Gun Owners Report Over 22,000 Firearms for Compensation Program
In the first week of a new initiative aimed at compensating gun owners for surrendered firearms, more than 22,000 firearms were reported to the federal government, according to Public Safety Canada.
The program allows owners of banned firearms to declare their interest in receiving compensation for either turning in or permanently deactivating their guns before the end of March. This initiative comes after Ottawa prohibited approximately 2,500 types of firearms since May 2020, including the AR-15, citing their unsuitability outside of a battlefield setting.
Owners of these now illegal firearms must dispose of or deactivate them by the end of an amnesty period on October 30. Federal officials have allocated almost $250 million for compensating participants in the program, with an estimated coverage for around 136,000 firearms.
