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The Trudeau government has revealed no plans on collecting restricted firearms or any compensation provisions, a blog details. One academic believes taxpayer costs may exceed $6 billion for gun confiscation.

In May 2020, the feds passed an Order-in-Council banning 1,500 “assault-style” firearms and distinguishing components of newly prohibited firearms. Owners have until October 2023 to comply with the law.

“When announcing the ban, the prime minister said the government would confiscate the banned firearms and their legal owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or receive ‘fair compensation’. That hasn’t happened,” wrote criminologist Gary Mauser.

Mauser estimated costs between $2.6 billion and $6.7 billion. His figure adopts compensation costs ($756 million) detailed by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“I estimated the cost of collecting the prohibited firearms could total between $1.6 billion and $5 billion. This range estimate rises to between $2.647 billion and $6.756 billion after you include compensation costs to owners,” wrote the criminologist.

The PBO assessment excludes planning and program administration costs, consultation fees, firearm collection and evaluation, storage and destruction of collected firearms, and business losses due to prohibited inventory. 

The feds intend to buy back 2,063 firearm models from retailers after passing Bill C-21, An Act to amend certain Acts and to make certain consequential amendments (firearms). It received royal assent last December 15.

“This ban instantly made it a crime for federally-licensed firearms owners to buy, sell, transport, import, export or use hundreds of thousands of formerly legal rifles and shotguns,” Mauser wrote.

“According to the government, the ban targets ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are actually classic semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have been popular with hunters and sport shooters for more than 100 years,” he continued.

Since Trudeau’s announcement four years ago, virtually none of the banned firearms have been surrendered. 

The RCMP in an Inquiry Of Ministry said it had 2,123 blacklisted firearms, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. A third, a total 723, were surrendered by owners. Another third were seized in police investigations.

The figures were requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs who asked, “With regard to firearms prohibited as a result of the May 1, 2020 Order In Council, how many have been turned in, seized, confiscated or otherwise obtained by the government?”

Cabinet in 2020 blacklisted hundreds of thousands of high-powered firearms. Federal consultants counted 110,161 affected by the ban. The Department of Public Safety later estimated the number was as high as 200,000 while the Budget Office put it up to 518,000 firearms.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has splurged $72 million on its firearm “buyback” program without confiscating a single firearm to date.

Public Safety Canada, in response to an order paper question filed by Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, uncovered the federal government spending $41,094,556 without any results.

The Liberals estimated in an internal memo in late 2019 that their politically motivated harassment would cost $1.8 billion.

As of December 2023, the Liberals and RCMP paid or were liable for about $30 million in personnel costs for employees working on the crackdown, according to estimates by TheGunBlog.ca.

The police service’s union earlier said gun confiscation is a “misdirected effort” to maintain public safety.

“[It] diverts extremely important personnel, resources, and funding away from addressing the more immediate and growing threat of criminal use of illegal firearms,” said the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), which represents firearms retailers, said it will have “zero involvement” in helping confiscate these firearms. Even Canada Post refrained from aiding efforts over safety concerns.

The consultant earlier estimated that retailers have nearly $1 billion in inventory that can't be sold or returned to suppliers due to the Order-In-Council. 

“While the ban remains a confusing mess, after four years we should be able to answer one key question. Has the ban made Canadians safer?” wrote Mauser.

According to Statistics Canada, firearm-related violent crime swelled by 10% from 2020 to 2022, from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. 

During that period, the rate of firearm-related violent crime rose from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the following year. “This is the highest rate recorded since comparable data were first collected in 2009,” the criminologist details.

Additional StatsCan data revealed firearm homicides have increased since 2020. “This is because lawfully-held firearms are not the problem,” Mauser said.

Banned firearms, under the Order-in-Council, remain locked in the safes of their legal owners. They were vetted by the RCMP and are monitored nightly for any infractions that might endanger public safety.

“The firearms used in homicides were rarely legal firearms used by their legal owners,” Mauser continues. Crimes committed by organized crime have increased from 4,810 crimes in 2016 to 13,056 crimes in 2020.

“If policymakers … want to reduce crime and increase public safety, they should enact policies that actually target criminals and use our scarce tax dollars wisely to achieve these goals,” he wrote.

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