Gun Buyback SCANDAL – Fail to Comply Can Cost You!

Canada’s gun buyback program calls itself voluntary, yet gun owners who refuse to participate face up to 10 years in prison once the amnesty period expires.

Story Snapshot

Canada banned over 2,500 assault-style firearms in 2020, launching a buyback program with temporary amnesty until October 31, 2026
Post-amnesty possession becomes criminal under Canada’s Criminal Code, carrying penalties including imprisonment up to a decade
A pilot program in Cape Breton collected only 25 firearms from 16 owners versus the expected 200, signaling massive resistance
Costs have ballooned from initial estimates of $400-600 million to a projected $2 billion, with $41.9 million already spent on just 60 staff members
Most provinces refuse to participate, with only Quebec providing police resources for the federal initiative

The Orwellian Paradox of Voluntary Compliance

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government unveiled this semantic sleight of hand in May 2020 when it banned approximately 1,500 models of assault-style firearms through executive order, bypassing Parliament entirely. The government frames participation as voluntary because owners choose between surrendering weapons for compensation, deactivating them permanently, or declaring them through a newly launched portal. Yet this choice operates within a legal cage: retain your banned firearm past the amnesty deadline, and you become a criminal. The government expanded the prohibited list to over 2,500 models by 2022, ensnaring rifles like the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14 that hunters and sport shooters legally purchased years earlier.

The amnesty period functions as a countdown timer to criminalization rather than genuine choice. Gun owners currently enjoy protection from prosecution, but that shield vanishes October 31, 2026. After that date, possession of banned firearms transforms into prohibited possession under the Criminal Code, punishable by fines and imprisonment reaching 10 years. The government essentially tells citizens: voluntarily surrender your property, or we’ll criminalize you for keeping what you legally owned yesterday. This isn’t voluntary participation, it’s coerced compliance dressed in the language of choice, a distinction that collapses under the weight of threatened imprisonment.

A Program Built on Quicksand and Empty Promises

The program’s implementation reveals a government that announced policy before building infrastructure. Public Safety Canada has spent $41.9 million by late 2023, primarily funding 60 staff positions while the actual buyback limps forward in disjointed phases. Phase 1 targeted business inventories through a partnership with the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association, identifying roughly 11,000 firearms. Phase 2, covering individual owners who possess an estimated 150,000 to 500,000 affected firearms, remains mired in delays with no firm timeline despite the looming October 2026 deadline. The government launched a declaration portal on January 17, 2026, yet provided no clear instructions for what happens next.

Provincial resistance has gutted the program’s operational capacity. Saskatchewan and Alberta outright banned their provincial police from participating in federal collections, while most other provinces declined involvement, leaving only Quebec cooperating with Ottawa. The autumn 2025 pilot program on Cape Breton Island epitomizes this failure: organizers expected 200 firearms but collected a mere 25 from 16 owners. When fewer than 10 percent of targeted owners participate in your pilot, you don’t have a compliance problem, you have a legitimacy crisis. The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association, despite partnering on Phase 1, remains puzzled by the lack of budget clarity and vehemently opposes the underlying ban.

Fiscal Insanity Meets Political Theater

Cost projections have exploded from initial government estimates of $400 to $600 million to current predictions approaching $2 billion, a fiscal disaster that dwarfs the program’s dubious public safety benefits. The government has already burned through nearly $42 million on administration alone, funding staff and infrastructure while barely touching the actual firearms collection. Critics in Parliament, including Conservative senators, have hammered the Liberals on these ballooning costs, yet the government presses forward without transparent accounting or realistic timelines. This spending occurs while targeting firearms that statistics show are rarely used in Canadian gun crimes, since criminals overwhelmingly use smuggled handguns rather than registered rifles owned by licensed sport shooters.

The comparison to Australia’s 1996-1997 post-Port Arthur buyback exposes Canada’s program as politically motivated theater rather than evidence-based policy. Australia collected and destroyed 650,000 firearms with high compliance rates and clear timelines. Canada’s staggered approach, launched without provincial buy-in or adequate infrastructure, has collected a fraction of targeted weapons while alienating law-abiding gun owners who view this as federal overreach. The government bypassed parliamentary debate initially, then watched most provinces refuse cooperation, yet continues pushing a program that criminalizes citizens for retaining legally purchased property. This isn’t public safety policy, it’s ideological posturing funded by taxpayers and enforced through the threat of imprisonment for noncompliance with what the government euphemistically calls voluntary.

Canadian Gun Buyback Program Is Voluntary, but Noncompliance Can Land You in Jail | The Gateway Pundit | by Antonio Graceffo Canada has been lost….. https://t.co/zUuPFvDXig

— Captain Geech (@Russell91959320) February 6, 2026

The October 2026 amnesty deadline transforms this voluntary charade into a hard criminal boundary. Owners who miss the deadline, whether through principled resistance, confusion about byzantine regulations, or simple inability to navigate a program with no clear individual participation timeline, become criminals overnight. The government reclassified an additional 300-plus firearms as prohibited in December 2024, giving owners less than a year to comply. Licensed gun owners, who passed background checks and safety training, who store firearms according to strict regulations, face the same criminal penalties as those trafficking illegal weapons. This approach polarizes rural and urban Canada, fuels provincial sovereignty battles, and sets a disturbing precedent for government confiscation of legally acquired property through executive action backed by criminal law.