The three prairie provinces are opposing recent amendments to federal gun legislation.
Amendments to Bill C-21 proposed in committee by Liberal MP Paul Chiang would ban any “rifle or shotgun that is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner and that is designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed.”
There is also a list of firearms banned by name.
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The provinces, in a joint news release, said the amendments ban hundreds of new models of legally owned firearms.
Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe said the amendments would criminalize hunters and farmers who own many of the models that could be banned.
Alberta justice minister Tyler Shandro said the changes would be the most sweeping and arbitrary ban of firearms in Canadian history.
“The federal Liberals claimed that they were never going after hunters, farmers and target shooters — they lied,” Shandro said.
Kelvin Goertzen, Manitoba’s justice minister and attorney general, said the province has concerns that law-abiding gun owners will be punished but illegal gun imports from the United States will not be addressed.
Contact karen.briere@producer.com
