Juno News - November 14, 2023Can provinces set their own gun laws？
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Summary
The landscape for firearms issues in Alberta is very different than most other provinces in Canada. In this episode of The Andrey Lawton Show, Deputy Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Terry Bryant, joins me to talk about the differences between Alberta and other provinces on firearms issues.
Transcript
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the firearms regimes are federal the regulations the laws are federal but provinces can appoint
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their own cfo and this was something i actually brought up with terry bryant when i ran into terry
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at the ucp agm in calgary how much authority do provinces really have this was our conversation
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in calgary on the weekend is the landscape for firearms issues in alberta so different compared
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to several other provinces in canada right now well i think uh there's two answers to that i think
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one is it's not as different as you might think because if you go outside a few of the major
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metropolitan areas you'll find that the vast majority of the geographical area of canada
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thinks that not that much differently than alberta but we do have some uh particular specific
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circumstances in alberta uh for example we've long had a major role played by agriculture and ranching
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which instilled a sort of sense of uh individual responsibility and looking after oneself and
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i think firearms have been a part of that because they were so uh actively used by ranchers and farmers
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obviously provinces have the ability as in your case to appoint their own cfo but so many of the
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the laws and regulations are federal so how much autonomy do provinces really have and where are
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those issues where they can kind of be a bit more independent on firearms issues and respect gun
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owners a bit more well i think there's a couple of aspects to that again one it makes a big difference
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the attitude of the people you have in the office and i can't tell you how many people you know i attend
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gun shows virtually every weekend or other firearms events and i can't tell you how many people come up
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to praise my staff for the great work that they're doing because they just have an approach of how
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can we help you to solve whatever issue you have instead of how can we make your life difficult and so
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that's i think one important aspect the other important aspect is it is true that this is an area
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where there is primarily federal jurisdiction but that just makes it all the more important for us to seek
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out every nook and cranny where there is some opportunity to exercise provincial discretion
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and as part of that process that also means that we are learning exactly how to how the whole program
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works so that if we do get a change of government in ottawa we'll be able to assist in transitioning to
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a more firearms owner friendly regime which will i think pay huge dividends in terms of public safety
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for even for non-firearms owners because there is just so much of what the federal government does
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that is not focused on public safety it is focused on bureaucratic procedures making life difficult for
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ordinary firearms owners instead of going after criminals and if we were able to refocus a bit on
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on the problem areas and give the law-abiding people a little bit more leeway then i think we would get a
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lot more support for the program all across canada and as everyone in law enforcement will tell you it was
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mentioned i think by both the ministers today we public safety requires public support for
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all of the aspects of administration and enforcement of the law and so if we're able to build better
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relationships with the public that will pay great dividends in terms of public safety thanks for
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listening to the andrew lawton show support the program by donating to true north at www.tnc.news