Former RCMP Commissioner Robert Paulson torqued the truth while taking pot shots at Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in the Globe and Mail. He opposed Scheer’s desire to remove the RCMP’s power to arbitrarily reclassify firearms and repeal the RCMP’s ban on Ruger 10/22 magazines, policies Scheer put forward during the leadership race.
The Conservative Party leader stands behind every plank of his firearms platform.
Paulson took special exception to Scheer’s promise to create a Firearms Ombudsman with the “authority to review any proposed regulation and interact with the Public Safety Minister on behalf of individual firearms owners and the various firearms organizations.”
“In truth, the elected officials have all the power in the world right now,” Paulson said. “It’s not a discretionary call that the RCMP make, it is the application of the laws that those elected officials make.”
Paulson’s claim is disingenuous and misleading. He conveniently ignores every instance where free-range bureaucrats in the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program arbitrarily reclassified firearms and magazines. Legal within the broad confines of the Firearms Act, perhaps, but these are discretionary calls made to advance the RCMP’s own political agenda, without parliamentary input or oversight.
Firearms owners wouldn’t care so much if the RCMP’s edicts didn’t turn ordinary people into criminals overnight – but they do.
Every time the RCMP reclassifies a firearm or magazine from Non-Restricted to Prohibited, they also manufacture criminals out of law-abiding Canadians – criminals subject to as much as ten years in prison for possession of a Prohibited Weapon (the rifle) or a Prohibited Device (the magazine).
Worse, the RCMP makes these decisions in secret. They add their decree to the Firearms Reference Table (FRT) but prevent ordinary Canadians from accessing the information.
Law-abiding gun owners do not know the firearm they purchased legally six months ago, a purchase specifically approved by the RCMP, is now a Prohibited Weapon. The recourse for anyone caught up in this nightmare? There isn’t one. The only recourse is a horrendously expensive court case after the hapless gun owner is arrested and charged.
This issue would be trivial but for one vital consideration – The RCMP’s “interpretive discretion” manufactures tens of thousands of criminals out of licensed, law-abiding gun owners with the stroke of an unelected and unaccountable RCMP bureaucrat’s pen.
It is not the RCMP’s job to manufacture criminals out of honest citizens.
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Six Cases of RCMP Discretion Gone Wild
Robert Paulson was the RCMP Commissioner responsible for every single one of these acts of RCMP “discretion.”
Ruger 10/22 Magazine Ban
The Ruger 10/22, created in 1964, is the most popular .22 calibre rifle in Canada. This durable rifle sparked an entire companion industry of parts, including 25, 50 and 100 round magazines. By law, there is no magazine capacity limit on .22 calibre rifles.
Over one million 10/22 magazines were estimated to have been imported into Canada over the past five decades.
On July 21, 2016, the RCMP’s absurd misinterpretation of Part 4, Section 3(1)(b) (definitions of prohibited devices) banned all Ruger 10/22 magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition.
3 (1) Any cartridge magazine… (b) that is capable of containing more than 10 cartridges of the type for which the magazine was originally designed and that is designed or manufactured for use in a semi-automatic handgun that is commonly available in Canada.
The RCMP declared Ruger 10/22 magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds were not designed for the Ruger 10/22 rifle back in 1964 but were designed for the little-known Ruger Charger handgun first manufactured for sale in 2007.
The Ruger Charger was, in fact, designed to fit the Ruger 10/22 magazine. It defies logic to claim the magazine was designed for a gun which did not exist for another 43 years. Yet this is the RCMP’s public position – Ruger 10/22 magazines were designed or manufactured for use in a semi-automatic handgun created 43 years later by invoking the clause “ for use in a semi-automatic handgun that is commonly available in Canada .”
Naturally, the RCMP refuses to say how many Ruger Charger handguns exist, as that would shine the light of truth on their “ commonly available in Canada” lie.
Owners of Ruger 10/22 magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition are now subject to 10 years in prison – the penalty for possession of a Prohibited Device.
Armi Jager AP80 Ban
In 2012, the RCMP reclassified the Armi Jager AP80 from Non-Restricted to Prohibited with the ridiculous claim the .22 calibre rifle is a “variant of the design of the firearm commonly known as the AK-47 rifle” as mandated by Prohibited Weapons Order, No. 13, section 64.
The AP80 is not a variant of the AK47. Not a single part of the AP80 is interchangeable with the AK-47. The AP80 is a totally different semi-automatic .22 rifle. It cannot fire fully-automatic. The AP80 fires the .22LR cartridge, not the larger .30 calibre 7.62×39 cartridge.
