The new Alberta Firearms Act has been used for the first time

The Alberta Firearms Act has been amended to include a provision prohibiting communities and police from making unilateral arrangements with the federal government.

Municipalities, police departments, and police commissioners in Alberta are receiving clarification from the provincial government regarding their obligations when considering accepting federal assistance to implement the federal gun confiscation program.

“The Alberta Firearms Act was introduced on March 7. Twenty-one days later, the law took effect when it received royal assent. Now, merely a week later, Alberta’s government has moved to enable the first regulation under the act. This action demonstrates that Alberta stands unequivocally with law-abiding firearms owners, but there is more to do. Stay tuned,” explained Tyler Shandro, Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

Due to this obligation, funding agreements and grants can be examined by the Justice Minister and Attorney General to make sure they are in line with the safe delivery of firearms programming in Alberta.

Teri Bryant, Chief Firearms Officer stated “public safety should be the cornerstone and overriding factor in all decisions related to firearms programming. The federal firearms confiscation program will not improve public safety. The Alberta Chief Firearms Office calls on the federal government to put public safety first by focusing on the criminal misuse of firearms rather than on law-abiding firearms owners.”

The Alberta Firearms Act builds upon steps taken in the Municipal Government (Firearms) Amendment Act, 2020, which amended the Municipal Government Act to prevent municipalities from passing firearms bylaws unless authorized by the province.

British Columbia and Quebec both have legislation that regulates firearms outside of wildlife and hunting legislation. Saskatchewan recently introduced legislation to regulate firearms.

Albertans own the second-highest number of firearms classified as restricted or prohibited by the federal government.

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