Goodale takes stab at defending firearms bill
Critics say it does nothing to address crime
OTTAWA • As a new firearms bill makes its way through Parliament, critics on all sides are accusing the Liberals of not going far enough to crack down on gang violence or mass shootings.
Conservative MPs in particular argue the Liberals are instead wasting their time imposing new burdens on licensed gun owners.
The House of Commons public safety committee began its study of Bill C-71 on Tuesday, and will hear from a variety of experts and advocates over the coming weeks.
One group has already made their voice known, as survivors of the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting that killed six people demanded a ban on assault weapons in a letter publicized this week.
Asked about it Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pointed out that the bill does give RCMP the final say on classifying specific guns as restricted or prohibited (meaning they must be registered and can only be kept under strict conditions). The previous Conservative government had empowered cabinet to overturn such decisions.
“We don’t think politicians should be the ones determining what weapons are restricted, what weapons are prohibited,” Trudeau said. “We trust the experts making decisions on the basis of facts and evidence.”
But Public Safety Minister Goodale pointed out that defining what exactly counts as an assault weapon is complicated, and that the criteria for gun classification are set out in the Criminal Code. He said he’s open to suggestions, but a revamp of the classification system isn’t likely to happen soon.
“It’s not in Bill C-71, and this legislation is sufficiently complex that it probably would not work to add it in,” he told reporters. “I don’t reject any idea out of hand, but I would want to look at the details.”
The legislation has a variety of measures that largely amount to tweaks to Canada’s gun laws, rather than a major overhaul. It expands background checks to a person’s life history (rather than just the past five years), requires gun retailers to keep records of inventory and sales, and mandates anyone selling a gun to verify that the purchaser has a valid possession licence.
It would also require owners of restricted guns to get authorization ahead of time to transport their weapons to gun shows or to a gunsmith; under current rules, authorization is granted automatically.
The Conservatives argue this all amounts to harassing legal gun owners with more paperwork.
“I’m really struggling to find out where and how you believe this will actually impact positively the gang violence and gun violence that’s going on in this country, because this legislation does nothing — it’s a regulatory bill that does nothing but target law-abiding gun owners,” Conservative MP Glen Motz told Goodale in committee.
“You’re entitled to your perspective and your opinion,” Goodale responded. He said the measures on background checks and licence verification are important improvements, and said police chiefs have called the bill “sensible and practical legislation.” Exchanges during the meeting frequently alluded to the fraught politics of gun regulation. Some Conservative MPs have been holding town halls on the bill and running Facebook ads that accuse the Liberals of bringing back a gun registry.
Referring to “misleading, targeted ads,” Liberal MP Peter Fragiskatos asked for assurances on when retailers would have to show police their sales records.
“The point is, if the police have the necessary reasonable grounds and they get the judicial authorization as necessary, they would have access to the records,” Goodale said.
Liberal MP Sean Fraser, from a rural riding in Nova Scotia, isn’t a regular committee member but attended Tuesday to bring concerns from his constituents. He said the most concerns are over the new requirement to get authorization to transport guns, pointing out gun shows often happen on weekends.
“I don’t know if you’ve tried to call the federal government on a weekend before, but they don’t always answer,” he said.
RCMP Supt. Paul Brown, the head of the Canadian Firearms Program, said they would try to work with gun shows to know when they’re happening so they can add staff to issue authorizations.
At one point, Conservative MP Blaine Culkins moved a motion to have the committee visit a shooting range for a “hands-on instructional day” with the range officer.
“I think it would be a good time, a fun time, and an informative time,” he said. “If we’re going to pass legislation or pretend to know what we’re talking about, I think it behooves the committee members, Mr. Chair, to visit a range.”
Debate on the motion was quickly shut down by the Liberal MPs and it never came to a vote.
(BILL) DOES NOTHING BUT TARGET LAW-ABIDING GUN OWNERS.