True Patriot Love - Canada’s Gun Buyback Is Failing

00:00:00.000 early estimates range between 200 and 750 million dollars but multiple analysts are now saying

00:00:10.740 billions are more likely the case even before full rollout Ottawa had already spent tens of

00:00:17.120 billions of dollars in fact 67 to maybe 100 million dollars without collecting significant

00:00:23.720 firearms and critics consistently frame it as costly and ineffective in mainstream reporting

00:00:31.080 to talk more about this brady wedham jim lang thanks so much for your time guys

00:00:35.080 it's the gun buyback program failing here in canada i think it's one of the most abject

00:00:41.160 failures of a government program we've seen in the last decade but then it does nothing to address

00:00:46.360 the core of the problem and the illegal guns illegal handguns being smuggled in the major

00:00:52.600 canadian cities and used in crimes on a regular basis i i i mean they were so stubborn about this

00:01:00.360 gentleman and even though all the police chiefs and all the experts and all the police services

00:01:05.240 said we don't want any part of this they refused to adjust their plan in any way yeah it's it's

00:01:11.560 incredible you know some of the the stats that i i saw on this uh kind of blew my mind and i know

00:01:18.120 you know we can take this conversation a couple of ways one that the program was super

00:01:22.200 costly and didn't really do anything too effective but the other thing is they've only collected

00:01:27.640 about 32 000 guns uh which works out to about 25 000 per gun bought back uh i guess if you add in

00:01:36.840 the cost of everything so far uh that is that is interesting and then to top it off brady

00:01:43.960 you're from a family that has been uh hunters and gun owners yeah for generations yeah i'm currently

00:01:50.040 not a registered firearm holder, but I grew up in a household that was. So the very first job I ever

00:01:56.900 even really had as a kid was loading shotgun shells for my father in our basement. And one

00:02:03.360 of the things that I learned very early on, my father had a special firearms license. He was

00:02:08.220 also a licensed dealer. I learned respect for firearms. I learned how to be around them, how

00:02:14.520 to have trigger locks on them, clean them every time that you're done with them, actual gun safety

00:02:19.640 and gun protocols proper ones and these are the people that we're offering money to to bring us

00:02:25.320 their guns these are already the cordial people what's your take on that well i tell you i'm glad

00:02:31.820 brady brought this up because we go to northern ontario for a stretch every summer and the people

00:02:36.800 that live there year-round hunt deer and moose and that meat that they hunt feeds them through

00:02:43.680 the winter and i know in rural newfoundland and the maritimes out west whether it's elk and caribou

00:02:50.480 the meat that these people hunt on a regular basis and they go through all the licensing

00:02:55.440 as brady mentioned and have all the documentation and they get the tags and they're very responsible

00:03:00.800 conservation conservationists about this that the meat from that deer and that moose and the elk

00:03:07.120 whenever they hunt and geese and duck that's in their freezer through the winter feeding their

00:03:11.920 family on that point so our canadian thanksgiving actually lines up with moose season the beginning

00:03:17.760 of moose yeah and i've never had my father around for thanksgiving ever but when he came back home

00:03:23.760 him and his hunting team they would usually have if they were lucky had one moose if not two and

00:03:29.520 we would be eating that meat until april yeah look with the price of food now i mean i was

00:03:36.960 was just at Costco last week and they had a strip loin stakes but in a big package that you cut

00:03:42.300 yourself hundreds and hundreds of dollars most people could never afford that but the responsible

00:03:48.400 hunters who follow all the rules and all the safety guidelines who do get the moose and deer

00:03:53.640 that's saving their family thousands of dollars every winter saving their family thousands of

00:03:58.620 dollars and like I said I don't know if this is really the aim that we should have been taking to

00:04:02.160 clean up the crime is to go after the traditional hunters and trappers that are out there that do

00:04:07.960 this properly, have everything registered properly, even to the point where they're kept with trigger

00:04:13.600 locks inside of a gun safe inside of their home. Their bullets are kept in other safes. Like these

00:04:17.880 are regulations. And the government here in Canada has been very, for lack of better words, they've

00:04:22.320 been very anal with how they've laid these laws out. And thank goodness they were because it

00:04:25.740 created a very safe environment for gun owners. The guns that we're supposed to be going after

