Liberals Update May 2020 Gun-Confiscation Order To Keep People Out of Jail for Obeying

Summary of Liberal OIC to Expand the Partial Amnesty

(Update May 23: Adds that Liberals propose changing law to allow mailing “‘Prohibited” rifles and shotguns by post.)

TheGunBlog.ca — Canada’s Liberal Party-led administration updated its gun-confiscation order of 01 May 2020 so that government-licensed gun users who volunteer to surrender their firearms don’t automatically risk jail.

They also proposed new regulations so people who want to destroy their firearms can mail them by post, which is currently a crime.

Expanded ‘Amnesty’

The Liberals expanded the limited, partial and temporary amnesty that accompanied the crackdown to protect gun businesses that choose to turn in their firearms for destruction.

The Liberals made the changes public today in the Canada Gazette, the administration’s official newspaper.
They had adopted the amendments in secret on May 09 through an executive decree known as an “order in council” (OIC).
It’s the second time the Liberals have changed the wording of their criminalization order to fix its unintended consequences.

Compliance Risks Jail

Before today’s change, someone who complied with the widely opposed firearm-destruction order could have gone to jail.

The Liberals said in today’s Canada Gazette:

Some of the activities involved in coming into compliance with the law could constitute certain Criminal Code offences (e.g. possession or transportation of the prohibited items). Without protection under the Amnesty Order, affected businesses and service providers would be exposed to criminal liability while taking the steps required to dispose of the prohibited items or disposing of them.
—Source: Canada Gazette, 22 May 2024

Why It Matters

The update to the partial amnesty is the newest illustration of how badly conceived the original crackdown order was.
It also shows how complex, convoluted and confusing Canada’s anti-gun policy is, since even the people in charge of designing and applying it don’t fully understand how it works.
The new wording is mostly irrelevant in practice, since the confiscations are mostly viewed as optional, and the only people expected to turn in their firearms for destruction are a few gun users who wish to become former gun users.

Liberals Propose New Regulations to Post ‘Prohibited’ Rifles and Shotguns

The Liberals said in a timeline of their confiscation fantasy that they proposed new firearm-shipping rules to Parliament today, without specifying their desired changes.

May 22, 2024

The Amnesty Order was amended and proposed shipping regulations were tabled under the Firearms Act in Parliament to create other secure pathways for affected businesses to deliver the prohibited firearms and prohibited devices for deactivation and/or destruction once the business phase of the program launches.
—Source: Government of Canada, Firearms Buyback Program Website, 22 May 2024

The House of Commons website shows the title of the planned new rules as: “Proposed Regulation of the Shipment by Post of Certain Prohibited Firearms and Prohibited Devices by Certain Businesses Regulations, pursuant to the Firearms Act.”

Imaginary Compensation

The Liberals today also reiterated an imaginary program to compensate the hundreds of thousands of licensed rifle and shotgun owners and businesses they criminalized on 01 May 2020.
They have promised to compensate them for more than four years.
No compensation exists, and no public plan for compensation exists.

Looking Ahead

The Liberals have no idea how to execute their confiscation fantasy and have extended the voluntary surrender deadline twice so far. It is currently set for 30 October 2025, after the next election.
Opinion polls aggregated by 338Canada.com suggest the Liberals and their parliamentary allies will lose by a landslide.
Many voters expect their projected successors, the Conservative Party, to nullify the May 2020 attacks and restore justice for gun users.

Correction, 23 May

Corrects number of times Liberals extended confiscation deadline.