Shop owners can ship banned firearms

Ottawa allowing retailers to use couriers for buyback program; plan for private owners in works

- MARK RAMZY

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced regulatory changes this week that will allow retailers to surrender banned firearms using courier services, a move critics say is long overdue.

Retailers participating in the federal gun buyback scheme should be able to turn in banned firearms using courier companies starting this fall, as the Trudeau government gears up to begin the first phase of the long-awaited program.

On Wednesday, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced regulatory changes that will allow retailers to surrender banned firearms using courier services, a move critics say is long overdue and that gun-control advocates celebrate as a “critical” first step in a program that has been mired in controversy.

There is currently no process in place for retailers to surrender recently banned “assault-style” firearms in return for compensation.

While the buyback program is expected to get underway this fall, it remains unknown where firearms retailers will send some previously legal models of guns that were banned by the Trudeau government — and when a process will be in place for private gun owners to surrender their now-illegal weapons.