00:04:30.340 with this program you'd think would be the illegal ones the ones without serial numbers the ones that

00:04:35.220 don't have registrations why are we not spending billions of dollars trying to solve that and

00:04:42.580 that's what the police chiefs were begging the government to change their focus the cbc did an

00:04:47.860 in-depth study about the amount of illegal guns in major cities in canada 88 of the guns seized

00:04:54.420 by toronto police in 2024 were traced illegally to the united states in peel region it's 90

00:05:01.780 and that's brampton mississauga a huge area west in toronto so you have this massive amount of gun

00:05:07.060 crime being perpetrated by criminals with guns smuggled illegally from the u.s and the police

00:05:13.620 chiefs are begging the federal government strengthen the laws strengthen the border

00:05:18.180 start catching the guns and if you're caught with it do serious jail time yeah i'm not sure

00:05:22.980 that taking guns away from uh recreational users and responsible people was really the mission in

00:05:30.180 fact 12 000 of the firearms were collected from businesses before the individual rollout by the

00:05:36.740 way this guys has been going on since may 2020 when it was first announced here we are six years

00:05:41.940 later uh potentially a billion or more into it and 32 000 guns returned from people who are probably

00:05:49.940 and most likely would never use these weapons in an undue manner uh so you're right we you know we

00:05:57.020 missed the boat on who really this gun back and i'm not sure what the the theory was but really

00:06:03.520 what we need i think is more of what we see in the u.s which is an amnesty program but even so

00:06:10.240 much to say i can't believe as a canadian that i'm even saying this are we headed as we have a

00:06:17.280 a military increase coming in this country uh hundreds of thousands of people potentially

00:06:23.400 joining our military uh trained properly with firearms responsible individuals

00:06:28.700 maybe carrying weapons themselves are we maybe missing the point on this and we should be

00:06:37.480 creating laws like we see in many of the states where people are allowed to carry in and are

00:06:42.160 license to do so before we get into that i just want to tail end the the final the final little

00:06:48.080 bit of information i have for the licensed gun owners so we're not taking into consideration at

00:06:53.020 all about collectors there is gun collectors out there my father was a gun collector he he had

00:06:58.280 championship brettas that had never been shot he had uh gold uh henry repeaters and things like

00:07:03.720 that so there's collecting collecting markets when you pay over 10 to 20 000 for a collector's gun

00:07:10.620 and then the government offers a program to buy it back at five to ten thousand it's not a very

00:07:14.980 good investment so this is another reason why we're seeing low buybacks because these who in

00:07:21.460 their right mind would ever want to take something worth that amount of money whether it's a gun or

00:07:25.600 not and sell it at to do what it's not cleaning up any of the crime and farmers we have to remember

00:07:32.480 gentlemen that the livestock is basically the entire financial wherewithal of many farmers in

00:07:39.720 Canada. So their dairy cow, their beef cattle, their sheep, whatever they're raising. Unfortunately,

00:07:46.140 there is coyotes and wolves and predators out there. And I know my wife's family, they have

00:07:52.360 some farmers and they have to have 22 bolt action rifles and shotguns to keep those predators away

00:07:58.380 from the herd. Because if they lose the herd, that's their life. Once again, they got 32,000

00:08:05.380 guns back. Apparently people aren't interested in handing them back on that front. And I would

00:08:10.820 imagine not too many collectors handed back a weapon. They're probably not going to. And I

00:08:15.880 think there's a few, I think there's a few solutions even inside, let's say we're not

00:08:19.320 going to go after the illegal guns, but we want to get some of the special firearms. I think maybe

00:08:22.860 we take a step back on special firearms licenses. They haven't really released those to the public

00:08:27.140 for a very long time. You had to be grandfathered in, but there's people that are in Canada that

00:08:31.720 collectors or whatever it is that have these special firearms license that own rpgs that go

00:08:36.660 out to the tank the tank ranges and you know and yes they're allowed to they should be allowed to

00:08:40.980 but if we're trying to clean up some of these guns that could eventually get into the hands

00:08:44.540 of the illegal market maybe go after the special firearms first i think there's a good chance that

00:08:49.260 you're going to be able to get more and that's a good point brady and mike just take what you said

00:08:54.080 about the expanding military and the militia uh the military i know from growing up with my father

