Gun group ridicules plan to send confiscated pistols, rifles and grenade launchers to Ukraine

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The Canadian military says Ukraine has requested pistols, military-style rifles and grenade launchers removed from public ownership as part of the Liberal government’s firearms ban.

But a firearms lobby group is ridiculing the government for the proposal that would turn over confiscated weapons to Ukraine. The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights points out that civilian gun stores were never allowed to sell grenade launchers in the first place and that only small quantities of firearms desired by Ukraine actually remain in Canada.

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The Department of National Defence confirmed that in October the Canadian government reached out to Ukraine to see whether any of the weapons that had been banned by the Liberals might be of interest. “The Minister of Defence of Ukraine has identified 23 makes and models that would support the continued defence of Ukraine and shared security goals,” DND spokesperson Cheryl Forrest said in an email.

Among the items from the federal government’s list of now banned weapons, Ukraine has requested all models of Sig Sauer 9mm pistols, a variety of higher-end AR-style rifles made for the civilian market mainly by Colt Canada, as well as U.S.-made grenade launchers and Russian-built RPG-7s (rocket-propelled grenade launchers).

But firearms specialists and gun store owners told the Ottawa Citizen that active RPG-7s would not have been sold in Canada to the public in the first place. The same goes for the other grenade launchers, whose sales are tightly controlled by the U.S. government. Those would have been sold in Canada in small quantities but only to the military and police and through authorized firms.

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Officials in the country’s firearms industry as well as those from a firearms rights group based in Ottawa also point out there are few, if any, Sig Sauer pistols left in Canada. Most of those were purchased legally just before the Liberals brought in the ban on pistols in October, 2022.

“At the end of the day this is all political BS,” said Rod Giltaca of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. “The Liberals’ idea is so preposterous it’s barely worth the time to criticize it.”

He pointed out that the variants of the semi-automatic AR-15 rifle that Ukraine is interested in are considered very high and expensive guns. Giltaca estimated that because of their hefty price tag there would have been limited stock left in the gun stores or with distributors when the ban on those rifles was brought in.

The federal government has announced it intends to compensate companies who are required to turn over the firearms. “The Department of National Defence will begin working with the Canadian companies that have weapons that Ukraine needs in order to get these weapons out of Canada and into the hands of the Ukrainians,” said Defence Minister Bill Blair on Dec. 5 when announcing an expansion of the ban list.

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Nathalie Provost, a survivor of the 1989 Montreal massacre which killed 14 women, welcomed the federal government’s initiative expanding the list of banned firearms. “These are just killing weapons, war weapons, military weapons, so I’m proud we are doing something,” Provost, a spokesperson for the advocacy group PolySeSouvient, said at the time.

Forrest stated that as the Canadian government begins “communications with businesses, a better understanding of the quantity of weapons available for Ukraine will be applicable.” Canadian Forces personnel would not be involved in collecting the banned firearms, she added.

Only new firearms would be collected for Ukraine.

The Liberal government first announced in May 2020 that it would ban certain firearms, including the AR-15 variants. Gun owners were to be offered the choice of either turning in their firearms for compensation, deactivating them or retaining them but not being allowed to use them.

However, the federal government has failed over years to bring in a program to collect the firearms. Gun owners have not been provided information on how to take part in the buyback program. The cost of the program is still unknown.

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“The Liberal Party’s idea to confiscate lawfully owned firearms from Canadians and pay those Canadians with tax money obtained via budget deficit is shockingly absurd,”  Giltaca said.

In September 2024, the Ottawa Citizen revealed that Second World War-era handguns that had been earmarked for destruction by the Canadian Armed Forces would instead be sent to Ukraine starting in this month.

The original plan was to destroy 11,000 of the Browning Hi-Power pistols. But now 10,500 of the 9-mm pistols will be shipped to Ukraine.

Since February 2022, Canada has committed more than $19.5 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, including $4.5 billion in military equipment, according to the federal government. This includes Leopard 2 main battle tanks, armoured combat support vehicles, anti-tank weapons, small arms including 21,000 assault rifles, M777 howitzers and associated ammunition as well as high-resolution drones.

Blair also announced on Sept. 6 that Canada planned to send C6 machine guns to Ukraine. That donation will be see 970 of the machine guns earmarked for the eastern European country to help it in its war against Russian invaders.

These come from a stockpile of C6 surplus guns in the Canadian miltiary.

David Pugliese is an award-winning journalist covering Canadian Forces and military issues in Canada. To support his work, including exclusive content for subscribers only, sign up here: ottawacitizen.com/subscribe

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