Juno News - Alberta takes firm stance against Trudeau’s gun grab

00:00:00.000 You're tuned in to the Andrew Lawton Show.

00:00:08.880 Provinces often have taken the view that, oh well, firearms law is criminal, it's federal,

00:00:14.480 but provinces have a fair bit of authority on there, whether it's a loophole or explicit

00:00:20.560 rights you could debate and discuss. But when Alberta said that it would not use police

00:00:25.300 resources to go after firearms, the federal government was kind of screwed because they

00:00:31.020 didn't have another card to play. All they could do was finger wag, and I would say, all right,

00:00:35.400 finger wag all day long. Rod Giltaka is joining us once again. He's the executive director of the

00:00:40.840 Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. Yeah, Rod, this must be a bit conflicting for you too,

00:00:46.100 because on one hand, you're a taxpayer paying for this program, but on the other hand,

00:00:49.800 your guns are still safe for now. Well, we're certainly in good company with everyone that's

00:00:54.420 angry about a Rive scam as well, right? So everyone is feeling the taxpayer pinch when it

00:01:01.700 comes to the liberals' incompetence and their corruption. Yeah, it's going to be like ARCAN

00:01:07.860 is the new government app where you have to log your AR-15s and whatnot. But let me talk to you

00:01:14.180 first and foremost about the provincial response here, because oftentimes, I think even firearms

00:01:19.600 advocates have many, it seems like, really just focused on the federal government. And if you get

00:01:25.280 a liberal government like we have now that's very hostile to gun owners, they kind of just say,

00:01:29.080 all right, well, we're in for a rocky ride here. But this has been a relatively recent advent,

00:01:33.380 it seemed like, where provinces are really stepping up their game and saying no to this.

00:01:37.880 Well, they are stepping up their game, at least. Alberta and Saskatchewan have lined up behind the CCFR

00:01:45.100 and the other applicants in our lawsuit. We're in the appeals process right now. And they are stepping

00:01:50.320 up as interveners. So we're really happy to not be going it alone. And those two provinces are really

00:01:58.320 making a statement, I think, for their citizens. And they're saying, you know, what the federal

00:02:03.400 government is doing is unreasonable, not only just in the firearms file, right, but in this case,

00:02:07.700 you know, about guns. And we're not going to stand for it because, you know, we work for you.

00:02:12.540 So I don't know, I like I say, I'm really happy that we're not standing alone. I'm really happy

00:02:18.100 that governments are doing things in the interest of their citizens. And yeah, we're really happy.

00:02:24.460 I've had on the show, Alberta's chief firearms officer, Terry Bryant, who's been like just a

00:02:29.520 tremendous advocate for the sport and a tremendous administrator as well. When I was, you know, waiting

00:02:35.080 like four months for my handgun to clear, Alberta was like processing these things in like in like a

00:02:40.520 week, it seemed like. Now we have in Saskatchewan, a new CFO appointed. I don't know if you've had

00:02:45.660 any dealings with Murray Cowan before. I think we're going to have him on the show next week.

00:02:50.500 But what are your expectations there from what Saskatchewan's doing with that firearms office?

00:02:55.700 Well, my expectations are they're going to continue on doing the great things that they're doing. I had

00:02:59.540 the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Robert Freeberg, who was their CFO in Saskatchewan,

00:03:08.040 who is now the commissioner of the Saskatchewan Firearms Office. And I tell you, it's just here's

00:03:15.000 a bureaucrat that is thoughtful. And I think the most important thing is he doesn't believe that

00:03:20.820 he's at war with his own citizens and in particular people that would subject themselves to the process

00:03:26.740 of obtaining and maintaining a firearms license. So they've done, I think, in that province,

00:03:33.840 as well as Alberta, focused on the most important aspects of the firearms office or the duties of

00:03:38.800 the CFO, which is to increase compliance with the act and regulations and work towards increased

00:03:46.040 public safety. That's really the mandate, not in enforcement and prosecution of licensed gun owners,

00:03:54.440 which is what the federal government right now is focused on.

00:03:58.220 So, you know, at the end of the day, we think that owning firearms legally is really important

00:04:05.520 and that there's a regulatory framework around that and ensuring the public is safe as a, you know,

00:04:12.040 in light of that, but focusing on where violent crime really comes from, which is gangs.

00:04:17.540 There's a domestic violence aspect to it. And it's a lot of that stuff is fueled.

00:04:21.800 Almost all of it is fueled by smuggling and illegal manufacturing.

