Conservative backbencher Arnold Viersen says proposed legislation by the federal Liberals, to repeal parts of Bill C-42 — the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Bill, is unnecessary bureaucracy and will require gun owners to carry more than one permit.
Conservative backbencher Arnold Viersen says proposed legislation by the federal Liberals, to repeal parts of Bill C-42 — the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Bill, is unnecessary bureaucracy and will require gun owners to carry more than one permit.
The former bill was introduced in June 2015 and was implemented to highlight changes made by the Conservative government to the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code.
In addition to repealing the section of Bill C-42 that handles permits and implementing tougher restrictions on restricted weapons transportation, Viersen said the federal government would adopt the United Nation’s (UN) Arms Trade Treaty.
“The way it works now is that if you have a license to own a handgun or other firearm, you are authorized to transport said weapon to the gun range from your home and vice versa,” Viersen said. “There are other countries that have agreed to sign on with the UN’s treaty but none have actually implemented it yet.”
The treaty is essentially a UN-controlled gun registry, Viersen said.
“If we implement it, which I don’t believe will be of any benefit to our country whatsoever if it comes to pass, Canada will be the first to do so and we will be the ones who end up paying for the entire system.”
If the treaty is adopted and implemented by the federal government, Viersen said it would require every new firearm that is sold in Canada to be marked with a UN mark signifying the country of origin and date of manufacture.
“The treaty does not include any pre-existing weapons and only relates to new ones either manufactured or imported here,” he said, adding the new marking would increase average firearms costs by approximately $200 per rifle or handgun.
“All of the weapon manufacturers that we [Conservatives] have talked to indicated that the current serial numbers that are stamped onto their products can trace the product back to where they originate. They can already tell you what date a specific weapon was built, what equipment was used to process it, where it was sold and who bought it from whom. The reality is, you can get more information off the serial number than you can off this new UN marking.”
Everything is already accountable, Viersen said.
“When the treaty was signed, it sounded like a good idea to have this extra marking placed on the weapons but now, with the data that we have on everything, it makes this treaty kind of redundant in my opinion.”
Viersen said the new requirement will only make weapons more expensive and limit the number of manufacturers Canadians currently have access to.
“Some of those who currently operate in our country aren’t going to want to add this new marking and we won’t be able to sell their products in our country any longer.”
Companies like Remington, Browning, Savage Arms and Sako will have to decide whether they will continue to operate in Canada or move their business elsewhere.
“We already restrict the sale of certain weapons and have outlawed automatics. This is going to reduce our access to variety, but in practical terms, it really only relates to handgun purchases.”
Viersen said, if it were up to the Conservatives, there would be no change to the current bill.
“We tightened up a bunch of the rules related to licensing and worked very hard to ensure clarity in descriptions of what constitutes a firearm, what was prohibited and what isn’t. We did not see the need to require two permits and while it is great to be a leader on the world stage, this feels like another example of leading in the wrong direction.”
Viersen said there has not been a lot of development on the issue since a tentative briefing on the subject in November 2016.
“This was an election promise from the Liberal Party however,” he said.
