FILE -- In this Aug. 15, 2012 file photo, three variations of the AR-15 assault rifle are displayed at the California Department of Justice in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,file)

On the day the government tabled a bill to prohibit 16 models of a Swiss-made semi-automatic rifle, cabinet quietly passed an order declaring a three-year amnesty for owners of virtually identical rifles made by the same arms company.

The amnesty came to light at a Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee meeting Tuesday, as Conservative and NDP MPs questioned RCMP and government officials over Bill C-71, the contentious gun-control legislation on which the committee has begun to vote clause-by-clause as the opposition attempts to amend clauses they oppose.

The bill would also prohibit four specific models of Ceska Zbrojovka, or CZ, semi-automatic rifles imported from the Czech Republic, after the Conservative government in 2015 overruled RCMP classifications that previously had prohibited or restricted the CZ and Swiss Arms guns.

The legislation contains a range of other gun-control measures, including reinstatement of mandatory sales records for long-gun purchases, confirmation of valid licences by the RCMP for each gun purchase, and expanded background checks for gun licences, both for non-restricted or restricted firearms.

Licence validation and registration of restricted rifles and handguns have been in force in Canada for decades, as have background checks and other gun safety measures. The Liberals promised before forming government they would not bring back the kind of long-gun registry the Conservatives dismantled in 2012.

Justice department lawyer Paula Clarke disclosed the March 20 cabinet amnesty for the five Swiss Arms assault-style semi-automatic rifles in response to concerns from the Conservative MPs over grandfathering provisions in Bill C-71 for owners of the 20 CZ and Swiss Arms rifles the legislation will prohibit once it passes through Parliament and takes effect.

The gun bill stipulates that anyone who on June 30 legally owns any of the rifles cited in the legislation, which the Conservative cabinet ruled to be either non-restricted or restricted, will be able to continue to possess one or more of the rifles after they become prohibited again.

The rifles would otherwise be prohibited.

Bill C-71 proposes to repeal Conservative Criminal Code provisions that allowed Cabinet to overrule the RCMP firearm classifications.

Conservative MPs particularly expressed concern after the officials disclosed that June 30 was not the planned date for the legislation to take effect, but a cut-off date the government set for current owners to either sell the firearms, or buy them, while they remain either restricted or non-restricted.

The disclosure surprised the MPs.

“What the date of June 30, 2018, simply does is establish the point in time at which an owner will be asked to establish as a matter of fact that they were a lawful owner with a duly issued registration certificate for that firearm on a given date,” one of the officials said.

Conservative MPs raised the possibility that owners of the 20 models of CZ and Swiss Arms rifles will be uncertain about their status as they wait for the date when the legislation does take effect.

“Besides the confusion, there is the potential that someone may think they are committing a criminal offence in the meantime,” said Conservative MP Glen Motz.

“If it becomes law on October 1, then who is going to go back and check if they were compliant on June 30, and if they weren’t are they subject to criminal sanction?” said Motz.

Justice department counsel Clarke at that point raised the March 20 amnesty for the five models of Swiss Arms rifles that had slipped past the RCMP Firearms Program classification system after being imported into Canada. The rifles were classified as prohibited once they were discovered in circulation.

The RCMP – in a regulatory impact statement accompanying the Canada Gazette registration of the cabinet order – describes four of the five models as “previously unknown” and refers to them as the Four Seasons Series because each model is named after a season of the year.

The fifth is described as a “previously unknown” sniper rifle version of the Swiss Arms Classic Green rifle.

The cabinet amnesty for those rifles extends to Feb. 28, 2021.

“There is currently no criminal liability for individuals who are in possession of these firearms,” said Clark. “The other firearms are currently non-restricted, so people aren’t at any risk of prosecution for those either.

“So, the June 30 date has nothing to do with the legality or criminal risk of these firearms.”

A prominent blog in the firearms community welcomed the amnesty at the time.

The Liberal majority on the committee voted down a proposed Conservative amendment, supported by NDP MP Matthew Dube, that would have extended the grandfathering protection to gun retailers who have the same rifles in stock.