00:08:59.080 have very strict rules about the armory every base in canada has a special armory with a senior nco

00:09:06.840 who's the range officer who handles and and some guns are stored in the base you can't take home

00:09:13.880 you could be in whatever member of the service army navy air force and use a gun at work

00:09:18.600 but it stays there on the base with control and care and safety issues and when needed you go to

00:09:25.320 the base get your uniform on and you get your your kit your weapon my point to that end was that we

00:09:31.960 are going to have a lot of well-trained people uh with weapons in this country uh many many more than

00:09:38.840 we've had in the history of my life anyway and on that front uh you know it does beg the question

00:09:47.000 look we've the violent crime weapons were not retrieved obviously no that means there's still

00:09:54.520 a predator danger out there. There's property danger out there. People are looking at the

00:10:01.720 castle law now seriously because of the amount of home invasions that have occurred. And I wonder

00:10:09.420 how long it's going to be before we start making the trip across the line for Canadians and start

00:10:17.300 looking at certain ways to uh arm people i certainly am not an armed individual it's not

00:10:24.500 something i've considered i don't hunt um the the notion of it will uh will frighten me i think to

00:10:30.580 some degree however in many states it is the average day for an american disclosure i've been

00:10:40.820 into licensed gun ranges in Canada and the US, and with gun officers and safety officers and

00:10:50.320 followed all the procedures to shoot at sandbags and targets and stuff like that. And I will say

00:10:57.200 this, you'll have a healthy respect for a gun when you actually fire a gun with not a blank,

00:11:02.500 but a real live ammunition in it. And it's scary. And I don't own a gun. I have no desire to own a

00:11:08.860 gun but every day in the news from surrey bc to halifax to montreal to the suburbs of toronto

00:11:16.780 you know really well-to-do middle-class suburbs you're seeing video people shooting up homes in

00:11:22.840 intimidation those aren't guns they're buying at cabela's well i grew up on on a range at a

00:11:28.740 sportsman's club for i was there for 20 years um and one of the very first things that i did was

00:11:33.980 set up uh so we'd have a lot of the americans come up for rifle competitions and we'd run out

00:11:38.680 set up the targets at 50 meters 100 150 etc etc and also load skeet for the shotgun right for

00:11:45.240 shotgun shooters on the other side of the range um and i grew up around firearms and i also realize

00:11:50.760 and i think anybody who probably grows up around firearms that is normally wired understands what

00:11:56.520 these things are they're extremely dangerous yes yeah i mean i mean shooting as you talk about it

00:12:03.160 is an olympic sport it is your target shooting is olympic sport and so you know it's and and

00:12:09.080 there's the biathlon where you're you're cross-country skiing and then shooting at a target

00:12:14.360 with a 22. so i met a lot of those guys growing up yeah yeah funny i i recently met the son of a

00:12:21.320 of a uh i guess what is it a a relay shooter yeah and uh he said to his kids if you want to make

00:12:30.120 sure that you stay safe you know just stand still because i can't shoot at you unless we're on the

00:12:35.560 move so who would see a very very special skill it's pretty so having said that really what

00:12:42.920 happened here i guess guys is the gun buyback funding diverted funding from where it's really

00:12:50.680 needed on the border at smuggling yeah uh efforts um in the streets retrieving uh violent you know

00:13:00.120 organized crime weaponry if can i pay down an example and you guys tell me if this just sounds

00:13:05.080 crazy or not i'm going to come up with an idea for the government you tell me if i'm completely out

00:13:08.920 to lunch but i think this may work it seems to be in my head makes more sense than something like

00:13:13.000 this so what we do is we open up a federal gun buyback program but for illegal guns let's say

00:13:20.120 you bring in a registered gun we'll buy it too but we want the illegal guns we don't care if

00:13:23.880 there's a serial number on it we don't care if it's attached to a crime bring these things in

00:13:27.480 we'll do that research once we get them but at full immunity which yeah i don't care how it got

00:13:33.480 here i think here's your paycheck and i think you're going to turn a bunch of criminals into

00:13:37.320 businessmen and put them in an environment where it's actually real for the first time where they're

00:13:41.320 getting a government paycheck and it hopefully that only changes with guns on the street but

00:13:46.280 hopefully you motivate some people to actually do something different for a living because

00:13:49.800 If they can make more money off of exchanging that gun than selling that gun

00:13:53.940 or using that gun for a crime, then why wouldn't they just turn in that gun?

