BELLEVUE, WA – Canadian media is reporting that half of all the provinces, plus the Northwest Territory and Yukon governments are telling Ottawa the country’s massive gun “buyback” scheme is a non-starter, and they will not participate.
“This is a remarkable—and welcome—wake-up call to Canada’s liberal national government, and it is long overdue,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, one of the largest U.S. gun rights organizations. “Gun control in Canada has crossed the line when it pushes a massive ‘buyback,’ which is really nothing more than compensated confiscation. What the governments in those provinces, and the territories are saying on behalf of the citizens is that this massive gun control scheme is a non-starter.”
According to published reports, the Newfoundland and Labrador government is the latest to reject the gun “buyback” proposal, for which Canada’s federal government has reportedly allocated $250 million to compensate gun owners for the firearms they would be required to surrender because they were banned by the stroke of a pen.
“We definitely stand with the common-sense response from provinces which are turning their backs on this gun buyback nonsense,” Gottlieb said. “CCRKBA has friends in Canada, and we’re proud of the fact that literally half of the country is telling the government in Ottawa to abandon this effort and re-allocate the money to fight crime and provide funding for drug intervention and other genuine anti-crime measures.”
Canada does not have the equivalent of the Second Amendment, which prevents the U.S. government from attempting a similar gun grab. Nearly all of the 50 states have specific right-to-bear-arms provisions in their state constitutions as well.
“In addition to Newfoundland and Labrador, and the territories,” Gottlieb noted, “we understand the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have also rejected the plan. That’s virtually half of Canada’s land mass. The people in those provinces need guns for their very survival, and their voices are being heard.
“Freedom and liberty are highly contagious,” he observed. “They’re the only known antidote to government demagoguery, and once people get a taste, they want more.”