Canada’s “buyback” redux

I’m assuming from the plaid she may be Canadian

A topic we have looked at before – Canada passed a sweeping assault weapons ban, and citizens have until March 31 to register their prohibited guns, or they risk losing any compensation for them.  Self-incrimination followed by government theft – how lovely.

There have been a few issues along the way – the entire program’s cost has ballooned predictably. The registration portion was originally forecast at $2 million CAD, and actual costs hit $2.7 BILLION CAD.

The registry started with a price tag of CAD $2 million but ended up costing at least CAN $2.7 billion.

According to Daniel Fritter of the Canadian firearm magazine Calibre, as of early 2026, the amount spent on the gun grab program is CAD $779.8 million, an amount that exceeds the original estimated cost more than three times over.

Fritter refers to government sources showing that “the current known, documented cost to the taxpayer” per gun surrendered or confiscated is approximately CAD $25,000, with the “undocumented cost being even higher” because the “costs accrued by more than a dozen partner agencies” involved haven’t been included.

Heck, for $25,000 CAD per gun I might have a few sub-performers they could have as soon as I make them. But:

To place that per-gun price tag into context, Public Safety Canada has advised that it intends to pay out an average of CAD $1,800 per gun, making the gun grab’s administrative cost per firearm significantly over CAD $20,000 (and likely more).

However, the few people who participated in the federal government’s initial rollout of the program for individual gun owners in November were reportedly paid far less – around CAD $700 per gun, increasing the already astonishing imbalance between the outlay for administration and compensation.

And while you may think of the Canadians as conformist sheep:

Canada’s gun owners have overwhelmingly rejected the gun grab: “somewhere between just 1.6% and 6% of newly prohibited firearms in circulation have been declared,” states Fritter. An increasing number of jurisdictions have taken the “10-foot barge pole” approach to participation, too. The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) issued a March 2 statement advising that “[b]ased on the assessment of the program’s requirements, OPS is not in a position to take on the additional responsibilities without impacting core policing priorities.” Two western provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have reportedly gone so far as to notify the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which is contracted to act as law enforcement “in more than 80 per cent of the Prairies, that any expenses they incur related to the buyback will be deleted from their annual contract fee.”

Basically that translates to “not gonna do it and if you make it we’re billing you for everything we do.” I love it.

A reporter with Canada’s National Post newspaper who describes the program’s steadily ballooning price tag notes that the current cost figure is “significantly larger than the $497 million spent each year to run the Vancouver Police,” would cover almost the entire annual budget of the Montreal Police or half the annual budget of the Toronto Police (the fourth largest police service in North America and another agency that refused to participate). For just “three firearms turned over as part of the program, the federal government could have instead paid the starting salary of a full-time RCMP officer,” or purchase a new, fully equipped patrol car for the cost of two guns.Buckeye Firearms

As stated many times before: Any time someone uses the term “XXX control”, remember it is never about XXX but ALWAYS about control.

Category: Canada, Guns