BC opt out of gun buyback

Open letter Premier David Eby,

I’m writing as a tax-paying resident of B.C. who cares a lot about public safety and about whether our government spends time and money on things that actually work.

In my community, Maple Ridge, the biggest public safety issues aren’t law-abiding firearms owner, they are the mental health and addiction crisis, repeat violent offending and the day-to-day strain on police, courts, and frontline health care.

That’s why I’m asking you to take a clear position—British Columbia should not administer, support, or sign on to Ottawa’s Firearms Compensation Program, the federal gun “buyback” and B.C. should not allow provincial policing capacity to be diverted into it.

The Cape Breton pilot showed the problem. It was supposed to test whether the program could work at scale. The program aimed to collect 200 firearms over six weeks, but the results publicly reported were 25 firearms from 16 participants out of a possible 3,500 licensed owners, at an administrative cost of over $149,760.

That isn’t a serious return on effort and it’s a warning that the national rollout risks becoming a long, expensive administrative project that produces no public safety benefit.

Even the program’s own rollout has been dogged by resource and readiness concerns. Media reporting about a leaked audio recording described the federal public safety minister privately expressing doubt municipal police have the resources to enforce the programand he suggested the entire program was based on optics of political pressure within Quebec.

Separately, reporting indicates the B.C. Police Chiefs’ Association raised concerns about resourcing and preparedness, citing its members questioned the burden of the program (would put) on B.C. policing resources.

That’s not what a confident, well-designed national public safety program looks like.

Police leaders have been consistent: don’t dump this on frontline policing.

Police leadership has warned for years not to load that kind of program onto already-stretched agencies. A Canadian Press report in 2022 captured the police chiefs urging the federal government not to rely on resource-strapped police to carry out a buyback. In federal committee testimony, Regina Police Chief Evan Bray described the buyback process as a “massive amount of work.”

The National Police Federation also argued the buyback would pull attention and resources away from higher-impact priorities like illegal guns and organized crime.

B.C. cannot afford to weaken frontline capacity, not with the crisis-level calls we’re already dealing with in communities like mine.

The data points us toward a different target. Statistics Canada’s latest statistics shows firearm-related violent crime has risen sharply since 2018. In 2023, handguns were present in about half (49%) of firearm-related violent crime incidents, while rifles and shotguns were present in 15%.

That matches what police leaders often say publicly—the real driver is illegal guns and smuggling, not securely stored firearms sitting in the homes of vetted, compliant owners. For example, the Toronto Police Association president testified that at least 85% of seized crime guns traced back to the United States.

So, if the goal is fewer shootings and fewer victims, the most direct path is border enforcement, anti-smuggling investigations, gang disruption and mental-health and addiction interventions, not a program aimed at people who already follow the rules and their private property that does not contribute to crime.

BC wouldn’t be alone. Multiple provinces and territories have publicly pushed back on administering or participating in the buyback, including Manitoba New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Yukon and others. Even federally, all five NDP leadership campaigns reportedly told the National Post they oppose the buyback approach.

Premier, I’m asking you to:

1. Publicly state B.C. will not administer or participate in the Firearms Compensation Program and will not sign agreements that download costs and staffing burdens onto B.C. policing and provincial systems.

2. Press Ottawa to redirect effort toward illegal gun smuggling and organized crime, and toward mental health/addictions treatment and crisis response.

Greg Fraser, Maple Ridge