Article content continued

Solicitor General Mike Farnworth endorsed the idea Monday, saying his government is already researching how to bring in the vehicle rules.

“Absolutely we’re taking it very seriously and we want to make sure when we do it we do it right,” he told reporters at a press conference in the legislature.

“The issues around drivers will be a significant change. We’re already working with the superintendent of motor vehicles about how we’d go about it. We want to make sure we’d get the legal issues around it addressed so that when we’re able to make changes we know we’re on solid ground. But frankly I think this is potentially a very effective way to disrupt the activity of those who think they can carry an illegal firearm in a vehicle without consequences. And it’s one I think the public would very supportive of.”

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, whose community has been at the centre of gang violence and shootings, said the task force did excellent work.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” she said. “I honestly think it’s some of the most constructive suggestions around how we can take an outside-the-box look at it. I’m very supportive of it.”

Hepner said the vehicle provisions, including the proposed forfeiture of vehicles and the potential penalties against not only gang members but their friends and family, “should put a chill” into organized crime.

The task force was launched in 2016 by the previous Liberal government, as part of a guns and gangs strategy designed to curb rising public shooting incidents in Metro Vancouver, and Surrey in particular. In 2015, police seized 3,000 illegal firearms while investigating 2,000 incidents that involved the criminal use of firearms (including homicides, robberies, assaults and break and enters).