CSSA Federal Lawsuit: An Overview

Our press release announcing CSSA’s multi-pronged lawsuit against the federal government for its de facto handgun confiscation scheme sparked a flurry of speculation.

It appears that a lack of comprehension caused some to make erroneous declarations of what the CSSA’s lawsuit is about on some online forums – without ever reading the press release in detail, or reading the actual filed court document.

We urge everyone who is interested in learning more about this court action to download and read a copy of our Notice of Application pursuant to sections 18 and 18.1 of the Federal Courts Act.

The following excerpt, taken from our Notice of Application, will, we hope, help to clear up any misunderstandings about the steps CSSA is taking to protect and defend the property and the Charter rights of its members and those of the entire Canadian firearms community.

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The Application

1. On May 30, 2022 the federal government tabled and placed before the House of Commons a proposed Regulation, 8560-491-492-01, that had as its object to freeze the transfer of ownership of registered handguns except in limited circumstances. This was to be accomplished by limiting the authority of the Chief Firearms Officer to issue authorization to transfer handguns. This is called version one.

2. On October 21, 2022, the federal government registered a Regulation, SOR/2022-219, that had its objective to freeze the transfer of ownership of handguns except in certain circumstances and contained an important significant additional provision to allow for the completion of transfers of handguns that had been duly initiated before October 21, 2022. This change affected hundreds of thousands of handgun transfers.

3. On August 19, 2022, the government made a change under the Export and Imports Permits Act to require an additional import permit for the import of restricted handguns into Canada. This was a ministerial discretion of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The additional import certificate needed to match the purposes stated in the proposed handgun freeze regulation.

The Applicants make application for:

4. A declaration that SOR/2022-219 is ultra vires or vague and is therefore of no force and effect; and

5. A declaration that SOR/2020-219 violates Sections 7 and 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is therefore of no force and effect; and

6. A declaration that SOR/2022-219 violates the Constitution Acts, 1867-1982 consolidated and is of no force and effect.

7. A declaration that SOR/2022-219 violates the Firearms Act SC and is of no force and effect.

8. A declaration that SOR/2022-219 violates the laws of succession and vesting of property upon death to a beneficiary and therefore void and of no force and effect.

9. A declaration that sections 28 and 30 of the Firearms Act are paramount and that particular sections of the Regulation are ultra vires and void and of no force and effect.

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The Notice of Application goes into great detail about these issues, and many more, that we look forward to bringing before an impartial federal court judge.

We encourage you to take the time to read the document in its entirety as there are multiple facts of law at issue in this Application not included in the brief excerpt above.

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Help us protect the rights and property of Canadians.

Donate to the CSSA’s Lawsuit against the Federal Government.

To donate via e-Transfer, please send to e-transfer@cssa-cila.org

See the filed court document for details: https://cssa-cila.org/NoticeOfApplication

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For more information, please contact:

Tony Bernardo, Executive Director
Canadian Shooting Sports Association
Email: abernardo343@rogers.com
Phone: 905-999-4337

Edward L. Burlew, General Counsel
Canadian Shooting Sports Association
Email: burlewlaw@gmail.com
Phone: 905-882-2422