Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro announces plans to fight the federal firearms ban, September 26, 2022. (Image: Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko/LethbridgeNewsNOW

Alberta to launch legal intervention against federal firearms ban

Sep 26, 2022 | 2:37 PM

EDMONTON – Alberta’s justice minister and solicitor general has announced plans to combat the federal government’s firearms ban.

Tyler Shandro says the province will enact its intervener status so it can participate in legal hearings.

READ MORE: Alberta government says it is fighting a backdoor federal long-gun registry

He explains that Alberta would be able to offer the court arguments on the specific challenges that the firearms ban has created for Alberta’s law-abiding firearms community.

The office of the solicitor general will take part in the judicial reviews for six cases surrounding the ban.

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In May 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that 1,500 types of “assault-style” or “military-style” guns would be banned across the country.

The details of a buyback program were later revealed on Sept. 1. It listed proposed prices that the owners of prohibited firearms could get if they submit their guns to the government.

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Shandro says he received a letter from federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, “asking that Alberta provide resources to help confiscate firearms starting in the fall of 2022.”

The provincial minister explains that many of the firearms that are now prohibited were legally obtained and include, among others, hunting rifles, shotguns, and historical weapons.

“I responded to minister Mendicino by telling him that, no, Alberta will not assist the federal government in this, or any federal effort to strip lawfully-obtained personal property from our residents,” says Shandro.

He adds that his office was informed by members of Public Safety Canada that the federal government plans to “conscript provincial RCMP officers into acting as confiscation agents as part of their, what is their terminology, ‘buyback program.'”

Shandro has written to Alberta RCMP Commanding Officer Curtis Zablocki, stating that the firearms ban is not an “objective priority or goal of the province or the provincial police service.”

READ MORE: Province accepts recommendations on firearms regulations