Amid a federal call for a ban on firearms, Bill 194 was amended on Tuesday to better protect the rights of legal firearm and handgun owners in the province.
Premier Scott Moe said the federal government’s firearm ban is extremely concerning, adding to the reasoning for moving forward with the bill amendment.
“Not only the introduction of this ban, [but] the fact that they have not consulted with provinces, and certainly haven’t consulted on expansion of the firearms that are being added to the ban,” said Moe.
The federal government recently indicated plans to pass legislation intended to delegate to municipalities the ability to ban handguns or other firearms.
The provincial bill will limit the ability to ban firearm and handgun ownership within the province through new local municipal bylaws.
“This prevents a number of things. It prevents a patchwork across the province so that we don’t have different rules in different municipalities,” said Moe.
“It does take us another step towards ensuring that we are not only protecting the rights of law-abiding firearms owners here in the province, but we are doing right by the Saskatchewan people,” he added.
Moe went on to saw that law-abiding firearms people are not the issue.
“The issue is combating illegal gun crime in this nation, wherever you are,” said Moe.
“Approaching and banning legal firearm owners is not the answer to the problem,” he added.
According to a press released sent out by the province, the amendments were made to The Miscellaneous Municipal Statutes Amendment Act, 2019, which was originally introduced in the fall of 2019. Other amendments include clarifying municipal responsibilities when posting public notices.
“We have chosen to represent the law-abiding firearm owners here in the province since they did not have representation in the federal government,” said Moe.
“It would be very wise of the federal government to shift their focus towards where the actual challenge is opposed to the people that are and have been following the laws for many years and decades now,” he added.
