be considered enforceable, 85% of those affected by the law must voluntarily comply. As we noted in last week’s commentary, “Trudeau may be the most hated prime minister in Canadian history, but he’s not stupid. He knows there is nothing to gain by sending armed confiscation agents to seize legally-owned firearms, which is why he keeps kicking this can down the road.” Tony Bernardo is Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association