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Manitoba gun owners have declared fewer than 2,500 banned firearms as part of a federal buyback program that saw far lower participation than what the government had budgeted for.
There were 2,442 “assault-style” firearms declared in the province as of March 31, the deadline for gun owners to sign up for compensation as part of the program.
That’s out of more than 67,000 weapons declared by 37,869 gun owners countrywide since the program began on Jan. 19.
But the figures are still less than half of the 136,000 firearms the government had planned for in its budget.
Ottawa had set aside $248.6 million for the program. Manitoba and several other provinces had pushed back against it, with Premier Wab Kinew saying in January his government would not get involved because the program didn’t seem to be very efficient.
Winnipeg police entered into an agreement to administer it last year, with the city’s executive policy committee recommending it to council. But Mayor Scott Gillingham’s office previously told CBC News the move was not an endorsement, and was only meant to ensure any costs are paid by Ottawa.
More than 2,500 gun makes and models are in the federal government’s ban list. Owners who did not declare the firearms before the March 31 deadline have until Oct. 30 to dispose or permanently deactivate the weapons.