00:13:58.900 I think it's a fabulous idea.

00:14:01.120 No, it's not crazy.

00:14:02.680 My only caveat is some of these hardened criminals in major Canadian cities

00:14:07.640 are smuggling, say, a Glock or like a really dangerous handgun with a high capacity,

00:14:14.380 and they're renting it out.

00:14:15.620 so it's being rented for hundreds of dollars an hour in the morning it's used in the execution

00:14:22.540 of crime it's brought back it could be rented out two and three times now i think for maybe

00:14:27.960 someone who's a fringe criminal who's maybe not like a hardcore that is a fabulous plan brady

00:14:34.580 they have to come up with something something has to be done something has to be done and

00:14:39.180 especially at the judicial level, to give the judges to write, to hand out pretty stiff sentences for people convicted of smuggling.

00:14:50.080 Yeah.

00:14:51.180 I'll straw man my own point here by saying, well, maybe we shouldn't do that because all you're doing is funding more criminal organizations.

00:14:56.880 What says that they don't take all of this money that they've made and do something completely more dangerous like invest in fentanyl or whatever it is?

00:15:02.600 I get that argument and I'm for that argument.

00:15:05.300 But it sounds like that argument still is a lot better than what we laid out here since 2020.

00:15:11.240 Amnesty in the States brought in a lot of guns from families, mothers, kids, family members who knew illegal guns were in the home.

00:15:19.800 Right. Got them out of the home.

00:15:21.900 It did not bring a lot of organized crime weaponry out of the woodwork.

00:15:28.840 What it did was it made homes somewhat safer, but what it did do was have a huge effect on how many people actually participated.

00:15:39.100 I would be curious to know what the average turn-in was.

00:15:43.560 I think that if you were going to hand in guns, it was your dad's or your grandfather's.

00:15:49.280 They might be old weapons.

00:15:51.020 They might not even be serviceable at this point.

00:15:54.200 I think some people cashed in on weapons that were probably never going to be used again anyway.

00:15:58.840 would assume that's probably a majority of the number that's a great point mike that especially

00:16:03.320 with the aging population uh for a lot of people especially few and i of our age group an uncle a

00:16:09.960 loved one passes away and you're doing the clear out of their residence and you're like oh i didn't

00:16:14.360 know grandpa or uncle joe had a shotgun or a rifle so then you contact your local rcmp opp police

00:16:21.320 force and they're they're trained like hey i'm helping my blah blah blah and they're like hey

00:16:26.360 that's all good we but they specialize in that they know how to handle weapons and store it

00:16:31.240 safely and dispose of it and and you're right i mean a lot of the older families the older people

00:16:37.160 who came over and were hunting to feed themselves may just have something still in the garage or in

00:16:42.040 the attic that they've had decades and it was forgotten about okay amnesty and the gun buyback

00:16:47.320 doesn't work we're not stopping the guns at the border and crime begins to grow i promise you

00:16:53.800 my estimation is it's not long before people are starting to go in the opposite direction i i would

00:17:01.480 imagine there's some some provinces some cities that will start to issue training and self-protection

00:17:09.560 and uh you know gun training uh that will allow for a license for carry well and to that end

00:17:17.320 mike i'm glad you brought that up about three or four weeks ago because everyone's got a ring camera

00:17:23.000 three individuals tried a home invasion in a nice neighborhood in vaughn and while they were kicking

00:17:28.600 someone who had a legally owned firearm took it out of their legal uh weapons locker and their

00:17:35.400 ammo and shot at the people breaking in and they ran away and they injured one of the perpetrators

00:17:40.760 and when the police investigated they saw that it was a legal weapon licensed weapon in a licensed

00:17:46.760 locker with and they used it to defend their house and there was no charges to the homeowner

00:17:50.760 interesting i kind of i kind of see the trend heading that way guys i know that's odd for

00:17:57.340 canadians it certainly feels weird coming out of my mouth it's something that i've uh reviled about

00:18:02.640 the united states my entire life oh they're all got but there comes a point where a certain amount

00:18:08.800 of respect and reduction in crime has been noted in states that otherwise would have problems

00:18:16.340 When people are armed, there seems to be a different level of respect among society.

