BERNARDO: When government incompetence is your friend

The federal government recently claimed their Firearm Confiscation Compensation Program was "one step closer" to becoming reality. It’s not.Four years after banning more than 1,500 makes and models of firearms, Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is no closer to confiscating firearms or compensating firearms owners for the loss of their property today, than they were on the day of Justin Trudeau’s virtue-signalling announcement on May 1 2020.Since that announcement, the government — via the RCMP — have banned an additional 500 guns, bringing the total to 2,000 makes and models of firearms the government intends to seize from their lawful owners and destroy — one day.Bill Blair tried and failed twice to entice anyone in the firearms industry to act as his Liberal lackey and collect these banned firearms. Nobody would touch his plan. His two invitations garnered a total of zero applicants, indicating that at that time nobody was willing to take the fall for confiscating legally-acquired guns from their lawful owners.Public Safety Canada's latest "Invitation to Qualify" is their third attempt to locate a scapegoat willing to carry out the largest confiscation of civilian-owned firearms in Canadian history, which is not without substantial — let's call them challenges.To begin with, the provincial governments of Saskatchewan and Alberta chose to protect and defend the rights of their citizens, as well as ensure that any federal government attempt to seize private property would follow provincial law.This has caused Trudeau's government no end of headaches, because both provinces have clearly defined who may and who may not participate in the confiscation process.No city police agency may participate in the confiscation scheme, including the RCMP, which has signed policing contracts with those provinces.Further restrictions include provincial licensing of firearms confiscation agents by Robert Freberg, Saskatchewan's Commissioner of Firearms, or Dr. Teri Jane Bryant, Alberta's Chief Firearms Officer.Both provinces have also stipulated in legislation when compensation must be paid, and how those compensation fees will be determined because the federal government’s initial compensation price offerings were horrifically low.The federal government has blundered its way through this from the very beginning. They initially planned to start confiscating firearms from lawful owners in Atlantic Canada, where the numbers of affected firearms are significantly smaller than in the rest of Canada.That plan fell by the wayside.The federal government then signed a contract with the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA) to seize all banned firearms currently held in firearms wholesaler and dealer inventory.That deal also seems to be on hold, after news of it came to light and firearms owners expressed their displeasure at what many viewed as a betrayal by an industry that hunters, farmers and sports shooters faithfully supported for generations.While it is possible the latest Liberal Firearms Confiscation Scheme could get off the ground before the next federal election, the far more likely scenario is that Public Safety will continue to dither away it's time and resources until the federal election is called.With the "amnesty" deadline falling so soon after the next scheduled federal election, it is unlikely that anything of substance will happen before that date.Whoever wins the next federal government will be forced to clean up the mess created by Justin Trudeau and kicked down the road for five long years.Tony Bernardo is Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association

BERNARDO: When government incompetence is your friend

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