Canadian province opposes national government's firearm ban, takes steps to prevent weapons seizure

The Canadian province of Alberta is opposing the national government's firearms ban and is taking steps to prevent the potential seizure of thousands of guns under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandatory firearm buyback program.

Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, the province's top legal official, said last week that Canada's minister of public safety requested police resources to start seizing firearms this fall.

Shandro opposed having Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers confiscate weapons and said he will protest any provincial-federal policing agreement, according to the CBC, Canada's state-funded news network.

"Alberta taxpayers pay over $750 million per year for the RCMP and we will not tolerate taking officers off the streets in order to confiscate the property of law-abiding firearms owners," Shandro said.

Teri Bryant, Alberta's chief firearms officer, also stood firmly against firearm confiscation. 

"I have previously expressed strong opposition to the federal government's plans to prohibit and confiscate some 30,000 lawfully acquired firearms from Albertans," he said. "The planned confiscations represent a fatal approach to reducing violence in Canadian society and are unwarranted and unacceptable infringements on the property rights and personal freedoms of Albertans."

In April, a gunman disguised as a police officer killed 16 people in Nova Scotia in Canada's largest mass shooting event. The next month, Trudeau unveiled legislation to create a "national freeze" on handgun purchases and force residents to turn over "military-style assault weapons" through a government buyback program.