As my colleague Tom Knighton noted in a post earlier today, Canada's Liberal government is now moving ahead with its nationwide "buyback" scheme, despite widespread opposition from a number of provinces and individual gun owners. But even as the compensated confiscation efforts begin in earnest, one gun control group is declaring the "buyback" will be a failure unless Mark Carney and his fellow libs close a supposed loophole in Canada's restrictive gun laws.
PolySeSouvient, which is Canada's biggest gun control outfit, says the compensated confiscation effort can't be successful unless the federal government moves to "immediately end the sale of new models of SKS semi-automatic rifles to ensure gun owners cannot use financial compensation from the buyback to buy a new assault weapon.”
Rathjen’s warning is consistent with a recommendation of the Expert Advisory Panel on Firearms, mandated by Public Safety Canada to review firearms classification with special attention to the SKS semi-automatic weapon. In its final report, issued in January 2025, the panel wrote that the model was designed for military use and that manufacturers have upgraded it so that newer models have the same characteristics as currently prohibited weapons.
If the government fails to ban new sales, taxpayer-funded buyback money could be used to purchase such weapons and thereby render the buyback a failure, the advocacy organizations said.
“The buyback program is a crucial investment in the safety of Canadians from gun violence, today and for generations to come. It will save lives, protect our quality of life and reduce devastating injuries to victims of mass shootings and other gun violence,” said Boufeldja Benabdallah, co-founder of the Quebec City mosque that was the target of a fatal mass shooting on Jan. 29, 2017. Six people were killed and 19 others wounded when, in an act of anti-Muslim hatred, a gunman opened fire in the Centre culturel Islamique de Québec.
The buyback launch “represents another concrete step towards keeping Canadians safer from mass shootings,” said Benabdallah, but he added that Anandasangaree “must act on the findings of the expert panel and put an end to the sales of SKS rifles before financial compensation is paid to owners of prohibited assault weapons.”
At first blush, it does seem odd that the Liberals would ban thousands of makes and models of semi-automatic firearms while leaving SKS rifles alone. But when you look at both the "buyback" in general and the specifics of the compensated confiscation scheme through a political lens, it starts to make more sense.
SKS rifles are pretty popular among Canada's indigenous population, particularly for hunting, and the Liberals are loathe to do anything to upset that group of voters. It's also worth noting that only those SKS rifles with fixed magazines limited to five rounds are currently exempt from the gun ban.
The Liberals have insisted for years now that their compensated confiscation efforts aren't meant to deprive anyone of their ability to hunt, but banning the SKS would have a huge impact on indigenous Canadians and those who can't drive a block or two to their local grocery store to pick up dinner.
Up to this point, the Liberals have decided that banning SKS rifles would be more trouble than it's worth. Yes, it would appease the gun control lobby, but only at the expense of another interest group. And given that the gun control lobby has succeeded in making the vast majority of semi-automatic long guns off-limits to residents, I suspect that many Liberals wish they would just shut up and take the win.
But as we've seen both in the United States and in places like Australia, that's simply not how the gun control lobby operates. So long as there are some firearms available for sale they've got something to ban. They've already banned sem-autos down under, and now they're going after bolt-action and lever-action guns for their supposed "rapid fire" capability.
If the Liberals had included SKS rifles in their list of banned firearms, I'm sure the Canadian gun control lobby would have found something else to complain about. And if non-indigenous Canadians start buying SKS rifles in large enough numbers, groups like PolySeSouvient might actually be successful in prohibiting their sale, if not their possession.
I suspect, though, that just like in Australia, it will be lever-action and open-bolt action rifles that will be the next target of the anti-gunners up north. Given the fact that, so far the only province to sign on to the federal "buyback" is Quebec and the federal test-run in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia only collected about 10% of the guns the Libs were hoping for, I also have a feeling that the Liberals aren't going to be in any big hurry to expand their gun confiscation efforts to include guns that aren't currently banned.
