Sask. considers taking federal government to court over firearms ban

On May 1, the federal government announced a ban on a wide range of ‘military-grade’ firearms, saying the guns were designed for the battlefield, not hunting or sport shooting.

On Monday, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan told Gormley the province is prepared to challenge Ottawa on the ban in court.

“If it’s appropriate to do a court challenge, we certainly will,” Morgan said.

Morgan says Saskatchewan has an outfitting industry that draws people from around the world to do sport shooting in the province.

“We’ve urged our people in the ministry to look carefully at any flaws, any problems that were there, any issues we can raise (in a possible court case),” said Morgan.

Morgan says he’s concerned the ban will have a negative impact on Saskatchewan. He says making legal gun owners criminals is the wrong approach.

Ultimately, he says the provincial government would prefer to work collaboratively with federal ministers on the issue.

The ban covers some 1,500 models and variants of what the government considers assault-style firearms, meaning they cannot be legally used, sold or imported.

The ban includes weapons like the AR-15 rifle and the Ruger Mini-14, which was used to kill 14 women at Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.

When the ban was announced, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said every Canadian wants to see less gun violence and safer communities.

However, there has been criticism of the ban, with some groups saying law-abiding citizens who have followed all the rules are being punished.

At the time of the announcement, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights questioned whether there is evidence to show the effectiveness of outlawing such firearms.

The federal government says it plans to introduce a buyback program to repossess guns it classified as prohibited.