Alberta’s United Conservative Party government announced provincial firearms legislation Tuesday, offering more clarity for gun owners and more provincial authority over regulations.
If passed, the Bill 8 Alberta Firearms Act would allow the government to develop regulations that it sees as necessary to protect gun owners in the province.
Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro has been critical of the federal Liberals’ Bill C-21, which includes a national handgun freeze and prohibition on many assault-style firearms.
“(The) No. 1 goal with this piece of legislation is to provide clarity, which has been lacking in every province, quite frankly,” Shandro said on Tuesday.
“So, clarity in the role between (the) federal government and provincial governments in the regulation of firearms.”
There’s not a lot of detail in the legislation and Shandro said it’s written that way for a reason.
A lot of small details over firearms legislation have been changed by the federal government, Shandro said, and as the province learns more about what those details are, it will be able to adjust the legislation to provide clarity and sovereignty to Alberta firearms owners. He said the federal government has given out few details about how it plans to proceed.
“I characterize it as being nimble. That’s important because we don’t have any details yet,” Shandro said.
“Once we do see those details what we have here is an opportunity for us to be nimble and develop regulations to respond to that at that time.”
An Alberta chief firearms officer (CFO) was appointed in 2021 to administer federal firearms legislation and “advocate for lawful firearms owners and promote public safety,” according to the province.
The CFO’s role would continue under the new act and will extend duties to include supporting Albertans.
After receiving backlash, the federal government recently dropped amendments to Bill C-21, the government’s gun control legislation.
Proposed amendments to Bill C-21, including banning automatic hunting rifles (also sometimes referred to as…
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