Bill C-19

	Canada's National Firearms Association congratulates the Conservative government on the successful passage of Bill C-19, as a bill which will end the legal requirement to register long arms. "This is a truly historic beginning for Canada. We are beginning to see the government honour its commitments to repeal bad firearms laws," stated Sheldon Clare, President of Canada's National Firearms Association. "However," added Clare, "much more remains to be done. The current licensing provisions created by the Liberal government along with these registration laws remain the most egregious aspect of the law. The peaceful possession and use of firearms should not be a crime. In Canada, if you don't have a license to possess your firearms, you are still a criminal." Clare continued, "It is quite likely that millions of Canadians possess firearms without a license; - a requirement that they never accepted as necessary to retain their own property. What would be much more useful is to put in place a simpler program in which prospective firearm purchasers were simply checked for a record of violence, or behaviour that would preclude legal access to firearms. It is an insult to have to take a course merely to own one's own property," Clare asserted. "The license remains a serious problem - licensed gun owners still have fewer rights than criminals. Police can conduct warrantless searches of gun owners' properties, but not those of suspected criminals. Gun owners are required to testify against themselves, but accused criminals are not. Gun owners' Charter rights are violated in both these cases," Clare elaborated. Clare further said, "The firearms licence actually misdirects the police. Valuable police resources are wasted keeping track of peaceable licence holders. These resources could be used to monitor violent criminals on probation or parole. Millions of Canadians believe tracking innocent Canadians is wrong headed," argued Clare. "As the NFA has found, all too often the police use licensing to harass gun owners. For example, hunters have been stopped and their guns confiscated because inadequately trained police did not know the law. In some jurisdictions, gun owners who forget to renew their licence are pressured into surrendering their firearms," Clare pointed out. "This program is not about saving lives, it is about excessive state control." Clare also indicated, "The government's own reports show that there are over 600,000 made-in-Ottawa paper criminals whose only "crime" is to have failed to keep ahead of the red tape imposed by the Liberal's Bill C-68, and its predecessor Kim Campbell's Bill C-17 which both added up to make the Firearms Act. The Liberal's went further with the Firearms Act and made these firearm owners instant paper criminals. Bill C-19 won't correct these injustices. There are many other offensive problems with the Firearms Act - problems that have little to do with law and order and a lot to do with trying to change how people live." "Scrapping the long-gun registry is a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done. I implore the Government to ensure that Bill C-19 is not the last step in reforming Canada's irrational gun laws, and I look forward to working with the government to move towards laws that will have the respect of all Canadians," concluded Clare.
— National Firearms Association, February 15, 2012

	Good riddance to the long-gun registry -- possibly the most unfair and useless legislation ever to have been passed by Parliament of Canada. In the wake of many hours of debate and anti-gun rhetoric from the opposition and lobbyists, the Conservative party has successfully laid the registry to rest with Royal Assent on Bill C-19. Few issues have prompted so many Canadians to sound off on the shortcomings of a Canadian law. "The Firearms Act has been a thorn in the side of hunters, sport shooters, farmers and heritage firearms enthusiasts for 17 years," says Tony Bernardo of the Canadian Shooting Sport Association. "We know the registry was a cheap political ploy from a previous government that pretended to keep Canadians safe. It wasn't gun control, and it wasn't designed to do anything but frustrate honest, law-abiding firearms owners." The Senate of Canada passed 3rd reading of Bill C-19 to scrap the registry on April 4th. Meanwhile, the Government of Quebec has vowed an injunction to try to prevent the data from being destroyed so it can be turned over to the province. "Quebec wouldn't know what to do with this data if they got it," says Bernardo. "The data is legendary for its inaccuracy and it's way beyond its stale date. Quebec couldn't build a workable registry from the dregs of this white elephant because it was never workable in the first place. It's hard to believe that Quebec voters want their tax dollars fed into a paper shredder like this." The demise of the registry is the result of a coordinated effort by firearms enthusiasts, wildlife federations and associations from across the country. The Conservative party campaigned on scrapping the registry and its recent majority provides evidence of the widespread appetite for getting rid of this offensive legislation. "It's been a long, rough road, but we knew we could prevail if we just kept telling the truth," says Bernardo. "The anti-gun faction had to torque statistics and align themselves with the unions and politically motivated left-wing advocates. Freedom from draconian laws should never be about the left vs. the right, or rural vs. urban interests. Freedom is always about telling the truth. We thank the Harper government and those who have worked tirelessly to put this legislative mess out to pasture."
— Canadian Shooting Sports Association, April 5, 2012

Links

• C-19 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act Parliament of Canada website
• Bill C-19 openparliament.ca