TheGunBlog.ca — Canada Post CEO Doug Ettinger said the company is “not comfortable” being used by the country’s Liberal Party-led administration to execute forced gun confiscations targeting lawful individuals and businesses.
Ettinger: ‘We’re Just Not Comfortable’
“We’re just not comfortable from the elevated risk assessment of that,” Ettinger said yesterday to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. “This is not in our expertise. This should be best left to those that know how to handle guns, know how to dismantle them, know how to manage them so no one gets hurt.”
The chief executive officer was responding to a question from Conservative Member of Parliament Kelly Block.
Why It Matters
- The Liberals are scrambling to salvage a failing confiscation fantasy that they have no idea how to execute.
- Canada Post is the latest in a massive and growing list of people and organizations opposed to the principle and/or practice of the Liberal attacks on honest citizens.
- Last week, the Liberals proposed new regulations to decriminalize people who volunteer to surrender their “Prohibited” rifles and shotguns to the postal agency. Under the current Liberal law, individuals risk jail for doing so.
Context
- Canada Post is used to shipping firearms every day.
- The national postal service and other couriers ship all of the roughly 1 million new and used guns that government-licensed individuals and businesses buy and sell each year. They transport the goods from factories to warehouses to stores, and often, to our homes.
- Canada Post has almost 5,800 outlets, and more than half are in rural areas. They range from large dedicated offices to a counter at the back of Shoppers Drug Mart, PharmaSave or the local convenience store, to isolated outposts staffed at times by one person.
- Shipping guns is normal, boring, and safe. Politicians weaponizing the political system, the legislative system, and government agencies to confiscate property from honest citizens is abnormal, extraordinary, and dangerous.
Ettinger’s Full Response: Transcript
Block’s question and Ettinger’s response are transcribed below by TheGunBlog.ca.
Block: Mister Ettinger, we have seen recent reports in the media that Canada Post is going to have a role in the gun-buyback program through the shipping of guns. Now, it’s my understanding that Canada Post had previously done a risk assessment of being involved in the gun-buyback program, and it was found that there were too many risks for Canada Post to be involved in it. Is Canada Post being pressured to participate in this program, or was there another risk assessment conducted that found there were not as many risks as previously thought?
Ettinger: Thank you, I appreciate that.
I’ll say that, and this is unequivocal: employee safety is our top priority. And for me it’s my clear responsibility to keep our employees safe and the public safe, because post offices are a public location.
We did an internal safety assessment. We were not comfortable with the process that was being proposed in ongoing discussions over the last few months.
And so our position is that … the elevated risk, we’re just not comfortable with. We’re we’re not set up — our buildings are not set up with security, with proper storage. The buildings aren’t that secure overall the way I’d like them to be.
This is not in our expertise. This should be best left to those that know how to handle guns, know how to dismantle them, know how to manage them so no one gets hurt.
It is not something we’re comfortable with at all.
Block: Thank you. I’m sure you have communicated that back to to those who may be suggesting that you should be. What has the response been so far to that, to the assessment that you yourselves have conducted and the answer that you’ve come up with?
Ettinger: Well, our position stays the same, but I know there are discussions going on in terms of other other alternatives that might make sense.
I’ve always, on any issue, take an open-minded approach because I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I’ll get the right team on it, the right experts that can try to figure it out.
The discussions continue, but our position is clear based on the approach that was being considered.
We’re just just not comfortable from the elevated risk assessment of that. I would not live with myself if somebody got hurt. So, it’s almost that simple.
Block: Thank you very much.
—Source: House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, 29 May 2024, Transcribed by TheGunBlog.ca
New Brunswick: ‘Bad Policy’
Earlier this week, New Brunswick Minster of Public Safety Kris Austin also criticized the Liberal effort and the idea of involving Canada Post.
“The federal government using Canada Post only deflects the fact that this is a bad policy that does nothing to curb illegal guns,” the Telegraph-Journal quoted Austin as saying.