On March 20, Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale tabled Bill C-71, which would alter the law surrounding firearms in this nation. On the whole, most of these proposed changes are sensible – if a little redundant – though it’s unclear if they’ll accomplish their stated goal, which is a reduction in gun violence.
Background checks on those applying for or renewing their Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) would be extended from the previous five years, to the applicant’s entire life. These checks screen police and court records of all license holders on a daily basis, through a process known as “continuous eligibility.” This is a step in the right direction, for many reasons, one of which being that suicide far outpaces homicide when it comes to gun deaths in Canada, and is typically committed with legally owned long-guns. Enhanced background checks might prevent someone in distress from having access to a quick and effective way of taking their own life.
Goodale also proposes that businesses keep a mandatory record of all firearm inventories and sales for 20 years, accessible by police with a warrant. Many retailers in Canada already track these sales, and it doesn’t appear at first glance to be an excessive burden on businesses.
Conservative MPs and gun advocacy groups like Canada’s National Firearms Association immediately drew a comparison to the costly and much-maligned federal long-gun registry, introduced by Jean Chrétien’s government in the 90s. Goodale adamantly denies that these changes could in any way be called a registry. This claim would probably be more incendiary in other provinces, since Quebec implemented its own provincial registry in January 2018 after attempting, and failing, to retain the data from the federal program, which was scrapped in 2012.
Other changes include additional paperwork for transporting restricted weapons, as well as putting the RCMP back in charge of gun classification, instead of elected officials.
Gun owners often groan that the classifications of many semi-automatic rifles are arbitrary, based solely on what they look like, rather than how the gun operates. For example, the highly recognizable AR-15 platform of rifles are classified as restricted, while the SKS, a Soviet-era semi-automatic rifle that can propel bullets in an incredibly similar manner, is not.
Perhaps this classification quagmire would be more equitably solved with input from not only the RCMP, but legislators, independent experts and gun-owners themselves.
The announcement of C-71 comes in the wake of the much publicized mass shooting that occurred in Parkland, Fla., which has sparked protest marches this past weekend across the U.S. and Canada. In Ottawa, several hundred protesters attempted to deliver a letter to the American Embassy calling for stricter firearms regulations south of the border.
Over half of firearm-related homicides in Canada are gang-related, and many are carried out with handguns smuggled in from the U.S. Ottawa has seen almost 25 shootings take place already in 2018, in a city of just under a million people.
Our firearms laws are put in place to mitigate the risk for those operating within the system, and will do little to impede those using illegally obtained weaponry. Gun ownership in this country is a privilege, not a right, but legislation shouldn’t put undue hardship on law-abiding hunters and target shooters.
The additional funding that Goodale has earmarked to address gun and gang activities is a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether Bill C-71 will result in Canada being any safer than it is right now.
Caleb Nickerson
