Thank you, Minister. I appreciate those comments and I know legislation is coming forward. I've heard you. It's obvious that you don't know what the cost will be. You told Canadians that it's going to be $250 million when you first pushed this on the Canadian public, and now we know it'll probably be ten times more than that.
I'm also curious to know how much you estimate it'll cost to buy back the guns from criminals lined up to turn in their illegal firearms, but when I look, that must be the budget line I see with all the zeros on it, because we know that none of those criminals who are the real threat to public safety are going to be lining up to turn in any of their illegally obtained firearms. A gun ban, as you know, will not apply to criminals.
Minister, you maintained in a statement that the AR-15 is a firearm designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time, that it is not a hunting or sporting rifle and that it has no place in society. If that's the case, can you explain why public servants and the Government of Yukon are buying this same firearm to manage human/wildlife conflict? To me, it sounds like a legitimate use of a firearm that has appropriate licensing, safety and storage requirements, contrary to the flawed rationale you guys use to justify your order in council. Do you have any thoughts on that?