Alberta’s Bill 8: Update
On Tuesday, March 7, the UCP government announced plans to table the Alberta Firearms Act; the latest chapter in a contentious history of gun control policy in Canada. Since the enactment of the federal Firearms Act in 1995, gun control has been a topic of fierce debate, with advocates at the time hoping that a national firearm registry would reduce instances of suicide and domestic violence, and better equip law-enforcement to deal with gun crime. Their optimism proved premature, however, and the national firearms registry was abolished in 2012 after nearly two decades of complications and implementation deficiencies that the federal government failed to foresee. Among these was the ballooning administrative and compliance cost (escalating from the $2 million budgeted to over $1 billion), a lack of precise standards, and a general ignorance of the reality of gun crime in Canada. Throughout the tenure of the firearm registry, gun crime rose in Canada, and suicide rates remained unchanged.
To hear Alberta Minister of Justice, Tyler Shandro, tell it, there is little reason to believe the latest federal gun control strategy will be any more successful. At a press conference on March 7, Shandro railed against the lack of clarity in Ottawa’s recent slew of firearm policies, which have banned over 1500 models of “assault-style” firearms since the order in council in May 2020. In response to what the Alberta government perceives as an overstep by Ottawa, they are introducing a new Alberta Firearms Act, which, at its core, is an attempt to assert Alberta’s authority over firearms policy, which Shandro sees as provincial jurisdiction. It will aim to clarify the role of the provincial Chief Firearms Officer with respect to how the federal regulations are enforced in the province. It may also prevent municipal entities from entering into funding agreements with the federal government to act as firearm confiscation agents and will call on the federal government to pay what Alberta determines to be the fair market value for seized firearms. While the measures are not yet fully developed, the Act “gives Alberta the flexibility to develop its own measures” in response to the federal regulations. To support the implementation of the act, the Alberta firearms office will be increasing its staff from 30 to 70 employees, with the expectation that the extra employees will be funded by the federal government, as is their obligation.
Buyback of banned firearms alone was estimated during the Liberal 2019 campaign to cost taxpayers between $400 and $600 million – a hefty price tag for a dubious outcome; and that doesn’t include the legal, compliance, and administrative costs of implementing the program. As we’re still waiting for specifics, it remains to be seen whether the UCP’s Alberta Firearm Act will succeed in its attempt to stand its ground on public safety jurisdiction. Perhaps the federal ban and buyback program, like its ill-fated registry predecessor, will suffer under the weight of its own inflating expense and become the author of its own demise. Only time will tell – but at the pace they’re moving, don’t hold your breath.
Additional Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.alberta.ca/
https://www.assembly.ab.ca/
