A Macdonald-Laurier Institute study has found no evidence to support Canada's federal Assault-Style Firearms Compensation program, which is now underway.
Authors Noah S. Schwartz, Ella Duncan, and Korian Deserons claim the implications of firearms restrictions since 2019 — when the federal government enacted sweeping executive and legislative actions that imposed a national freeze on legal handgun sales, banned thousands of models of "assault-style" firearms, and tightened administrative requirements for licensing and transfers — have "remained largely unexamined by independent researchers."
Their paper Off Target: Evaluating post-2019 changes to Canada's gun control laws, released in March 2026, rigorously assessed these policy shifts, by examining the literature on gun control policy, and interviewing law enforcement, community workers, and stakeholders, however.
Their research found no evidence to support a prohibition or confiscation of assault-style weapons in the Canadian context, or a freeze on the legal sales of handguns to licensed gun owners. It also determined that police are concerned with smuggled firearms from the United States and privately manufactured firearms (PMFs) and not legal gun owners.
The paper quantified the negative impacts that the current firearms policies have on small businesses, shooting ranges, historical re-enactors, and the competitive sport shooting community, as well as Indigenous communities that rely on firearms for subsistence and traditional ways of life.
They also noted that the gun control debate is pitting rural and urban Canadians against each other — the former tend to see the benefits of firearms for hunting and recreational shooting, while urban Canadians largely see, and suffer from, higher levels of gun violence from criminals and gangs. The study also differentiates between the legally acquired firearms owned by law-abiding gun owners and the typically illicit and/or smuggled firearms used by criminals.
The study points out that "Nearly two and a half years after its (handgun ban) implementation, handgun crime remains prevalent in Canada, largely due to the supply of illegal firearms being smuggled into Canada." It also notes that despite the assault-style weapon ban, interviewed police officers have seen no negative impact on gun crime, since criminals tend to prefer handguns.
The study also points to "mounting institutional opposition to Ottawa's mandatory buyback program from provincial governments, territorial leaders, and police unions across the country, who say limited policing resources should focus on actual criminals."
The researchers conclude that the federal government should pivot towards a "precision policy" that targets the root causes of violence, rather than legal gun owners.
This policy, they say, should include efforts to stop the flow of illegal guns coming across our southern border, provide funds for community programs to eliminate the root causes of violence, improve the red flag petition and licence revocation system, modernizing our firearm classification system, reverse the assault-style weapon ban, end the handgun freeze, and restore the legal handgun market.
To read the study in full, visit:
https://macdonaldlaurier.ca/off-target-evaluating-post-2019-changes-to-canadas-gun-control-laws/
[Photo from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute]
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