Confiscation. Compensation. Expropriation. Buyback. Call it what you want, it’s a waste of money and doomed to fail in every practical way that matters — fiscal responsibility, good government, and public safety.
There was a brief period when many gun owners thought the government might abandon their plans altogether. Participation in the Cape Breton pilot program was so low there was no dignified way to spin it as a success. Online chatter was predicting a total collapse of the program as multiple police associations and provinces refused to participate. But any optimism was curbed last month when the government announced they are forging ahead with their plans.
The government’s goal is to wrap everything up by the end of October, and the minister has said they have no intention of extending the amnesty. This means that by the end of the amnesty period, the government will have spent three-quarters of a billion dollars with nothing to show for it except an erosion of trust with many gun owners.
When the OFAH and other wildlife affiliates from across Canada met with the Minister of Public Safety, we asked him what metrics he would use to determine if the compensation program had been successful. His response? The program will be considered successful if the entire budget gets paid out to gun owners. Nothing about tangible improvements to public safety, a reduction in gun violence, or any other metric that should logically be used to evaluate a program like this.
Is this the last time this government is going come after gun owners? Of course not. The government has signalled their intent to target large capacity magazines in addition to a review of the firearms classification regime. They also plan to spend a year consulting with Indigenous communities on the SKS, presumably to figure out how to soften the impact of its eventual prohibition.
The reality is that firearms issues in Canada have increasingly ben used as a political wedge, shaped in large part by advocacy approaches that rely on confrontation. That has made it easier for decision-makers to dismiss the broader firearms community as extreme even though licensed gun owners are responsible and safety-focused.
OFAH is deliberately taking a different path. We are focused on rebuilding trust by engaging constructively, grounding our positions in evidence, and reinforcing the public-safety values that hunters and other firearm owners live every day. And yes, this approach hasn’t delivered the results any of us want since May 2020. But neither has anything else. Even the loudest voices have been ignored. While results since 2020 may be the same for all, we remain at the table for what comes next when others have been shut out.
Advocacy isn’t about volume. It’s about access. You can’t influence decisions you’re not part of. Experience shows that being at the table, even when we fall short, achieves more than protesting from the sidelines. As new firearms policy discussions emerge, OFAH’s measured, evidence-based approach will ensure our members’ interests are represented in a way that can influence outcomes.
Not all gun owners will agree on what to do but all can rely on the OFAH for timely and accurate information.
If you want to turn in your guns for compensation, we’ll get you the information you need. And if you have no intention of participating, we won’t try to change your mind. Whatever you plan to do, take someone hunting or shooting. Show them how safe and enjoyable it is. Only when we change public opinion in our favour will we get this target off our backs.
Originally published in the Ontario Out of Doors Fishing Annual 2026
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