00:04:24.540 Now, when we talk about provinces appointing their own CFOs, just to go back to the civics

00:04:29.780 of this for a moment, what is it that a CFO can do differently? Because yes, the core regulations,

00:04:36.180 the core law is federal, but we see wildly different experiences in different provinces

00:04:40.680 depending on their CFO. So what is it that they can really do that is more favorable to people like

00:04:46.420 you and I? Well, in the case of Saskatchewan, they passed their own firearms act and what it did.

00:04:52.860 So I'll give you one example. It's quite complicated. I don't claim to know everything,

00:04:58.620 but I'll give you one example. In the Firearms Act, if you store your firearm in a way that is

00:05:04.780 in contravention with the Firearms Act, it's a criminal offense. It triggers a criminal code

00:05:09.940 charge immediately. So that will basically, for a law-abiding citizen, destroy their lives.

00:05:15.720 Basically, it's a weapons charge. And that might be as, you know, as innocuous as, you know,

00:05:21.220 my guns are in the safe, but I may not have, or in a locked case, but I may not have put a secure

00:05:26.800 locking device on the firearm or I forgot that. Or I left a magazine in a gun, in a gun safe.

00:05:31.560 Like those are, those result in life destroying criminal charges. So Saskatchewan has said,

00:05:36.380 you know what, maybe it's, maybe it's a case of making sure people are in compliance and providing

00:05:42.800 education and some motivation for them to make sure that they're storing their firearms correctly.

00:05:48.180 And in the case of, let's say, handguns, these are, these are registered firearms held by people

00:05:53.480 that get a criminal record check every single day electronically. Right. So this is not, this is not

00:05:58.380 a criminal enterprise. So that's, so what the, what the Firearms Saskatchewan Firearms Act does is it

00:06:03.560 takes that offense that was a federal criminal offense in the criminal code and turns it into

00:06:08.300 a regulatory offense. So they'll face a fine or maybe even seizure of their firearms until they

00:06:12.960 take a course or what have you. So there's, there's reasonable remedial action in incorporated into that

00:06:19.560 and people don't get their lives destroyed for an administrative oversight. So these are some of

00:06:25.260 the things that a, a forward thinking, reasonable chief firearms officer can get going in their own

00:06:31.380 province and, and, you know, reside, reside over a regime that's far more reasonable and proportionate.

00:06:37.380 I would say.

00:06:37.980 You mentioned the lawsuit that the Saskatchewan and Alberta governments have joined as interveners.

00:06:44.580 Now, I should say when you're David going up against Goliath, you know, an organization, which,

00:06:49.380 you know, may be a very robust organization, but you're going up against the government. It's good to

00:06:52.980 know at least you have some governments on your side, at least in some way here. So that's in the appeal.

00:06:57.700 What's the, what's the essence of the argument on this case? Well, probably the most important one

00:07:03.140 is the administrative aspect of our argument. So in the criminal code, it's clearly says that the

00:07:08.900 government can't ban firearms that are appropriate for hunting and sporting use. And it's, it was written

00:07:15.220 in there for a reason. It's not an accident that it's in there. The government decides, well, you know

00:07:19.060 what, we're going to violate that. And we think we had the administrative authority just to override the

00:07:23.860 criminal code using an order in council. We're not even going to, you know, we're not going to need

00:07:27.860 legislation or anything for that kind of stuff. We're just going to do it, especially when it's

00:07:31.700 on the heels of something like the spree shooting in Nova Scotia. That's they thought, well, you know

00:07:36.660 what, nobody's going to, nobody's going to push back against us and we're just going to do this thing.

00:07:41.460 So we sued the government for that reason. The federal court judge in the case said, oh yeah,

00:07:48.020 well, the government can pretty much do whatever it wants, even if it's doesn't have the authority

00:07:52.740 to do what it's supposed to do. We disagree with that ruling or our legal team, which is one of the

00:07:58.660 best in the country said we should have won on this. There's no reason why we should have lost.

00:08:03.540 There are a lot of independent people out there that said you absolutely should have won this.

00:08:07.860 We're appealing it because we might think we might suppose there's all kinds of monkey business

00:08:12.740 going on there. And at least we have the Department of Justice in two Canadian provinces

00:08:17.380 that agree we should have won that administrative aspect. So they're lining up behind us.

00:08:22.180 So, you know, it was the government overstepping its authority. Not the first time we saw this

00:08:27.860 government doing that, but hopefully we get a proper resolution this time.

00:08:31.220 All right. Well, we'll keep our eyes peeled on that as it works its way through the process.

00:08:34.820 Rod Giltaka, always a pleasure, sir. Thanks for coming on.

00:08:37.940 Thank you.

Juno News - April 06, 2024

Alberta takes firm stance against Trudeau’s gun grab

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