MP Ted Falk applauds the Conservative Government’s announcement to reduce red tape for law-abiding gun owners. On July 23, 2014 the Harper Government announced the coming-into-force of an expanded Order Declaring an Amnesty Period (2014) and the proposal of the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act.
“I am happy to see a common sense approach adopted by our Government,” said MP Falk. “We are pursuing firearms policies that strike the important balance between public safety and respecting law-abiding gun owners.”
The Order Declaring an Amnesty Period will ensure that owners of CZ 858 or Swiss Arms family of rifles are now able to fully use their property in accordance with the law. This will simply make the use of the CZ-858 rifles legal, as they were before February 25, 2014.
Additionally, the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act will streamline licensing and eliminate needless red tape for law-abiding gun owners, while keeping Canadians safe. Among other things, this will merge the Possession Only (POL) and Possession and Acquisition Licenses (PAL), as well as creating a grace period so that individuals that inadvertently miss renewing their firearms license are not made into criminals overnight.
The legislation also includes:
- Restricting the ability of Chief Firearms Officers to make arbitrary decisions;
- Creating a grace period at the end of the five-year licence to stop people from immediately becoming criminalized for paperwork errors;
- Ending needless paperwork around Authorizations to Transport by making them a condition of a license;
- Requiring mandatory firearms safety courses for first-time gun owners; and
- Strengthening firearms prohibitions for those who are convicted of domestic violence offences.
- “We are simplifying the process for law abiding gun owners,” added MP Falk. “Our Conservative Government will always stand up for the rights of law-abiding hunters, farmers and sport shooters.”
