Public Safety Canada was unable to provide updated estimates for the significantly expanded expropriation, but criminologist Gary Mauser estimates the cost could add another $1 billion to the $756 million estimated cost the Parliamentary Budget Officer released last year.
“That is another billion dollars — because so many popular long guns will be caught by it,” said Mauser, a Simon Fraser University professor.
The amendment to Bill C-21, introduced by Liberal MP Paul Chiang on Nov. 22, alters the definition of “prohibited weapon” to include “a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun, that is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner and that is designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed.”
