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Publication:
The National Post ------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA -- In what has become a familiar refrain, the Canada Firearms Centre has once again quietly put off several gun regulations that were supposed to take effect this month. Among the measures delayed until next year is a provision to have police forces across Canada register all their weapons - including seized guns - with the federal agency. New rules governing gun shows have been deferred until November 2006, while regulations that would force gun-makers to identify all firearms with internationally recognized markings won't come into force until the end of 2007. The provisions were
initially supposed to take effect last January, but were put off to Sept.
1. Now they've been deferred again. "We've done similar things like this before and ultimately we've phased things in and done so in a way that makes it user-friendly for people," Alex Swann said Wednesday. Federal, provincial and municipal police forces across Canada were supposed to register their weapons by last Thursday, but were given a last-minute reprieve. "We're talking in the tens of thousands (of officers) and each police force has to have as many guns as officers, and probably more," said Irene Arsenault, a spokeswoman for the firearms centre. "We've been asked to defer that a bit so they'd have time to set everything up." Neither the Canadian Professional Police Association nor the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police was able to say Wednesday whether they had lobbied to have the regulations delayed. With a history of bureaucratic backlogs at the Canada Firearms Centre, the deferral will also be a reprieve for federal officials overseeing the rules. According to the government bulletin posted Aug. 31, the strict new regulations for gun show operators were delayed in part to allow "for simple and effective processes to be put in place to assess and approve applications." The manufacturers' marking delay, said Arsenault, is an international problem. A year ago on the eve of a federal election, the Liberal government overhauled the much-maligned gun registry in an effort to control costs and streamline its administration. The latest delays
indicate there are still many kinks in the system, said Conservative MP
Peter MacKay. MacKay, a former Crown prosecutor, insisted the government backed off because police forces would have ignored the registration demand. "They've got far more important things to do." The registry has become an easy target. The Liberals promised it would cost taxpayers just $2 million when they introduced it in 1995. But the price has skyrocketed past $1 billion and been the subject of scathing criticism from the federal auditor general. Opponents claim tens of thousands of guns remain unregistered, and say the system punishes law-abiding farmers and sport hunters while doing nothing to deter illegal weapons from getting into the hands of criminals. Swann said the Conservatives shouldn't criticize the government for having overly ambitious implementation targets. "Gun control is about public safety, and if we're going to be accused of doing too much on the public safety side, then they should explain that to Canadians. "Gun control has worked in this country and it's good public policy." |