00:18:21.420 I literally have two novels full of paperwork in front of me.

00:18:25.260 It states the case of read all this.

00:18:29.040 Yes, I did.

00:18:30.620 And it is very nicely put together by our team.

00:18:34.420 Thank you for doing that.

00:18:35.340 And one of the things that is reflected through all of this is that when you have open carry or concealed carry, it definitely does make a huge difference on decreasing crime.

00:18:44.700 now whether we bring that into canada then affects it here i don't know but in the states it seems to

00:18:49.880 be where there's concealed carry as the lowest amount of crime i just all i know is 25 30 years

00:18:59.000 ago when someone used a gun in a crime it always seemed to be in a gritty area of the urban city

00:19:05.700 vancouver montreal toronto the suburbs was always seen as a safe haven in canada

00:19:12.240 I mean, and now on a weekly basis, we're seeing people shooting up a house in nice suburbs

00:19:19.880 across Canada, home invasions.

00:19:22.060 This is repeatedly at the same home.

00:19:24.620 Yes.

00:19:24.900 Yeah.

00:19:25.440 And that just, gentlemen, that just simply never existed in this country, not that long

00:19:30.760 ago.

00:19:31.040 And I can see people going to Cabela's or whatnot and getting a legal shotgun, even a

00:19:38.120 double barrel shotgun that's easy to load and get ready.

00:19:42.240 in case they see someone in the ring can or trying to kick the door,

00:19:45.380 they are ready to protect their family.

00:19:48.080 You know what, Jim?

00:19:49.000 I wish that the future boyfriends of your daughters hear you say that quote exactly.

00:19:53.960 It's easy to load up a double-barrel shotgun.

00:19:57.640 Guys, the buyback program, we're about a billion dollars in.

00:20:00.780 We got 32,000 weapons back from people who are probably nonviolent citizens.

00:20:06.180 And I think that we can all agree it's not a happening thing.

00:20:11.400 Can I ask for a solution from each of you guys before we roll it out?

00:20:14.960 I would like to know what a solution is.

00:20:16.740 Look, if we had to make a decision right this second,

00:20:18.740 I've already given my case of what I think should be done.

00:20:21.660 I think we should be offering a full immunity buyback program.

00:20:25.340 Get these legal guns off the streets and bring them back.

00:20:28.660 My solution is bring all the police chiefs in.

00:20:31.340 They deal with this every day with their team.

00:20:34.820 The men and women in all these major cities in Canada,

00:20:37.520 look, we're trying to do something to stop this never-ending flow

00:20:40.880 illegal guns in the united states and all the stats are showing it across country 85 90 95 percent of

00:20:47.600 guns and crimes in major cities in canada are illegal this is what we want to do what are

00:20:52.240 your suggestions to help us with the the crown attorneys and the judicial department in this

00:20:58.480 country so then we can set laws and punishment and fines and whatnot so it's so prohibitive

00:21:04.880 that if you're caught smuggling a gun in, you won't do it again.

00:21:09.840 Mike?

00:21:10.820 Build jails.

00:21:12.740 We need bail reform.

00:21:15.000 We need strong laws that people have to really abide by,

00:21:19.900 and we enforce to put them behind bars for a long, long time

00:21:24.800 if they are caught with a gun.

00:21:27.180 We won't do that.

00:21:28.960 So I don't want to arm up, but I will.

00:21:33.260 well and i leave that question to our audience as well if you'd like to leave a comment

00:21:37.200 below let us know what you think on it but yeah i i i unfortunately farmers i think yeah go ahead

00:21:44.380 brady no no i don't want to be in a position where i see us all carrying guns i think i agree with

00:21:50.120 mike i don't know if that's where we want to be as canadians but it sounds like we're getting

00:21:54.220 closer to the point where we might have to but the economic reality a lot of people in in rural

00:21:59.960 canada in the far north and small towns across the country as you mentioned brady deer season

00:22:06.040 moose season elk season is an important part of the survival of their family both for food and

00:22:12.120 for the economy they simply can't afford to go to their local superstore sobeys and buy all their

00:22:18.040 meat there because it's too expensive and then being a responsible hunter a conservationist and

00:22:23.960 a gun owner and getting that meat and filling their freezer has been something they've been

00:22:28.520 doing for generations and anybody who's never been to northern ontario or northern parts of canada

00:22:33.480 it doesn't matter what province you're in yeah try and take something to the dump without a gun

00:22:38.040 oh no try and take something to the dump must avoid the bears eventually one of those guys

00:22:42.760 is going to get you now mind you dump bears are usually dumb they're they're living off

00:22:45.960 the garbage so they're not usually as aggressive as a bear out the forest i don't think we want

00:22:49.640 to label bears do we you know what i mean you know what i mean like it's like yeah there's

00:22:54.600 There's portions of this country where you kind of need a firearm, guys.

