The federal government has asked the provincial government of Alberta to help seize 30,000 weapons from Albertans, but the provincial government has declined.

Tyler Shandro, the Minister of Justice, claims that the federal government has asked Alberta for assistance in seizing 30,000 weapons in compliance with federal law.

Shandro declared the province will ignore the request and would advise the Alberta RCMP not act either in a statement on Monday, September 26.

Shandro emphasized that the province believes the seizure of these weapons is "politically motivated" and that the designation of "assault-style" is arbitrary.

"To be clear, these firearms were acquired legally. The list of over 1500 banned models were all previously non-restricted restricted firearms, and include hunting rifles and shotguns as well as historical artifacts, almost 100 years old. While the federal government has labelled them as, in their words, 'assault-style,' that's a label designed to scare Canadians who are unfamiliar with firearms. It's a description based purely on their appearance and not on any unusual dangers that they pose or mechanical capability they possess."

He claims that the federal government has notified the province that Alberta RCMP officers will be used to implement the federal "buyback programme."

To address this, the government sent a letter to the commanding officer of the RCMP K-Divison (Alberta) stating that the RCMP of Alberta does not have the goal of seizing firearms and that doing so would not be "appropriate to the effective and efficient delivery of police services."

Shandro asserted that Alberta has the right to refuse to use RCMP officers in the confiscation of weapons by citing Articles 6.0, 2.3(a), 7.2(a), and 23.0 of the Provincial Police Service Agreement.

Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com