Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that Bill C-21, the bill to further restrict access to handguns in Canada, is essential to end gun violence.
In his testimony before the Public Safety Committee, Mendicino was specifically asked repeatedly about whether the gun buy-back portion of the bill was the most effective way to reduce instances of gun violence currently on the rise.
If passed, Bill C-21 would introduce a nationwide handgun ‘freeze’ on sales, purchases or transfers of handguns, introduce ‘red flag’ laws, increase maximum penalties for certain firearms offenses and would implement a buyback program for more than 1,500 “assault” firearms that were banned in the country in 2020.
“It’s clear wherever you’re seated, whatever side of the aisle or partisan stripe, that the status quo is not going to be enough,” Mendicino told the committee. “And every time I meet someone who has lost a loved one or been hurt by violence…we owe it to them to do more.”
Opponents of the bill say the buy-back program is too expensive and punishes law-abiding gun owners, instead of effectively reducing gun violence by preventing the smuggling of illegal guns across the border .
Conservative MP and public safety critic Raquel Dancho questioned Mendicino at length about the cost of the program, saying RCMP officers are already stretched thin in many parts of the country.
She argued that the takeover would take money away from community protection and border enforcement.
“Ensuring that police departments that operate within provincial borders have the resources to enforce the laws to keep our community safe is not mutually exclusive to the buyback of assault rifles, and the reason is simple: these weapons were designed for one purpose and that is to kill,” Mendicino said.
“I think it’s reckless and they will further endanger our communities,” Dancho told the minister, to which Mendicino replied that he “didn’t agree with respect.”
Officials in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have said they will not support the federal government’s buyout program and will not divert law enforcement officials to that task, a position who Mendicino called “reckless” during a CTV Question Period interview last week.
Mendicino told the committee he had no “plan B” if the Prairies refused to support the program, and that he was currently focusing on “plan A.”
“In the view of this government, promoting a fair buy-back program that will compensate law-abiding gun owners for assault rifles they originally purchased legally is consistent with the safety of our community, and we will always work with our provincial and territorial governments. partners,” Mendicino said.