The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to cancel the gun buyback in response to a Parliamentary Budget Officer report that estimated the cost of compensating gun owners could reach $756 million.

“Today we learned the gun buyback could cost hundreds of millions more than Canadians have been told and the government still doesn’t know the full costs,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the CTF. “This a huge sum of money and the people on the front line say the buyback won’t make Canadians safer.”

The PBO estimates reimbursing gun owners could cost taxpayers up to $756 million. The PBO did not provide an estimate for staffing and administration costs “given the current lack of details regarding program design and administration.”

“Focusing on reimbursement costs is misleading because it ignores the biggest expense —staffing costs,” wrote Gary Mauser, a Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University, in his analysis of the policy. 

The National Police Federation said the gun buyback will not address public safety issues.

“It diverts extremely important personnel, resources, and funding away from addressing the more immediate and growing threat of criminal use of illegal firearms,” reads an NPF position statement.

Instead of spending $756 million on the gun buyback, the federal government could hire more than 1,200 police officers for five years.

“The people on the front lines say they don’t need an ineffective and expensive gun buyback program and taxpayers can’t afford another costly scheme that won’t make our lives better,” said Terrazzano. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to reverse course and scrap the ineffective and expensive gun buyback.”