Close X
Thursday, November 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Changes To Gun Licensing System Set To Pass Before Commons Recess, Fall Election

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 10 May, 2015 02:11 PM
  • Changes To Gun Licensing System Set To Pass Before Commons Recess, Fall Election
OTTAWA — New Conservative legislation that changes the gun licensing system cleared a House of Commons committee last week and is on track to become law before the summer recess — and a likely fall election.
 
Bill C-42, dubbed the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, has drawn sharp criticism even within the sport-shooting community but nonetheless remains grist for Conservative get-out-the-vote efforts, especially in rural Canada.
 
Ian Avery, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said that while "the rhetoric has died down quite a bit" around the gun control issue since the long-gun registry was abolished in 2012, it remains a top concern for the firearms community.
 
"It is still a vote-mover and it is still a vote-getter for the Conservative party," said Avery.
 
The latest legislation has had a somewhat rocky ride.
 
Introduced last Oct. 7, it was set to be debated in the Commons the day after a lone gunman shot dead a ceremonial guard at the National War Memorial and then stormed Parliament Hill, where he died in a hail of bullets.
 
Needless to say, it was not an opportune time for a government bill that relaxes some gun licensing measures.
 
The legislation was quietly resurrected late last month and rushed through committee, from which it emerged with only a single, minor housekeeping amendment on Wednesday.
 
The Conservative House leader's office says it expects the bill to become law before the summer recess, currently scheduled to begin June 24. An anticipated Oct. 19 election means any unpassed bills this spring will die on the order paper.
 
MP Robert Sopuck, the chair of the Conservative hunting and angling caucus, said he's heard the mixed reviews from gun owners but calls C-42 "a very good bill." 
 
"I think this helps the hunters out a lot," Sopuck said from his farm just south of Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba.
 
The bill removes some of the paperwork and penalties for gun licensing and transportation, provides a six-month grace period for lapsed licenses, gives cabinet decision-making power over how guns are classified, makes mandatory gun prohibitions for violent offenders and domestic assaults, and makes it compulsory to pass a firearms course in order to be licensed.
 
The mixed bag of new measures has Sheldon Clare of the National Firearms Association concerned that the bill, in his words, in some sense increases gun control.
 
Gun control advocates, meanwhile, argue exactly the opposite, and are especially concerned about relaxed rules governing the transport of firearms and the ability of politicians to override the RCMP on decisions about which weapons should be restricted or prohibited.
 
"It's very small, picayune changes to the legislation, but they could have major impacts," said Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control.
 
"The fact that it's being pushed through so quickly without consultation from experts should be really troubling to Canadians."
 
Greg Farrant, manager of government affairs and policy for the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, said there's huge interest in the firearms community over C-42, which he cautiously characterizes as the next step after killing the gun registry data.
 
"There's still a huge segment of the firearms community that thinks the government needs to go further," said Farrant, although his organization is not among them.
 
"Does it have the same cachet as the long-gun registry? Perhaps not. But there's still a very large undercurrent of firearms interest across the country in what's going on at the federal level."
 
Opposition MPs who vetted the bill say it is a naked political move by the Conservative government to put something fresh in the window for its gun-friendly constituency before going to the polls in October.
 
"They seem determined to jam it through before we rise," said NDP MP Randall Garrison. "They're clearly using it for political purposes."

MORE National ARTICLES

Vancouver Girl, 13, Grabbed, Pulled Into Car, Escapes; Police Nab Male Suspect Who Exposed Himself

Vancouver Girl, 13, Grabbed, Pulled Into Car, Escapes; Police Nab Male Suspect Who Exposed Himself
Vancouver police say a 13-year-old girl who was grabbed by a man and forced into a car was able to flee when the suspect later stopped the vehicle and exposed himself.

Vancouver Girl, 13, Grabbed, Pulled Into Car, Escapes; Police Nab Male Suspect Who Exposed Himself

Police In Surrey And Vancouver, Seek Witnesses To Two Crashes, One That Killed Woman

Police In Surrey And Vancouver, Seek Witnesses To Two Crashes, One That Killed Woman
In Surrey, RCMP are looking for the driver involved in a hit and run that seriously injured a woman in her 60s.

Police In Surrey And Vancouver, Seek Witnesses To Two Crashes, One That Killed Woman

Appeal Court Orders New Trial For B.C. Man Found Guilty In Double Murder In Langley and Surrey

Appeal Court Orders New Trial For B.C. Man Found Guilty In Double Murder In Langley and Surrey
Robert Bradshaw was sentenced to life in prison on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Laura Lamoureux and Marc Bontkes, killed five days apart in Langley and Surrey, B.C., in 2009.

Appeal Court Orders New Trial For B.C. Man Found Guilty In Double Murder In Langley and Surrey

Few Would Escape Death Or Injury If Bombs Went Off At B.C. Legislature: Court

Few Would Escape Death Or Injury If Bombs Went Off At B.C. Legislature: Court
An RCMP explosives expert who built the fake explosives for accused terrorists John Nuttall and Amanda Korody painted a grim picture of what could have happened had they been real.

Few Would Escape Death Or Injury If Bombs Went Off At B.C. Legislature: Court

B.C. Man Sought After Alberta Homicide Of Man Whose Remains May Have Been Found

B.C. Man Sought After Alberta Homicide Of Man Whose Remains May Have Been Found
Mounties in Grande Prairie, Alta., say they are looking for Tommy Paul in connection with the death of Adrian Snider and have charged two other people accused in the crime.

B.C. Man Sought After Alberta Homicide Of Man Whose Remains May Have Been Found

Minister of Education Peter Fassbender Talks About Working Together to End Gang-Violence in Surrey

Minister of Education Peter Fassbender Talks About Working Together to End Gang-Violence in Surrey
As the MLA for Surrey Fleetwood and Minister of Education I want to assure the residents and students of Surrey that you are not alone.  

Minister of Education Peter Fassbender Talks About Working Together to End Gang-Violence in Surrey