The email shows Lucky initially against naming firearms used in NS mass shootings. Globalnews.ca

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Luckey initially recommended the federal government not share information about the types of guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting – a stance she apparently changed days later.

Emails released today by a public inquiry indicate that Luckey wrote to the then Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair on April 23, 2020, four days after the gunman shot 22 using multiple firearms. People were murdered.

She lists the names of two semi-automatic pistols and two semi-automatic rifles that the killer used, and states that the information should not be forwarded to the Prime Minister and the Minister, as the information is “directly related to this active Investigation.”

However, by the time of a news conference on 28 April, Lucky’s stance had changed, as she was unhappy with the RCMP superintendent. Darren Campbell declined to give details about the weapons to reporters.

She commented in an email to Blair’s chief of staff that afternoon that Campbell’s refusal to disclose the information “was not the execution I expected.”

Blair and the Prime Minister’s Office are accused of pressuring Luckey to release details about the types of weapons used by the gunman, which includes two RCMP officials — including Campbell — alleging that Luckey told them the information. The ensuing gun was linked to the law.

After allegations surfaced in a public inquiry into the April 18–19 mass shootings, the Conservatives and the NDP accused the Liberals of using a tragedy to advance their gun control policy.

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Luckey acknowledged in a statement that he “expressed dismay at the flow of information” at a meeting with the Nova Scotia RCMP in the hours following the April 28 news conference.

However, both Blair and Luckey have denied that there was any pressure to release a list of the weapons used in the shooting, and in fact neither he nor the Nova Scotia RCMP did anything to be reported by the media in November 2020. Before that information was disclosed to the public. ,

Some experts in guns and criminal investigations have suggested that getting lost in the partisan discord was the issue of the public’s right to know about firearms.

AJ Somerset, author of a book on gun culture, told The Canadian Press that people who knew they were involved in selling a gun to a mass murderer would avoid contacting the police, even if the details of the guns were released. .

However, the public inquiry recently issued additional subpoenas to the RCMP, following concerns that the federal police force withheld the documents. Emily Hill, the commission’s senior counsel, said in an email last week that the public inquiry “seeks reassurance that nothing more is being withheld”.

The government announced a ban on assault-style weapons on May 1, 2020, with the cabinet approving an order-in-council implementing the change.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 11, 2022.