OTTAWA — Internal government documents from 2019 put the cost of a government mandatory gun buyback at nearly $2 billion, despite assurances during the last federal election that expropriating so-called “assault rifles” from licensed Canadian firearms owners would only cost between $400 million and $600 million.
In documents published as part of an access-to-information request, an internal presentation prepared in December 2019 by the Department of Justice puts the cost of confiscating what it described as “military-style assault rifles,” with compensation for the owners, at more than double the figure touted by then public safety minister Bill Blair.
