Carney leaves SKS rifle decision to firearms review

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that any decision on banning or restricting the SKS rifle will wait for an arm's-length review of how Canada classifies firearms, two days after a U.S. court filing described the Tumbler Ridge school shooter discussing an SKS while planning the attack.

Carney was asked at a news conference in Sherbrooke, Que., whether his government would ban the semi-automatic rifle or place more restrictions on it. The reporter who asked noted the same type of firearm was used in a deadly shooting in Montreal last summer.

"With respect to gun control and the classification of weapons, what this government is doing is setting up an arm's length objective assessment of those classifications, not least because there is constant, I'll use the word innovation, but constant changes in firearms," Carney said.

"We need the advice directly of the professionals, the RCMP, on those that do not correspond to our laws and those decisions will be taken with that advice," he said.

Carney did not say when the review would report or whether the SKS would be part of it.

He opened his answer by speaking about the families in Tumbler Ridge, saying the tragedy "lives on for those who lost their loved ones," and praised what he called "the close cooperation between our law enforcement including the RCMP and U.S. law enforcement" in the arrest of an alleged accomplice.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington announced Tuesday that James Cody Bryant, 30, of Bellingham, Wash., has been charged with conspiracy to murder persons in a foreign country in connection with the Feb. 10 shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in northeastern B.C. Prosecutors allege Bryant communicated with the shooter over Discord, gave advice on "what firearms to use" and sent money for items used in the attack.

An FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaint says the shooter, Jesse Van Rootselaar, told Bryant about her guns and accessories, including a "switch" for the SKS, which the agent wrote likely referred to a machine-gun conversion device. In messages quoted in the filing, Van Rootselaar wrote that police had knocked the rifle's sights out of alignment "when they roughly confiscated it."

The RCMP has said eight people were killed. Van Rootselaar was found dead at the school.

Carney was in Sherbrooke to announce a $2-billion home retrofit program that includes a national heat pump rebate of up to $10,000 for eligible lower-income households.

"The charges contained in the criminal complaint are only allegations," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. None of the allegations against Bryant have been proven in court.