Gun-control group fears Liberals have ‘abandoned’ efforts on assault-style firearms

OTTAWA — A prominent gun-control group fears the Liberal government has abandoned its commitment to enact a comprehensive ban on assault-style firearms, citing “no tangible progress” on key steps to fulfil the pledge.

In an open letter to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, PolySeSouvient spokeswoman Nathalie Provost expresses concern that “we won’t see these measures materialize in our lifetimes” as the clock ticks toward a federal election that must be held by October of next year.

A record of wasting public support and bungling various opportunities over the years would be a “devastating legacy” for the Liberals, wrote Provost, a survivor of the 1989 mass shooting at Montreal’s École Polytechnique.

The group wants the government to follow through on plans to proceed with a buyback of banned assault-style firearms including the AR-15, prohibit others that fell through the legislative cracks and strengthen regulations on large-capacity magazines.

The office of Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a statement to The Canadian Press it is “continuing to put strong measures in place to tackle gun violence.”

The letter from PolySeSouvient comes about a week after an assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump using what has been described as an AR-15-style rifle.

Late last year, Parliament passed a government bill that cemented restrictions on handguns, increased penalties for firearm trafficking and aimed to curb homemade ghost guns.

The legislation also included a ban on assault-style firearms that fall under a new technical definition. However, the definition didn’t apply to models that were already on the market when the bill passed.

PolySeSouvient cautioned that the potential public safety benefits of most of the key measures would depend on forthcoming regulations that will flesh out the details.

Conservative MPs and some gun owners have vehemently opposed the Liberal efforts to ban certain firearms as an attack on law-abiding citizens.

LeBlanc has said the government will re-establish the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee to independently review the classification of existing models that fall under the new definition of a prohibited firearm in the bill.

He told senators in October the exercise would identify guns legitimately used for hunting, which would be excluded from the ban.

LeBlanc said the government would also implement a long-planned buyback of firearm models and variants, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14, that were already banned through order-in-council in May 2020.

In addition, the government said it would enact regulations to ensure a comprehensive ban on large-capacity magazines.

PolySeSouvient says tens of thousands of assault-style guns prohibited in 2020 remain in the hands of their owners, while hundreds of arbitrarily exempted models remain legal and new ones continue to enter the market.

Despite federal promises and commitments, PolySeSouvient says, “there has been no tangible progress” on:

— revival of the advisory committee that will decide which current models should be prohibited;

— the planned buyback program;

— consultations on introduction of a pre-authorization process for new firearm models to ensure they are properly classified;

— or consultations on strengthening magazine regulations;

Given the delays, the letter says, “we are beginning to suspect that either the Liberal government is not competent enough to deliver on its nine years of promises to ban assault weapons, or that it has abandoned its commitment to do so because it fears further stoking the wrath of the gun lobby.”

In its statement, LeBlanc’s office said the government is committed to instituting a program that would provide current owners fair compensation for their assault-style firearms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 20, 2024.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press