Alberta Names Gun-Rights Advocate Teri Bryant as Chief Firearms Officer

Photo of Teri Bryant testifying on Bill C-71 to Senate committee, 01 April 2019.
Teri Bryant testifies against Bill C-71 at Senate committee, 01 April 2019.

TheGunBlog.ca — Alberta named Teri Bryant today as its first Chief Firearms Officer to defend the rights of gun owners against the federal government’s attacks.

In hiring Bryant, a decades-long firearm collector and advocate, Alberta is the latest province to break away from appointing CFOs with careers in policing.

She starts in her new role on Sept. 1, Alex Puddifant, a spokesman for Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu, told TheGunBlog.ca.

Bryant ‘Will Fight Hard’

“I am delighted to welcome the province’s first-ever designated chief firearms officer,” Madu said in a statement. “I know she will be promoting a system of firearms administration in this province that is rooted in the values and priorities of Albertans, and will fight hard for the legitimate rights of Alberta’s lawful gun owners.”

Kenney Vs. Trudeau

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney had pledged to hire a provincial CFO and remove the federal government’s appointee to fight Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s crackdowns on honest citizens.

  • Trudeau is threatening about 200,000 federally licensed firearm owners with jail through his May 2020 mass-criminalization order to surrender our suddenly blacklisted rifles and shotguns by April 2022.
  • Trudeau’s Bill C-71 began taking effect this year as his new law against gun users.
  • Trudeau, now running for re-election, is working to let municipalities criminalize handgun owners.

Bryant 2019 Comment to Senate

“When you have many thousands — or in my case, hundreds of thousands — of dollars invested in a collection, the idea that something that you have, by the stroke of a pen — or somebody changes their mind one day — could suddenly change things, I think we need to have safeguards against that,” Bryant said in her 2019 testimony to the Senate committee reviewing Bill C-71. (Watch the video starting at 17:03, or read the transcript.)

“The reason I have a big collection is that I have spent all of my resources, practically my entire life, on this topic,” Bryant said at the time.

More Context

  • Canada’s restrictions and prohibitions targeting firearm users fall under criminal law. A Chief Firearms Officer administers the regulations in each province and territory. Some CFOs work to suppress gun owners.
  • Saskatchewan named Robert Freberg as its CFO last year, also hiring a long-time gun-rights advocate instead of someone from policing.
  • Alberta is home to more than 325,000 adults with a federal firearm Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL), out of 2.2 million across Canada.

Bryant Career Highlights

  • Member of Alberta Firearms Advisory Committee
  • Director of Canadian Shooting Sports Association
  • Secretary of Alberta Arms and Cartridge Collectors Association
  • President of Military Collectors Club of Canada
  • Associate professor of business at University of Calgary

“She will ensure that we preserve for future generations a firearms heritage that reflects Alberta’s values of safety, responsibility and respect for individual rights,” the Alberta government said in its press release.

Standing for Gun Culture

“As a lifelong firearms collector and enthusiast, I could not be more excited for this opportunity to represent Albertans and stand up for our province’s way of life and lawful firearms culture,” Bryant said in today’s government statement.

  • Update 31 August: This article was republished on 31 August at FirearmsNews.com, part of the world’s largest publisher of firearm news and magazines.

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