LIBERALS EXPECTED TO LAUNCH GUN BUYBACK PROGRAM

The Trudeau government is expected to introduce gun-control legislation this week that gives owners the choice of keeping recently outlawed firearms under strict conditions instead of turning them in for compensation. However a gun-control expert who has studied buyback initiatives says optional programs, as opposed to compulsory ones, have a greater chance of missing the mark of making communities safer. Philip Alpers at the University of Sydney in Australia, says the evidence shows a voluntary buyback is the most likely to fail. Alpers points to gun buyback programs in Australia and New Zealand that not only prohibited certain guns but included stiff penalties for not turning them in. He said it was the threat of a penalty that helped these programs work.