The federal government has announced a new set of rules that will apply to non-restricted firearms, which it says is aimed at reducing gun violence, while critics say it is a resurrection of the long-gun registry.
As of May 18, firearms businesses will be required to retain sales and inventory records related to non-restricted firearms, as they did until 2005.
The measure was repealed after it was made obsolete by the creation of the long-gun registry in 1998. The long-gun registry was scrapped by the Stephen Harper government in 2012 through Bill C-19.
The onus is hence transferred to businesses to keep records instead of the government, and the rules will allow police to access those records if they have reasonable grounds. While judicial authorization could be used to access the businesses’ records, the government has not made it a requirement.
Public Safety says the “new rules to keep Canadians safe are one element of the government’s broad agenda to tackle this public health issue – which intersects with gender-based violence, racism and other systemic challenges.”
Those other measures include the banning and planned buy-back of “assault-style” rifles, as well as community prevention measures.
Along with businesses needing to keep records, individuals and businesses transferring or selling a non-restricted firearm will need to verify the validity of the recipient’s license by accessing the Registrar of Firearms’ online portal.
In announcing the new rules at a press conference in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said further steps must be taken to address the “root causes” of gun violence.
“In a society where we’re seeing an increasing amount of toxicity and rhetoric that is driven by extremist ideology, in a society where not enough young kids have access to affordable housing, to mental health care, to a safe education, we need to be creating safe spaces for them,” he said.
Reaction
The Conservatives said in a statement that the new measures were akin to re-introducing the long gun registry, which they called a “boondoggle that failed to address gun violence then and will fail to address gun violence now.”“Justin Trudeau said he would never enact a long gun registry and today he is breaking that promise to Canadians by passing off the responsibility to maintain a registry to retailers who sell firearms to lawful and properly licensed Canadians,” said MPs Raquel Dancho, Rob Moore, and Pierre Paul-Hus in a joint release on May 11.
They said the “vast majority” of guns used to commit crimes were not obtained legally and hence the measure won’t curb gun violence.
Police officials who testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety in recent months said legal gun owners are not behind gun crimes, but rather the guns used in illegal activity are often smuggled firearms from the U.S. or weapons stolen from legal owners through break-and-entry.
Toronto’s deputy police chief Myron Demkiw also told the committee that 86 percent of handguns used in crime in his city last year came from the United States.
The Conservative MPs also questioned the measure in light of the government’s Bill-C5 which seeks to repeal mandatory minimum sentences for a number of firearms-related offences, including armed robbery.
The Liberals are seeking this amendment to the criminal code to reduce the proportion of minority populations in jail.
The Tories say the government should instead provide more resources to community organizations working in prevention and to police and border guards to stem the gun smuggling.
Mendicino said the Canada Border Services Agency has been provided additional investments and resources and that it was able to make a record number of arrests and seizures related to gun smuggling last year.
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