Juno News - November 12, 2023


Why Alberta is taking aim at Trudeau’s gun grab


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

186.12132

Word Count

945

Sentence Count

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 you're tuned in to the Andrew Lawton Show
00:00:05.880 often the firearms approaches that we see are about what can we do to get in the way of Canadians
00:00:15.200 from owning firearms whereas in Alberta they've actually taken it this is in large part due to
00:00:20.400 Jason Kenney's appointment of Terry Bryant and Terry Bryant's continued work under the Danielle
00:00:24.960 Smith government to make a customer service focus central to the Alberta firearms and again
00:00:31.100 it didn't come up in the interview there but the Alberta government has said to the federal
00:00:35.120 government we will not direct any police resources to be used to confiscate these firearms so the
00:00:42.420 federal government kind of had its hands tied because they cannot direct Alberta's police
00:00:47.500 officers even when the RCMP is working in Alberta it's under contract and license to the Alberta
00:00:52.500 government so they cannot take their orders from Ottawa so uh you know game set match right there
00:00:57.860 I also spoke about this with uh Justice Minister Mickey Amory in Alberta to get more the the
00:01:03.520 government political side of that same discussion I had with Terry Bryant this is my chat with Minister
00:01:08.600 Amory why is the firearms landscape for Albertans so different than it is in several other provinces
00:01:15.100 right now what's your government been doing to make that happen well first and foremost I want to
00:01:19.780 tell you uh tell you that per capita Alberta has the highest rate of gun ownership law-abiding gun
00:01:25.640 ownership in the entire country and so guns are near and dear to many Albertans for sport for survival
00:01:31.960 for any number of reasons I think that's an important component we're working on developing the I think
00:01:38.080 the one of the the leading chief firearm offices in the country uh we are is being led by our resident
00:01:45.920 expert the chief firearms officer Terry Bryant who has likely the most experience and probably the most
00:01:53.360 knowledge when it comes to legal gun ownership in the country I'm tremendously proud of the way that
00:01:58.820 that office is moving it is taking on a leading role both within Alberta and providing services
00:02:04.560 potentially to other provinces across Canada in helping them develop their own offices as well
00:02:09.740 and so there are many things that I'm proud about when it comes to our firearms program
00:02:14.080 the chief firearms office and the firearms officer and uh this is something that I think makes Alberta
00:02:19.640 very unique so many of the laws and regulations are federal so do you feel a bit handcuffed in a way
00:02:25.360 I mean are there enough areas where the province can really exercise a bit of autonomy in this issue
00:02:29.420 in this on this issue yeah and I fully fully acknowledge that there are certain barriers and challenges when
00:02:34.680 it comes to our federal counterparts but one of the the key components here is that we are going to be
00:02:40.100 a voice of reason every time we approach this issue a few weeks ago I wrote to the public safety minister
00:02:47.400 suggesting that we need to put the uh the gun confiscation program on hold for two years
00:02:54.100 uh immediately after that we received the wonderful news that they were going to do that
00:02:58.320 that suggests to me that the program was not nearly ready that it was not really well reasoned it was not
00:03:03.940 uh well grounded in in the philosophies that the federal government has providing to Canadians
00:03:09.280 that two-year period will allow us to assess our position uh and and assess our strategies going
00:03:15.920 forward I will also say this we've taken a number of different approaches when it comes to existing court
00:03:22.440 cases as they relate to the gun programs here in this province and the federal initiatives and we'll
00:03:28.080 continue to do that we'll continue to assess each and every one on its merits we'll continue to take the
00:03:32.780 approach of Albertans first law-abiding Albertans should be able to own guns and use them in ways
00:03:39.140 that are appropriate where and whenever they want to that extension of the amnesty I think delays the
00:03:45.020 confiscation but it doesn't do anything about Alberta gun store owners who have been sitting on
00:03:49.260 tens of thousands of dollars hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory gun owners that haven't been
00:03:53.980 able to take their guns to the range or do anything with them for years is there any message to
00:03:58.220 these people is there anything that can be done apart from waiting for a change in the federal landscape
00:04:01.980 well certainly I want all of those individuals to know all of those business owners all the people
00:04:07.080 that invested a tremendous amount in their businesses and in their futures that we are doing
00:04:12.000 everything we can whether it's through political pressure whether it's through addressing it through
00:04:16.660 our courts whether it's going to Ottawa and advocating on behalf of gun owners and business owners
00:04:22.340 relating to that industry I am well aware of some of the things that these business owners are
00:04:27.020 struggling with my heart goes out to them I want to make sure that all of them know that we're doing
00:04:31.640 everything we can within the realm and the limitations that we have to make sure that their views are being
00:04:37.540 addressed in a constant way to our federal counterparts this is a province that prides itself on being
00:04:45.200 business friendly on promoting and ensuring the growth of businesses in this province and we want to
00:04:51.420 continue with that reputation for many decades to come thanks for listening to the andrew lawton show
00:04:56.660 support the program by donating to true north at www.tnc.news
00:05:02.640 you