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By Alice McFarlane

Gun Legislation

Saskatchewan rural municipalities oppose amendments to gun act

Dec 2, 2022 | 11:50 AM

MELFORT, Sask. – The organization that speaks for rural municipalities said Bill C-21 and its recent amendments will criminalize Saskatchewan residents.

Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) President Ray Orb said the bill does nothing to deal with the illegal use of firearms and, instead, targets lawfully licensed firearms owners and their legally acquired firearms.

The actions by the federal government only compound efforts from the May 2020 order in council that banned thousands of firearms and the most recent freeze on all handgun sales this past October, according to Orb.

“We were told that this wouldn’t affect hunters, ranchers, or sport shooters, but rather that the federal government was taking the weapons off the street.” Orb said. “This is a purely ideological idea as Canada already has very strict controls on military-style assault weapons. The most disturbing part is the recent amendments to the bill that ban almost all semi-automatic centrefire rifles and shotguns utilized by hunters, ranchers, and sport shooters in Saskatchewan.”

SARM is concerned that suddenly and without any consultation or warning, the federal government will penalize and criminalize around 75,000 legal firearms owners in Saskatchewan.

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Orb said roughly 400 pages worth of firearms and other restrictions are identified in the most recent amendments.

He said it is unacceptable the federal government is planning on spending billions of dollars to criminalize and take away firearms from law-abiding, legally licensed Saskatchewan residents when the money could be used by R.M.’s to fight rising rural crime rates, violent crime, gangs, trafficking, and illegal firearms.

Orb added firearms are a valuable tool in rural Saskatchewan and the bill does nothing to improve safety in rural areas and sees it as a firearms grab that will do nothing but punish the people who legally acquire and use firearms for hunting, collecting, and sporting purposes.

Saskatchewan has roughly 115,000 licensed firearms owners in the province.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW