Long-gun registry rules loosened in face of low compliance

Quebec is loosening requirements for the province’s long-gun registry, which comes into effect on Jan. 29.

Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault said she hopes the changes will encourage people to register their guns by the compliance date.

The changes include giving longgun owners more time to inform the registry that they have changed the location of a long gun. Under the current law, long-gun owners have 15 days to make the change.

Gun owners are also no longer required to register the length of the barrel and the long gun’s serial number will be sufficient to register the arm. Owners will no longer have to obtain a second registration number.

Guilbault said the government has no plans to abolish the law.

Heidi Rathjen, the coordinator of Poly-Se-Souvient, told reporters on Wednesday that she had recommended the government give hunters 30 days to report a change in gun’s location. It would be difficult for hunters to make a change if they were out hunting for more than two weeks, she said.

The director general of la Fédération des chasseurs et pêcheurs du Québec said he was happy with the changes. Alain Cossette said his organization still opposes the law, but he encouraged long-gun owners to comply with the rules before Jan. 29. He said his group will continue to lobby for the law to be abolished.

Quebec passed a law creating a long-gun registry in 2016 and has given owners until Jan. 29 to register their firearms or face penalties of up to $5,000. As of Sunday, 342,359 firearms had been registered, less than one-quarter of the estimated 1.6-million long guns owned by Quebecers.