Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest promised Tuesday to subject a national ban on so-called assault-style firearms to a classification review by a panel of experts.

It comes after the former Quebec premier said back in March, when specifically asked about the prohibition, that he wasnB次元官网网址檛 B次元官网网址渟eeking to change the laws as they are.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 not on my program,B次元官网网址� Charest told The Canadian Press at the time.

Asked about the apparent shift, campaign spokeswoman Laurence T么th said that Charest stands by his initial position. What heB次元官网网址檚 proposing is a review of the regulations and not a legislative change, she said.

The partyB次元官网网址檚 position on firearms came under scrutiny during last yearB次元官网网址檚 federal election campaign when former leader Erin OB次元官网网址橳oole struggled to articulate whether he was proposing to lift a federal ban on some 1,500 models of what the Liberals call assault-style weapons.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau imposed the ban using regulations introduced through a May 2020 order-in-council. He was also the one to press OB次元官网网址橳oole during the recent federal race on his campaign promise to revoke it.

CharestB次元官网网址檚 position on that ban is similar to the one OB次元官网网址橳oole eventually adopted last year. After several days of confusion around his stance, OB次元官网网址橳oole inserted a footnote into the partyB次元官网网址檚 platform clarifying it would keep the prohibition in place but subject it to a review.

B次元官网网址淎 Charest government will implement common-sense gun laws by taking this divisive wedge issue out of the hands of politicians and hand over the classification of weapons to a panel representing both policing and firearms experts,B次元官网网址� Michelle Coates Mather, also a spokeswoman for Charest, said on Tuesday.

B次元官网网址淭his panelB次元官网网址檚 scope will include a review of the 2020 Trudeau order-in-council while making decisions solely based on public safety.B次元官网网址�

Firearm advocates and gun owners make up part of the partyB次元官网网址檚 grassroots, which is heavily concentrated in Western Canada, and so it is typical for leadership candidates to release policies related to firearm ownership.

Gun control has also re-emerged as an issue during the race to find OB次元官网网址橳ooleB次元官网网址檚 replacement thanks to the Liberal government tabling new legislation in the House of Commons proposing to freeze the sale, purchase and importation of handguns.

The bill came in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers. Trudeau said he wants to see parties work together to ensure the bill can pass quickly through the minority Parliament.

Longtime Ottawa-area MP Pierre Poilievre, whoB次元官网网址檚 running on a campaign pledge of B次元官网网址渇reedom,B次元官网网址� blasted the new legislation as a B次元官网网址渕ade-for-Hollywood approach to firearm classificationB次元官网网址� and promised to focus more resources on stopping the illegal smuggling of guns across the border.

B次元官网网址淔irearms should be classified by what they do, and not how they look,B次元官网网址� he said in a statement.

To set the criteria for classification, Poilievre also promised to assemble a panel of experts that includes sport shooters and First Nations hunters.

Patrick Brown, the mayor of Brampton, Ont., accused Trudeau of B次元官网网址減oliticizing American tragediesB次元官网网址� and refusing to address the B次元官网网址渁ctual problemB次元官网网址� of gang violence and firearms smuggled in from the United States.

B次元官网网址淎s prime minister, I would scrap the Firearms Act and replace it with made-in-Canada legislation that would strongly address smuggled firearms and gang violence,B次元官网网址� Brown said.

B次元官网网址淢y legislation would be based on sound data, input from victims services groups, law enforcement and law-abiding firearms owners B次元官网网址� not American politics.B次元官网网址�

Leslyn Lewis, who placed third in the 2020 leadership race, emailed supporters Tuesday to accuse the Liberals of playing politics with public safety.

B次元官网网址淒r. Lewis is frustrated on behalf of Canadians who want laws that make sense and protect people,B次元官网网址� a campaign spokesman told The Canadian Press.

B次元官网网址淪he will review every single firearms law currently in place and replace the LiberalsB次元官网网址� legislation with laws that will actually make Canadians safer.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址擲tephane Taylor, The Canadian Press