Republican Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said Monday that he vehemently rejected requests by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to conduct surveillance at several gun shows in the province.
He said Canadian authorities have contacted the Montana Department of Justice and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation regarding observations of gun shows in Bozeman and Kalispell.
“My hair is completely on fire,” Knudsen said in an interview. interview on Montana Talks Radio.
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Knudsen compared the purported proposed surveillance to the practices of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to the Daily Caller News Foundation, the Chinese Communist Party maintains “service centers” in the United States that are said to have ties to Chinese intelligence officials. FBI indicts two people on charges of maintaining Chinese 'police station' in New York City, press release read.
Knudsen stressed that he would not cooperate with the alleged Canadian proposal under any circumstances. (Related: Canada changes direction from “diversity is our strength'' and closes borders due to concerns about immigration)
“I completely threw a fit and instructed the agency that we would never get involved,” Knudsen said in an interview. “We don’t need Justin Trudeau to conduct China-style surveillance here in America. If he wants to monitor his own citizens, he can do so in Canada. I already talked to the sheriff. [Dan] Springer, Sheriff of Bozeman [Brian] HEINO, FLATHEAD COUNTY — We're all on the same sheet of music here. ”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is saluted by mounted soldiers ahead of the arrival of King Abdullah II of Jordan outside Parliament House on August 29, 2017 in Ottawa, Ontario. (Lars Haberg/AFP via Getty Images)
Knudsen suggested that President Joe Biden is likely to approve the efforts advocated by the Canadian government.
This is reportedly not the first time the Canadian government has conducted such an operation on American soil. Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter said an undercover RCMP officer with a Canadian license plate was observing attendees at a gun show in Great Falls, Montana, as part of an anti-gun smuggling unit in September 2022. However, he said he was arrested. According to Nonstop local news to Montana.
The attorney general also expressed broader concerns about recent developments in Canada, citing the arrest of Canadian journalist Ezra Levant and restrictions on non-national media on social platforms.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Montana Department of Justice and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
