Juno News - November 12, 2023Why Alberta is taking aim at Trudeau’s gun grab
Episode Stats
Summary
In this episode of the Andrew Lawton Show, I speak with Justice Minister M.J. Amory and Chief Firearms Officer Terry Bryant about gun control in Alberta. We discuss the challenges faced by law-abiding gun owners across the province, the challenges facing the federal government, and what the Alberta government is doing to address them.
Transcript
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often the firearms approaches that we see are about what can we do to get in the way of Canadians
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from owning firearms whereas in Alberta they've actually taken it this is in large part due to
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Jason Kenney's appointment of Terry Bryant and Terry Bryant's continued work under the Danielle
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Smith government to make a customer service focus central to the Alberta firearms and again
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it didn't come up in the interview there but the Alberta government has said to the federal
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government we will not direct any police resources to be used to confiscate these firearms so the
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federal government kind of had its hands tied because they cannot direct Alberta's police
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officers even when the RCMP is working in Alberta it's under contract and license to the Alberta
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government so they cannot take their orders from Ottawa so uh you know game set match right there
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I also spoke about this with uh Justice Minister Mickey Amory in Alberta to get more the the
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government political side of that same discussion I had with Terry Bryant this is my chat with Minister
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Amory why is the firearms landscape for Albertans so different than it is in several other provinces
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right now what's your government been doing to make that happen well first and foremost I want to
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tell you uh tell you that per capita Alberta has the highest rate of gun ownership law-abiding gun
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ownership in the entire country and so guns are near and dear to many Albertans for sport for survival
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for any number of reasons I think that's an important component we're working on developing the I think
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the one of the the leading chief firearm offices in the country uh we are is being led by our resident
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expert the chief firearms officer Terry Bryant who has likely the most experience and probably the most
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knowledge when it comes to legal gun ownership in the country I'm tremendously proud of the way that
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that office is moving it is taking on a leading role both within Alberta and providing services
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potentially to other provinces across Canada in helping them develop their own offices as well
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and so there are many things that I'm proud about when it comes to our firearms program
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the chief firearms office and the firearms officer and uh this is something that I think makes Alberta
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very unique so many of the laws and regulations are federal so do you feel a bit handcuffed in a way
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I mean are there enough areas where the province can really exercise a bit of autonomy in this issue
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in this on this issue yeah and I fully fully acknowledge that there are certain barriers and challenges when
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it comes to our federal counterparts but one of the the key components here is that we are going to be
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a voice of reason every time we approach this issue a few weeks ago I wrote to the public safety minister
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suggesting that we need to put the uh the gun confiscation program on hold for two years
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uh immediately after that we received the wonderful news that they were going to do that
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that suggests to me that the program was not nearly ready that it was not really well reasoned it was not
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uh well grounded in in the philosophies that the federal government has providing to Canadians
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that two-year period will allow us to assess our position uh and and assess our strategies going
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forward I will also say this we've taken a number of different approaches when it comes to existing court
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cases as they relate to the gun programs here in this province and the federal initiatives and we'll
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continue to do that we'll continue to assess each and every one on its merits we'll continue to take the
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approach of Albertans first law-abiding Albertans should be able to own guns and use them in ways
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that are appropriate where and whenever they want to that extension of the amnesty I think delays the
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confiscation but it doesn't do anything about Alberta gun store owners who have been sitting on
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tens of thousands of dollars hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory gun owners that haven't been
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able to take their guns to the range or do anything with them for years is there any message to
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these people is there anything that can be done apart from waiting for a change in the federal landscape
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well certainly I want all of those individuals to know all of those business owners all the people
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that invested a tremendous amount in their businesses and in their futures that we are doing
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everything we can whether it's through political pressure whether it's through addressing it through
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our courts whether it's going to Ottawa and advocating on behalf of gun owners and business owners
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relating to that industry I am well aware of some of the things that these business owners are
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struggling with my heart goes out to them I want to make sure that all of them know that we're doing
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everything we can within the realm and the limitations that we have to make sure that their views are being
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addressed in a constant way to our federal counterparts this is a province that prides itself on being
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business friendly on promoting and ensuring the growth of businesses in this province and we want to
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continue with that reputation for many decades to come thanks for listening to the andrew lawton show
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