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A Heckler & Koch SL7, one of 324 firearms models banned by the federal government on Dec. 5.

The BC Wildlife Federation is criticizing the federal government’s latest firearm ban as a "nonsensical" policy that has no hope in improving public safety.

Ottawa announced Thursday it has outlawed another 324 firearm varieties in advance of a planned buyback program.

BCWF executive director Jesse Zeman says the federal government is continuing down a path of banning certain models of firearms merely because they look scary.

“They're going to call them assault-style rifles, but of course, assault rifles have been prohibited in Canada since 1969,” he said.

“This is another [ban based on] looks. This firearm looks bad, this firearm looks okay”

A list of the latest batch of guns being banned is here. Zeman said none of the models jump out at him as particularly popular with hunters, but the federal government says it will decide on a possible ban of the extremely popular SKS semi-automatic rifle by February.

The firearms banned Thursday are in addition to 1,500 firearms banned in 2020, and a national freeze on firearms in 2022, with plans for a buyback that has yet to materialize. The BCWF, which has 40,000 members in B.C., says that buyback will cost billions of dollars with no benefit to public safety.

While national figures are not available, the Toronto Police said in 2022 86% of guns used in crimes in the city came from the United States. Toronto’s police union says it has seen a 45-per-cent increase in shootings and a 62-per-cent increase in gun-related homicides compared to this time last year.

“Gun related homicides are going up in a major way,” Zeman said. “And these firearms are coming across our border, they're not from law abiding firearms owners.”

The BCWF is urging the federal government to fund law enforcement to stop the flow of illegal guns from the U.S.

“Focus on the problem,” Zeman said, adding firearms owners are “getting sucked into this debate when we're not the problem.”

The federal government says it is working with provinces, territories and police on the buyback of prohibited weapons from individual owners. It has already run a pilot project on collecting banned firearms from businesses.

Ottawa also says it has committed to the Ukrainian government to work with firearm businesses and identify how these guns could support the fight against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The newly banned firearms can no longer be legally used or sold in Canada, and can be transferred or transported only under limited circumstances.

Gun-control groups, meanwhile, cheered the measures on Thursday.

with files from The Canadian Press