Ottawa’s gun grab is all about politics

Posted on March 5, 2026 by Sunny South News

The federal government is once again on a crusade to end legal gun ownership, and no one knows why.

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree recently announced the “Assault-Style Firearms Compensation Program,” an initiative that should be vigorously opposed by anyone who cares about truth, government integrity and public safety.

To begin with, there is no such thing as an “assault-style” firearm. The eye-catching expression is solely intended to evoke looming images of automatic rifles and machine guns, which, in fact, have been banned in Canada since 1978.

The minister himself admitted in a taped conversation with a tenant who lives in a Toronto home he owns that the entire exercise was motivated by political considerations, not by public safety.

And there is no evidence whatsoever that this program would contribute to greater public safety. The great majority of gun crimes are not, in fact, committed by law-abiding gun owners but by criminals using guns smuggled in from the United States.

This simple fact is so well established that several provinces and cities, including Toronto, have already announced they would not cooperate with the federal government. And for good reason.

Participation in this ill-conceived program would divert scarce police and financial resources, target innocent citizens and endanger countless lives by letting more armed criminals roam Canadian streets.

The few jurisdictions, such as Quebec and Winnipeg, that have shown a willingness to cooperate with Ottawa appear to have done so largely in exchange for financial support.

Overall, the program is shaping up to be a fiscal nightmare. Total costs are expected to reach $6 billion or perhaps more, which seems realistic considering the now-defunct gun registry program was originally priced at about $117 million but ballooned past $1 billion before it was scrapped in 2012.

Canada’s economy is in shambles. Our relationship with our closest trade partner, the U.S., is on the skids. Job losses are in the tens of thousands, with no end in sight. There is little foreign investment. The middle class is drowning in an ever-rising tide of taxes. Canada is broke and yet politicians have magically discovered a new line of credit to fund a program that merely serves an ideological agenda that will not make Canadians safer.

This isn’t about crime control. It’s an assault on property rights. The government has arbitrarily reclassified legally purchased firearms as “prohibited” based largely on appearance, not on their actual use.

If the state can unilaterally strip citizens of their right to own a gun because of what it looks like, what stops it from confiscating other possessions considered to be undesirable, such as high-emission vehicles or recreational property?

Anandasangaree’s program also weakens the rule of law. As of Oct. 30, 2026, gun owners who do not comply will “risk criminal liability for the illegal possession of a prohibited firearm.” This could mean up to 14 years in prison for possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition.

While previously law-abiding gun owners face lengthy prison terms for not complying with ineffective programs that won’t make Canadians safer, violent repeat offenders keep getting released on bail, exposing a glaring and unjust double standard.

Canadians who value justice, personal liberty and effective public policies have a moral obligation to oppose this ill-conceived and potentially dangerous initiative.

Pierre Gilbert is an associate professor emeritus at Canadian Mennonite University and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

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