• Home
  • Contact
  • Membership
    • What is My Membership Number?
    • Update Your CSSA Member Information
  • Marketplace
  • Store

Canadian Shooting Sports Association

Leading The Way...

Join CSSA

Our Mission: To Preserve, Promote and Protect the Lawful Use and Ownership of Firearms in Canada

  • Member Services
  • Programs
    • Gun Owners’ Random Acts of Kindness
    • CSSA CLAS-H
    • CSSA Target
      • CSSA Shooting Rangers Junior Program
      • CSSA Target Adult Program
      • Download Targets
      • Submit Your Scores
    • CSSA Marketplace
    • Firearm Legal Defence Insurance
  • Training
    • Club Level Safety Instructor Course
    • Range Safety Officer Course
    • CSSA CLAS-H Competitor
    • CSSA CLAS-H Upgrade
    • CSSA CLAS-H Range Official
    • CSSA CLAS-H Instructor
  • E-News
    • Subscribe to CSSA E-News
    • Weekly CSSA Commentary
    • Weekly CSSA E-News News Aggregator
    • CSSA Special Reports
  • Video
  • Legal
  • Research
  • Shooting Sports
    • History of Our Advocacy
    • Handgun Shooting Disciplines
    • Rifle Shooting Disciplines
  • Events
    • British Columbia
    • Alberta
    • Saskatchewan
    • Manitoba
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • New Brunswick
    • Nova Scotia
    • Prince Edward Island
    • Newfoundland and Labrador
    • Yukon
    • Northwest Territories
    • Nunavut
  • Links
    • Gun Clubs & Shooting Ranges
    • Shooting Disciplines

The Low Lights of Liberal Bill C-21

February 17, 2021 by Web Admin Filed Under: CSSA Commentary

[Version Française]

This morning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland and Justice Minister David Lametti took to the airwaves to announce their sweeping new ‘gun control’ election platform, Bill C-21.i

Before we look at what’s in Bill C-21, it’s important to take note of what’s not contained in this draft legislation.

Firearm Confiscation Compensation

Both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Public Safety said this legislation was required in order to implement their much-talked-about Firearm Confiscation Compensation program.

Not one line of Bill C-21 deals with funding for a compensation package for firearm owners who agree to surrender their legally-acquired firearms to the government.

Quote: “Details of a buyback program will be announced later.”

New Safe Storage Requirements

The federal government appears to leave any new firearm storage requirements in the hands of individual municipalities. Bill C-21 says an individual must store their firearms in compliance with any municipal storage requirements that may be issued.

Quote: “comply with strict storage conditions (to be prescribed) and confirm periodically they are still in compliance.”

So what’s in the bag?

Now we can get to what’s included in Bill C-21. This legislation will, if passed; redefine ‘replica firearm’ to include pellet and BB guns.

On Twitter, Doctors for Protection from Guns moronically called these items “gateway guns” in their effort to demonize childhood.ii

Make it a criminal offence to unpin a “high-capacity” magazine: Possession of a “high-capacity” magazine was already a crime. No explanation was offered for why we need a new criminal offence for these magazines.

Allow anyone to make an ‘ex parte’ application for a Firearms Prohibition Order against another person

After decades of dealing with the current Firearms Act ‘red flag law’ we know many complaints are made to “get back at” or “punish” a former intimate partner, not because there is a legitimate fear for personal safety. The ‘ex parte’ application contained in Bill C-21 will likely see this percentage of abusive and baseless complaints rise significantly.

Allow police officers to enter your home without a warrant.

Bill C-21 will allow police officers to enter a home without a warrant to “search for and seize any such thing, and any authorization, licence or registration certificate relating to any such thing, that is held by or in the possession of the person.”

Note the legislation does not say the subject of these invasive measures must be a gun owner. All that’s required to set this train wreck in motion is for someone to lodge a complaint.

