“I
warned air gun owners before the licencing deadline, but the government denied
any change in policy.”
Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, the
Official Opposition’s gun control critic, released a list of 286 air gun
models that the RCMP has now identified as firearms under the definitions
section of the Criminal Code of Canada.
“Our sources inside the RCMP advised us of the
change in policy in November of 2000. We
immediately issued a news release warning air gun owners that they would need to
apply for a firearms licence before the December 31, 2000, deadline and register
their air guns before the December 31, 2002, deadline,” said Breitkreuz.
“At the time, Department of Justice and RCMP officials told the media
that there had been ‘no change in policy.’ However,
a year later I obtained documents from the RCMP proving that the policy had, in
fact, been changed on March 6, 2000.” (Note:
See Breitkreuz’s November 19, 2001, news release on his website at: http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl48.htm
The
RCMP documents show that in May of 2000 they had identified 237 different models
of air guns as firearms but as of February 5, 2002, that number had increased to
286 air gun models. Just 59 air gun
models have been “deemed non-firearms”
by the RCMP.
The RCMP started to register these air guns as firearms after they
changed their policy in March of 2000 and have, so far, failed to de-register
those air guns. The RCMP list of
air gun models is available on Breitkreuz’s website at:
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/rcmplistofairgunmodels.htm
Breitkreuz
explained the impact of the RCMP documents as follows:
·
The
RCMP has been continuously identifying more and more air guns as firearms since
they changed their policy on March 6, 2000.
·
For
the last two years, the RCMP and the Department of Justice have failed to notify
more than a million air gun owners that they would be committing an offence for
possessing these newly identified firearms without a licence under section 91(1)
of the Criminal Code. The penalty
for this offence is up to five years in jail.
·
For
the last two years, the RCMP and the Department of Justice have failed to notify
businesses selling these 286 different air gun models that they are now selling
firearms and need a firearms dealers licence and that they can only sell these
air guns to individuals holding a valid firearms possession and acquisition
licence.
·
For
the last two years, the RCMP and the Department of Justice have also failed to
advise air gun owners that they will need to register these air guns before the
end of 2002, and that they can’t register their guns without first obtaining a
firearms possession and acquisition licence.
·
The
Department of Justice has also failed to issue an amnesty to protect unknowing
air gun owners from prosecution while they try and change the law.
Note: C-15 has been stalled in the House for the last year.
“I
wonder how many air gun owners have been charged or even convicted as a result
of this serious oversight?” asked Breitkreuz.
“I wonder how many businesses selling these 286 models of air guns know
that they have been selling these newly identified firearms illegally? I
wonder how much more (than the $689 million the government has spent so far) it
will cost to licence all these air gun owners and register all their air guns?
Like all things associated with the gun registry – so many questions
and so few answers. It should make
everyone wonder how much more the Liberals are hiding from the public, the media
and Parliament,” concluded Breitkreuz.
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