Canada’s Gun Registration Law In Flames

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Lobbyist insists Bill C-68 dying slow death

By Chuck Tobin

The national gun control legislation is in flames, and more
and more parliamentarians are starting to realize it, says a
lobbyist opposed to the controversial Bill C-68.

Tony Bernardo of the Canadian Institute of Legislative
Action said Thursday the legislation is so fraught with
pitfalls that bureaucrats responsible for administering the
bill are beside themselves trying to figure out what to do.

He said the federal government is currently breaking the law
in several areas with respect to what is required under
C-68. But bureaucrats and supporting politicians know if
they even go close to the House of Commons for the necessary
amendments to make things right ? to make things legal ? the
legislation might very well get booted into oblivion, he
said.

Bernardo said if the necessary changes are sought,
politicians will also have to face all the pitfalls in the
bill, and accept that if they want to make C-68 work again,
it means starting over.

And with the public already breathing fire over the $1
billion-plus cost of implementing the legislation, there?ll
be no stomach for starting over, he said, adding there is
good evidence now to suggest the cost is closer to $2
billion.

The highly controversial gun control legislation is dying a
slow death, but Bernardo is convinced death is inevitable.

?Remember, it was sold to the Canadian public as a crime
prevention measure,? he said. ?Well, it has done nothing to
do that.

?So as far as cost effectiveness, it is probably the worst
piece of legislation on the books right now.?

Bernardo was in Whitehorse last night to shed light on how
the institute believes Ottawa is currently in breach of its
own legislation, and to explain why he thinks the system is
hanging onto the legislation by its finger nails.

Canada, said Bernardo, has lost significant standing in the
international community over the last 30 years. Its last
vestige of credibility with the United Nations is its work
on the issue of small arms control, but the wick is burning
shorter and shorter in that arena too, he said.

The executive director of the institute, which is the
political branch of the Canadian Shooting Sport Association,
said it?s ironic that mainstream opposition for the control
of domestic weapons is coming from Africa.

African nations don?t care about hunting rifles and
shotguns, they care about the boat loads of automatic
weapons that are illegally smuggled into their countries and
put into the hands of insurgents, Bernardo said.

He said President Bush has made it clear the United States
will participate in the arms control effort, so long as the
initiative is focused on those boat loads of smuggled
military weapons, and not the control of domestic firearms.

Russia, China, and other world powers are following suit, he
said.

It?s just a matter of time, Bernardo believes, before the
thread unravels on the international stage. But with Canada
seen as a primary player in the United Nations small arms
initiative, it can?t afford to show the world that its own
effort to control domestic weapons has been the disaster
that Bernardo describes.

But South Africa already knows, he adds, noting the South
Africans essentially adopted Canada?s gun control method,
and now it too is knee-deep in the same quagmire of
uncertainty and endless amounts of meaningless paperwork.

The UN accredited lobbyist said there are several examples
of where the Canada Firearms Centre is caught between a rock
and a hard place, illegally.

For example, when Bill-C-68 originally came down the pipe,
it stipulated all small handguns of a certain calibre and
barrel length ? the Saturday night specials ? would become
prohibited, Bernardo explained. He added, however, that
those in possession of such weapons would be grandfathered
if they owned the handgun prior to Feb. 14, 1995.

Bernardo said the problem is that C-68 didn?t become law
until three years later, in December, 1998. And from 1995
through to 1998, gun dealers were still able to sell
handguns that would become illegal under C-68, and the
government allowed it to happen.

But C-68 says in order to register the gun, the owner had to
have been in possession of the weapon prior to Feb. 14,
1995, he pointed out. So now there are thousands and
thousands of Canadians who were allowed to buy the handguns
after Feb. 14, 1995, but cannot register them now because
C-68 puts the grandfathering deadline at Feb. 14, 1995.

Thousands are now stuck in legal limbo, having legally
purchased the handguns but now cannot legally register them,
essentially making them criminals on paper, he said.

Bernardo said the federal government is trying to find some
wiggle room with the issue, in that it has passed subsequent
legislation, C-10A, but has yet to release the regulations.

?We have told them that if you try to seize one of those
guns, we will sue you, and we will win.?

Bernardo said C-68 implemented a deadline for the
registration of firearms. The deadline has gone by, but the
federal government is still accepting registrations, he
said.

Like many others opposed to C-68, he insists not even half
of the guns in Canada have been registered, and not even
half of the gun owners are on file.

There are also reams of flaws in the paperwork being
collected by the Canada Firearms Centre, Bernardo said.

He said those in control of C-68 know full well there are
significant problems with the legislation. Rewriting a
section of C-68 could at least unscrew the conundrum Ottawa
faces, but that would mean involving the House of Commons
and showing everybody what Canadian taxpayers got for $1
billion-plus, he said.

Bernardo said the Liberals would be nervous of such a move,
not only because they?re a minority government, but also
because of growing resistance to C-68 among the Liberal
caucus itself.

If, for instance, there was a free vote in the House allowed
by Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin, half the Liberals or
more would vote against C-68, he said.

?This issue is so, so big and so complex, it is
mindboggling,? Bernardo said. ?And everytime I turn over a
rock, I find another can of worms.?

Paul Rogan, a longtime anti-C-68 lobbyist, said 48 people
attended the meeting last night, and several expressed an
interest in joining the Canadian Sport Shooting Association,
and opening a local chapter.

The former Yukon-based Responsible Firearms Owners
Coalition, of which Rogan was a primary organizer, is now
defunct.

Like so many organizations run by volunteers, it gets tiring
after a while for the same people doing all the work, he
said.

He said by joining the national organization, the central
organization does the administrative work while maintaining
regular news letters about recent developments in matters of
concern for the organization.

In addition, said Rogan, there are other benefits that come
with the memberships, such as eligibility for shooting
competitions sponsored by the national association.

But last night?s turnout signalled to Rogan that Bill C-68
is still a hot ticket for Yukoners.