00:22:58.120 Oh, yeah.

00:22:58.540 Get away from it.

00:22:59.920 As a matter of fact, I had a family member who was doing a geological research project

00:23:05.260 in northern Saskatchewan, like past the cell phone line.

00:23:09.780 They had no cell service near the border of the Yukon.

00:23:12.860 And they had a couple individuals around their camp because they were looking to see it's

00:23:17.260 just a good place for uranium or rare earth minerals because of the wolf packs up there.

00:23:22.000 and they had to have it to protect them because the wolf packs will come in and grab food or grab

00:23:28.220 you don't follow you home if you're walking around in the middle of the night you know i hate to say

00:23:32.540 it this way but this could be a double bang solution we could have a double barrel solution

00:23:36.780 here jim if we armed up as a nation and created our own industry of building firearms we could

00:23:44.580 put Canadians back to work. We could arm them. It takes a lot of experience and practice to use

00:23:54.620 a gun properly and hit what you're aiming at. And I don't trust the average Canadian with a gun in 1.00

00:24:01.740 their hand to hit what they're aiming at and not hit someone they're not supposed to. I want the

00:24:07.260 military to have guns, the police to have guns. If you're a responsible gun owner, go and practice

00:24:13.180 so you know how to use it properly but you know you see these stories about someone who has in

00:24:17.820 the states they have a a small a handgun in the console of their car um shoot the chihuahua by

00:24:23.580 accident yeah well yeah right i mean no you're all joking aside uh kids get shot by accident

00:24:29.580 innocent people get hit but the ball doesn't know where it's going it's not going to turn

00:24:33.900 away when it realizes it's it's an innocent person my father used to label three days of

00:24:39.100 the week was wednesdays ski thursdays indoor range sundays rifle range obviously oh yeah yeah

00:24:48.940 and an experienced responsible gun owner who knew what they were doing it's like it's like anything

00:24:55.180 i mean you're just going to say i'm going to grab a fishing rod i haven't touched it in 10 years

00:24:59.580 i didn't catch anything you think you know experienced anglers do it on a regular basis

00:25:04.460 or whatever it is right okay guys well listen i think that we've offered some solutions

00:25:11.580 none of them great but at least we understand better where we're at

00:25:15.740 then frankly the gun buyback program look at we have to have been we have a great audience i can

00:25:20.540 only imagine that they're going to let us know if it's a bad idea or a good idea maybe not

00:25:26.060 we'll be behind it like it or repost it and i know from you gentlemen both know we all know

00:25:33.420 police officers the frontline police officer who are out there every day and the stress level they

00:25:38.860 deal with because the amount of illegal guns that are on the street smuggled from the states that

00:25:44.940 they're dealing with every day and their life is in danger every day because of it i can guarantee

00:25:49.980 you they want a solution as much as anyone else living in in any city in this country 100 guns

00:25:57.340 on the street changes policing entirely we've witnessed it happen in toronto we've seen it

00:26:02.700 across the country uh something does need to be done i think we can at least all agree on that

00:26:10.540 you're here thanks guys thank you

00:26:19.660 patriotic means looking out for each other and fixing things together true patriotism is being

00:26:26.620 in the country you love surrounded by people you love and great weather being a patriot is being

00:26:31.420 a part of your community and caring for it it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from

00:26:35.900 patriotism is the one thing we all share it's okay to be critical of government

00:26:41.260 and still be a patriot it's gratitude to your country of course i'm a patriot i'm

00:26:45.900 I'm Canadian, it's my home.

00:26:47.760 Well, actually, true patriot love is the mission.

True Patriot Love - April 16, 2026

Canada’s Gun Buyback Is Failing

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