Canada just ran phase one of its buyback — or "compensation program," if you prefer Ottawa's framing — and the numbers are out.

"Rather than addressing the root causes of rising crime, the government is diverting taxpayer funds toward confiscating firearms from law-abiding, licensed owners."
— Chris Everett, Safari Club International Canada

You'll hear versions of this argument in any gun shop in Idaho, and it's not wrong. The Canadian government spent $22 million in the business phase alone — money that, by any honest accounting, did nothing about gang violence or border smuggling. The licensed owner is just the easiest target because he already identified himself to the government.

The 67,000 declaration figure sounds large until you consider Canada has an estimated 13 million legally owned firearms and somewhere north of 2,500 newly prohibited models in circulation.

Sixty-seven thousand out of thirteen million. That's not compliance — that's rounding error. And remember, a declaration isn't a surrender. Some percentage of those 67,000 declared guns will get deactivated privately, sold across the border before the deadline, or just sit in a safe until someone decides to call the bluff. The October 2026 deadline is when this story actually gets interesting.

This whole thing is worth watching if you care about where American gun politics is headed — not because Canada sets U.S. policy, but because the compliance numbers are data. When a government prohibits a class of firearms owned by millions of people, those people don't line up. They wait, they negotiate, they ignore. That's not unique to Canada.

For those of us who own ARs, AKs, or anything that fits a broad "assault-style" definition — how does watching this play out north of the border affect how you think about your own long-term storage, documentation, or estate planning?

Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett