BREAKING: Montreal Canadiens APOLOGIZE after Carey Price stands up for legal gun owners in Canada

Price made headlines over the weekend for posting on Instagram, "I love my family, I love my country and I care for my neighbour. I am not a criminal or a threat to society. What @justinpjtrudeau is trying to do is unjust. I support the @ccfr_ccdaf to keep my hunting tools. Thank you for listening to my opinion."

He also posted a picture of himself holding a shotgun in protest of a recent amendment by the Liberals to Trudeau's pending gun control bill which would result in the largest gun prohibition in Canadian legislative history.

The team wrote in the statement, “On Saturday, Carey Price posted a statement in support of the CCFR's opposition to proposed federal gun control legislation. As previously stated, Carey was unaware of the CCFR's recent marketing campaign nor was he aware of the unfortunate timing of his statement. The Montreal Canadiens wish to express their sincere apology to any and all who have been offended or upset by the discourse that has arisen over this matter in recent days.”

“On the eve of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women, we reflect on the lives that were shattered 33 years ago in one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history," the team said. "Our thoughts are with the 14 women who lost their lives on December 6, 1989, at École Polytechnique, as well as with their families, friends, and the survivors of that tragedy.”

“In honor of their memory, the Montreal Canadiens organization has made a donation to the ‘Week of the White Rose’ campaign to send 14 underprivileged girls to Polytechnique Montréal's summer science camp, Folie Technique, to help support the growth and development of women in STEM.”

Outrage ensued after the CCFR used a POLY promo code in their marketing, a reference to a gun control activist's Twitter handle. Left-wing media claimed that POLY was meant to be a reference to the Polytechnique massacre.

"Tracey Wilson, a firearm rights coalition spokesperson, said the promotion is not about the tragedy, but about PolySeSouvient's Twitter account, which has referred to coalition supporters as gun trolls," the CBC reported.

Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party, Trudeau's opposition, re-posted Price’s message in an Instagram story and wrote, "Hunting is a great Canadian tradition. Trudeau's attempts to ban hunting rifles are an attack on rural and Indigenous people."

The Toronto Sun reported, "The Trudeau Liberals aren't even hiding it anymore, they are coming for hunting rifles and shotguns."

The amendment to Bill C-21 was initially pitched as a way to prevent the sale of Canadian handguns but its scope would criminalize "a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun, that is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner and that is designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed."

In May of 2020, Trudeau announced an immediate ban on so-called "military-style assault weapons" and said at the time, "you don't need an AR-15 to take down a deer."

In October, the Trudeau Liberals announced the implementation of a national handgun freeze during which Canadians are no longer able to buy, sell, or transfer handguns, nor could they bring newly acquired handguns from elsewhere into the country.