MONTREAL, QUEBEC — Canada's federal government has launched a buy-back programme funded with more than C$215 million to reimburse gun owners who turn in prohibited assault-style firearms. Alberta and Saskatchewan have refused to participate in the programme.

The buy-back follows the federal government's decision, after a deadly mass shooting in 2020 in Portapique, Nova Scotia, in which 22 people were killed, to ban approximately 2,500 models of assault-style firearms. In Canada's rare mass shootings, perpetrators have often used long guns.

Alberta has said it will not enforce the federal firearms buy-back programme. In Saskatchewan, gun owners will be shielded from criminal liability until the province provides a guarantee of fair compensation for their firearms. Blaine Beaven, the firearms commissioner of Saskatchewan, said his province's law is designed to protect gun owners. "At its core, it's an ideological mandate that's being put out there that has limited to no discernible benefit to public safety," Beaven said.

Frank Nardi, a gun shop owner, said many gun owners are confused about which firearms are affected by the buy-back programme due to poor communication from the federal government. Nardi said two firearms with the same caliber and cartridge type can have different ban statuses under the new law.

The programme has drawn comparisons to Australia's response after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, when the Australian government bought back and destroyed 650,000 firearms, according to public records. Joel Negin, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, said, "Australia's measures in 1996 largely worked because they were part of a broad suite of measures implemented 'very quickly' after the massacre." Negin added, "The situation in Canada is that the gun buy-back has been proposed, but it's not necessarily linked closely to other interventions."

In a secretly recorded conversation late last year, Gary Anandasangaree said he did not understand the logic of the buy-back programme. Anandasangaree later expressed belief in the importance of the programme.

In 1989, a gunman at Montréal's École Polytechnique killed 14 women and injured more than a dozen others.

A mass shooting occurred in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, in February, in which eight people were killed. At least one firearm used in the shooting was a modified rifle, and the firearms were not registered to the suspect, an 18-year-old who died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Under Canadian law, individuals must obtain a licence by passing a safety course and background checks to purchase a firearm. In 2020, 82% of Canadians said they supported a ban on military-style assault weapons. In 2024, about 91% of handguns recovered from crimes in Ontario originated from the U.S., according to public records.