OTTAWA - A leading proponent of stricter gun control says allowing owners of recently banned firearms to keep them would make it easier for a different government to reverse the ban in future.
In a letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the group PolySeSouvient urges the Liberal government to implement a mandatory buyback program for all assault-style guns.
The Liberals outlawed a wide range of firearms early this month, saying the guns were designed for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting.
The ban covers some 1,500 models and variants of what the government considers assault-style weapons, meaning they can no longer be legally used, sold or imported.
The government proposes a program that would allow current owners to receive compensation for turning in the designated firearms or keep them through a grandfathering process yet to be worked out.
Sport shooters, firearm rights advocates and some Conservative MPs have questioned the value of the measures in fighting crime.
