Premier Scott Moe's government introduced new legislation challenging the federal government's gun grab this week, amending The Saskatchewan Firearms Act to require Ottawa to “appropriately compensate” firearms owners.

With Prime Minister Mark Carney's government announcing it would take more action on the issue, Sask. Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod said the province wanted the federal authorities to be “responsible for appropriately compensating firearms owners, lawful firearms owners, whose property has now been devalued, effectively, because of the plan they’ve implemented.”

On this week's Western Canada-focused Buffalo Roundtable livestream, hosts Sheila Gunn Reid and Lise Merle praised the premier for his pragmatic approach.

Sheila called Saskatchewan's plan to create a provincial agency to licence companies involved in gun confiscation a “stroke of genius,” because it comes with a catch: the province is “refusing to fund it.”

Go Ad Free

Defunding bureaucracies is a “solution to so many problems in Saskatchewan,” added Lise, saying she “applauded” the move. “If Scott Moe would just start defunding all of the bad stuff, it would go away.”

Applying a similar approach to something like diversity, equity and inclusion programs, she continued, would “get rid of all of the crazy woke here.”

Crown corporations are “normally” an idea Sheila said she would oppose. In this case, “to use it for good, to protect the rights of the law-abiding, I thought it was an absolute genius troll.”

Initiatives like the gun grab, DEI and a focus on so-called green energy “all cost money,” said Lise, suggesting the province could simply stop paying for them.

In Cape Breton, the Nova Scotia city that rolled out a pilot program for the federal gun grab, just 22 guns were turned in. Federal expectations were that over 200 would be received.

The cost, Sheila said, was around $7,000 per firearm — a steep price, given the number of firearms the Carney Liberals hope to confiscate.

“I think maybe in some places, municipal police departments want to do this,” Sheila said. “But I don't think your rural RCMP member wants any part of this.”