Noted journalist, Matt Gurney, perfectly describes the RCMP’s intentional application of the will of Parliament.
“The decision to ban the AP-80, however, has no logic behind it at all. The RCMP is banning the AP-80 because it looks scary.”
Even though individuals bought the AP80 legally, with the stroke of an RCMP bureaucrat’s pen, owners of this .22 rifle are now criminals subject to 10 years in prison – the penalty for possession of a Prohibited firearm.
Prohibited Mossberg Blaze-47 vs Non-Restricted Mossberg Blaze
In 2015, the RCMP classified the Mossberg Blaze-47 as a Prohibited rifle by perverting the same classification rationale used to ban the Armi Jager AP80 three years earlier.
Like the AP80, the Blaze-47 fires a .22 calibre rimfire cartridge in semi-automatic only and no parts are interchangeable with the AK-47.
The Non-Restricted Mossberg Blaze and the Prohibited Blaze-47 firearms are absolutely identical. The ONLY difference between these two rifles is the stock. One is a simple, black polymer stock, the other is cosmetically designed to look like the AK-47.
With the stroke of an RCMP bureaucrat’s pen, any owners of the Blaze-47 rifle are now criminals subject to 10 years in prison – the penalty for possession of a Prohibited firearm – if they do not turn their firearms over to the RCMP for destruction.
However, it is perfectly legal to buy a Mossberg Blaze, add a Blaze 47 stock as an unregulated plastic Blaze 47 stock to it and make your own Blaze 47 rifle. No sweat, you just can’t buy it assembled.
.50 Beowulf Magazine Ban
On November 17, 2015, the RCMP reclassified the .50 Beowulf magazine as a Prohibited Device because it can function using two different calibres of ammunition in the AR-15 platform. The following is a quote from an unidentified manager at the Canadian Firearms Program.
The 50 Beowulf cartridge is centrefire and the AR platform rifles which use that calibre are semiautomatic. Thus, cartridge magazines for 50 Beowulf calibre firearms are prohibited if more than five 50 Beowulf cartridges can be contained in the magazine (subparagraph ii, as above).
Magazines for the AR platform which contain four or five 50 Beowulf calibre cartridges present a more complicated situation. Such magazines will generally contain 11 and 14 cartridges respectively of 5.56×45 mm NATO (or 223 Remington) calibre. Since the 50 Beowulf calibre magazines are adapted from the original 5.56×45 mm NATO design and the ability of the magazine to perform as originally designed has not been compromised by the adaptation, such magazines are prohibited if they contain more than five 5.56×45 mm NATO cartridges. The magazines are in effect dual calibre magazines and will be prohibited if they exceed five shots capacity of either calibre.
If you’re confused, you are not alone. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have to make sense. It’s government policy. By the way, in Canadian law, there is no such thing as a dual-purpose magazine.
CZ-858 Spartan Prohibited but CZ-858 is Non-Restricted
In one of their stupidest decisions, the reclassified the CZ-858 Spartan from Non-Restricted to Prohibited, not because of its functionality, but because of cosmetic engravings added onto the receiver.
The CZ858 Tactical-2P rifle is legal and classified Non-Restricted but the “CZ858 Tactical-2P Spartan Limited Edition Proofed 2007 Or Later” is classified Prohibited because it is not specifically named as an exempted item in the Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited, Restricted or Non-Restricted, SOR/98-462.
The RCMP also claims the “CZ858 Tactical-2P firearm proofed 2007 can be converted to a fully automatic firearm in a relatively short period of time with relative ease.” Right…no proof…just take our word on it…
Swiss Arms Rifles
In February 2014 the RCMP made the “discretionary call” to ban the Swiss Arms family of semi-automatic rifles, turning thousands more law-abiding citizens into criminals. The Conservative government reversed the ban but not before drawing fire for not reigning in the RCMP and its overzealous bureaucrats
Sources:
- https://thegunblog.ca/2017/05/27/andrew-scheer-on-guns-recap-of-new-conservative-leaders-policy/
- https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-andrew-scheers-gun-policies-include-firearms-ombudsman-taking-power/
- http://nationalpost.com/opinion/government-to-gun-owners-we-made-a-mistake-fix-it-for-us-or-go-to-prison
- http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/federal-public-safety-minister-rcmp-clash-over-banned-rifle
- http://www.gunownersofcanada.ca/showthread.php?27159-50-Beowulf-Magazine-Classification-Update
- http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/bulletins/bus-ent/20110323-72-eng.htm
- https://canadianfirearmsblog.ca/cz858-spartan-declared-prohibited/
- Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and Other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited, Restricted or Non-Restricted
A Tribute to Candice Bergen, M.P.