The long-gun registry:
The federal government has resurrected the long-abandoned $1-billionlong-gun registry. A new regulation requires additional verification of Possession and Acquisition Licenses by sellers and creates records of personal connections between buyers and sellers through the RCMP Registrar of Firearms.
The new regulation requires gun sellers and private businesses to collect and store private information about people who purchase Non-Restricted firearms. This makes every firearm retailer a point of collection and storage of private information.
Under the new regulation, all transfers between PAL holders –sales, gifts and loans –must be reported to the RCMP registrar. This relationship data will allow the RCMP to reconstruct a national database of legal firearm owners, similar to the registry that was deemed useless more than 15 years ago.
Gun control:
The federal government has tabled legislation that would freeze the sale or transfer of legal handguns and implement a mandatory buyback program for “assault-style” firearms, the vast majority of which are used for hunting.
Existing regulations make it very difficult to obtain a firearm
Obtaining a Possession and Acquisition License required for the purchase of a firearm in Canada is a rigorous process that typically takes four to six months, but at a minimum includes a 28-day waiting period.
Before applying for a PAL, applicants must take at least eight hours of training and pass a written and practical test. The Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course required to apply for a handgun permit is two days.
Background checks extend over the lifetime of the applicant and include searches for a history of harassment, restraining orders, or criminal activity. Applicants must supply two character references and the RCMP may interview you, your references, your current spouse and former spouses and common-law partners. Any irregularity can result in denial of the application.
Owning firearms for hunting and sport shooting are the only valid reasons for obtaining a possession license. Self-defence is not considered a valid reason to own a firearm in Canada.
Only law-abiding citizens can retain a PAL. The names of people charged with crimes in Canada are checked against the list of PAL holders daily.
Please communicate the following points to your Member of Parliament and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:
I object to the implementation of Bill C-71, specifically new requirements that will see my personal information collected and stored by firearm retailers and the RCMP Registrar of Firearms.
I further object to the passage of Bill C-21, which would freeze the sale or transfer of legal handguns and implement a buyback program for “assault-style” firearms, the vast majority of which are used for hunting.
More than 90 per cent of gun-related crime in Canada is committed with firearms smuggled from the United States. Further regulating hunters and sport shooters is a waste of the RCMP’s time and taxpayers’ money, money that could be spent catching criminals.
We need to address real public safety issues and that includes applying strict penalties for crimes involving guns and stopping the flow of smuggled handguns across our border from the United States. The target of public safety legislation should be criminals, not outdoors enthusiasts, hunters, and licensed firearm owners.
You can find the name, mailing address and email address of your member of Parliament here.
You can cut and paste your message to the Prime Minister here.
Add your signature to our petition against the shadow registry here.
Background:
The federal government has resurrected the long-abandoned $1-billion long-gun registry through two Orders in Council, effective May 18, 2022.
The new registry requires additional verification of Possession and Acquisition Licenses by sellers and creates records of personal connections between buyers and sellers through the RCMP Registrar of Firearms.
Created two years ago with the passage of Bill C-71, the new registry requires gun sellers and private businesses to collect and store private information about people who purchase Non-Restricted firearms. This makes every firearm retailer a point of collection and storage of private information.
Under the new regulation, all transfers between PAL holders –sales, gifts and loans –must be reported to the RCMP registrar. This relationship data will allow the RCMP to reconstruct a national database of legal firearm owners, similar to the registry that was deemed useless more than 15 years ago.
Additionally, firearms retailers must pay out-of-pocket to create and maintain the new registry.
The regulations have not yet been made public, so it is impossible to ascertain the entire scope of the government’s plans. Buyers and sellers must report the reference number issued by the RCMP Registrar of Firearms, the seller’s license number, the buyer’s license number, the firearm’s make, model and type and, if any, its serial number. The government also includes a mysterious open-ended requirement for “information that relates to the transferee’s license.”
All firearm retailers must create, manage and maintain a gun registry that includes detailed information about licensed buyers of Non-Restricted firearms. Firearm retailers must keep these records for at least 20 years, but the Minister could easily demand an even longer timeframe at any time in the future.
Under the Orders in Council, this data belongs to the government, not gun stores, and when data about firearms and firearms owners is owned by the government, it’s a de facto gun registry.
Unanswered questions:
What are the criteria for the License Verification to be approved or denied?
Once License Verifications are entered into a database to track individual firearm owner activity, who keeps this License Verification activity data, for what purpose, and how long will it be retained?
What is the start-up cost and annual operating cost for the License Verification system?
Who is authorized to demand this registry information from businesses and under what authority?
Please contact your Member of Parliament and demand answers. Before this project goes too far, demand that it be halted and subjected to proper public scrutiny. Let your MP know that taxpayers’ money should be applied to the true causes of violent crime in Canada.
For additional guidance on how to communicate issues to government officials, please view our best practices videos here.