A Privy Council Office report, Understanding Firearms Owners, casts serious doubt on the ability of the federal government to confiscate firearms from licensed gun owners.

The scheme faces a high risk of non-compliance, as well as exorbitant costs with little public safety benefit.

“The Government of Canada believes it is unlikely to be the most trusted messenger with individuals who own assault-style firearms,” the report states.

It warns the confiscation scheme’s success hinges on gun owners’ belief in its legitimacy and connection to public safety, a connection that’s clearly lacking.

According to the report, only 15 percent of surveyed gun owners expect to be affected by the confiscation scheme that targets firearms banned by the May 2020 Order in Council and others added by the RCMP since then.

Of that 15%, a whopping 67 percent say they’re unlikely to comply. The numbers are even higher in Western provinces, 71 percent in Alberta and Saskatchewan, revealing a deep regional mistrust of the federal Liberal government.

Journalist Lorne Gunter didn’t mince words.

“I don’t trust any government that doesn’t trust my law-abiding neighbors to own guns if they want to,” said journalist Lorne Gunter.

Though not a gun owner himself, Gunter emphasized the importance of personal liberty and practical governance.

“You are not going to stop illegal shootings by confiscating legal weapons from law-abiding Canadians,” he said. “That’s the fallacy of all of this.”

Ekos’ findings support this disconnect.

A majority of gun owners (84 percent) believe violence committed with guns is almost always committed by those in illegal possession of them. Further, 78 percent believe licensed gun owners are unfairly targeted by the Liberal government’s current policies.

Gunter sums up the controversy bluntly.

“This is yet again a failure of government that is emotionally driven, not logically driven.”

Ottawa’s Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme may be politically popular in some urban centers, but across the country it’s generating division, suspicion, and resistance.

As the Liberal government moves toward implementation, one uncomfortable truth lingers.

The criminal element will never be affected by this scheme because they don’t have firearms licenses and they don’t register their illegally-owned guns.

The Liberal Firearms Confiscation Compensation Scheme it is designed to target licensed gun owners only, which proves the point CSSA has made for years.

If improving public safety was truly its intent, the scheme would focus on criminals illegally possessing guns.

This scheme was never intended to improve public safety.