When the state can enter your home – “search for and seize any such thing” – without a warrant – we no longer live in a nation of laws. We live in a nation of cancel culture, wokeness and second-class citizens where anyone, not just firearm owners, can be attacked using this provision.

Increase the maximum penalty from 10 to 14 years for some Criminal Code offences.

Since the current penalties for Sections 95, 96, 99, 100 and 103 are almost certainly unconstitutional (the primary reason Private Members Bill C-238 was defeated last week), this change seems pointless since the penalties will be tossed out by the Supreme Court when they are eventually challenged.iii

Municipal Handgun Ban

The primary emphasis of Bill C-21 is to allow municipalities to ban handguns within their municipal boundaries and possibly the creation of so-called “central storage facilities” using existing firearm businesses.

(a) the individual must not — within the boundaries of a municipality — store a handgun at a place other than a business that is the holder of a licence that authorizes it to store prohibited firearms or restricted firearms, in the case where

(i) a by-law to that effect is in force in the municipality,

(ii) the municipality has notified the federal Minister, in the prescribed manner, of the passing of the by-law, and

(iii) the municipality has provided the prescribed information to the federal Minister, or a person designated by that Minister, in the prescribed manner;

The municipal handgun ban cannot take effect until 180 days after a notice is sent to the Minister “in the prescribed manner” and includes “the prescribed information” – neither of which is defined in C-21.

No Explanation for Constitutional Overreach

The federal government has no jurisdictions over cities as they are the creation of provincial authorities. The federal government does not explain how their patchwork handgun bans will survive a constitutional challenge.

These are some of the provisions contained in the Liberal Government’s pre-election platform on firearms.

Not one line of this legislation addresses criminal misuse of guns. It focuses entirely on licensed, RCMP-vetted firearm owners – AGAIN!

But Wait! There’s More!

There is much more to come from Bill C-21 as we’ve only scratched the surface in today’s brief overview of the legislation’s low-lights.

We will do our utmost to unravel the complicated mess created by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Justice Minister David Lametti and explain it to you, as best we can, in the days and weeks ahead.

 

Sources:

i https://parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-2/bill/C-21/first-reading 

ii https://twitter.com/Docs4GunControl/status/1361793595624292356

iii https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/15272/index.do

 

 

 

1143 Wentworth St W #204
Oshawa, ON L1J 8P7

Toll-Free: 1-888-873-4339
Phone: 905-720-3142
Email: info@cssa-cila.org

Gun Shows

  • 2021
  • Annual Wadena Lions Gun & Hobby Show | Wadena, SK | April 10, 2021 - April 10, 2021
  • Swift Current Gun & Hobby Show | Swift Current, SK | April 10, 2021 - April 11, 2021
  • Dauphin 31st Annual Gun & Hobby Show | Dauphin, MB | April 17, 2021 - April 18, 2021
  • Dugald Gun & Collectible Show | Dugald, MB | April 24, 2021 - April 25, 2021
  • Red Deer Gun Show | Red Deer, AB | May 1, 2021 - May 2, 2021
  • Castor Gun Show | Castor, AB | June 5, 2021 - June 6, 2021
  • 19th Annual High Prairie Gun & Sportsman Show | High Prairie, AB | June 12, 2021 - June 13, 2021
  • Contact CSSA

    1143 Wentworth St W #204
    Oshawa, ON L1J 8P7

    Toll-Free: 1-888-873-4339
    Phone: 905-720-3142
    Email: info@cssa-cila.org

    Sponsor

    Canadian Institute for Legislative Action
    CILA Logo

    Sponsor

    Lower Canada Arms Collectors Assn
    Lower Canada Arms Collectors Association

    Sponsor

    Right Edition
    Right Edition

    Sponsor

    Firearm Legal Defence Insurance
    Firearm Legal Defence

    Quick Contact Points

    • Home
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • What is My Membership Number?
      • Update Your CSSA Member Information
    • Marketplace
    • Store

    © 1998–2021 Canadian Shooting Sports Association | All Rights Reserved