The federal government's gun buyback program, aimed at recovering high-powered firearms blacklisted in 2020, has faced significant opposition from licensed gun owners, resulting in a mere fraction of the targeted firearms being recovered. Blacklock's Reporter says according to records only 723 were surrendered by owners, and another third were seized in police investigations.Cabinet in 2020 blacklisted hundreds of thousands of high-powered firearms. Federal consultants counted 110,161 affected by the ban. The Department of Public Safety later estimated the number was as high as 200,000 while the Budget Office put it up to 518,000 firearms..Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs (Lakeland, Alta.) requested the figures, highlighting the program's lack of success. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc attributed the resistance to the program to a misunderstanding, stating that the measures are designed to target illegal gun smuggling and sales, not recreational hunters and sports shooters.However, a 2023 report revealed that licensed gun owners perceive the gun grab program as wasteful and unfair, as they do not see themselves or their peers as contributors to gun crimes in Canada. The report also noted that less than half of owners with prohibited firearms are willing to participate in the buyback program, a significant decline from the previous year.The government's initial notice required owners to surrender their property by October 30, 2023, but LeBlanc deferred the buyback until October 30, 2025, due to the stiff resistance. “Every time governments or Parliament legislate in this area there is a very quick reaction from hunting groups and sports shooters, many of whom are in my constituency in rural New Brunswick,” said LeBlanc. “People I know go hunting.”
