Canada's plan to tighten up firearm laws came under scrutiny during a roundtable discussion in Fort St. John last week, though many agreed more can be done to strengthen the checks and balances when it comes to gun sales in the country.

Ten people gathered for the invite-only roundtable hosted by Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer on April 20, most of them gun owners, to talk about the federal Liberal's proposed Bill C-71.

article continues below

Chief among the concerns with the legislation were plans to restore RCMP control over firearm classifications, add new requirements to the transfer and sale of non-restricted firearms, and to implement more stringent transport rules for those wanting to take their guns to a range or a gunsmith.

Guy Lahaye of the North Peace Rod and Gun Club speaks to Bill C-71 at a roundtable in Fort St. John on April 20, 2018. - Matt Preprost

Many around the table worried the bill would do more to build up a bureaucracy to monitor law-abiding gun owners than address illegal trafficking and gun-related gang violence in Canada.

"The government, under the guise of public safety, is telling Canadians that we need to do this to make things safer," said Guy Lahaye of the North Peace Rod and Gun Club.

"They'd be better off spending their money in regards to dealing with gang violence, where most of the deaths are coming from in terms of firearms, instead of over-regulating and almost harassing the lawful gun abiding citizenry of this country."

Canadians are already required to have a licence and take safety training in order to buy a gun or ammunition. Gun sales are tracked by retailers, but Bill C-71 would add to their record-keeping requirements, and require a reference number to be obtained and attached to all non-restricted firearm purchases. It's something retailers worry could be used to monitor the purchases of gun owners.

"If you're legal to own one, you're legal to own 100," said Darren Thiel, co-owner of the Backcountry sporting goods store in Fort St. John, said. "My thing is don't track the user."

What retailers need is a better system to ensure firearms are being sold to people with valid privileges, Thiel said. Though licences are issued for five-year terms, there's no mandatory system that require retailers to confirm a licence's validity when it comes to non-restricted firearms sales, Thiel said. "One bad store can put a lot of guns into people's hands who shouldn't have them," he noted.

"It protects all of us legal firearm owners if that system was strong, if, at the vendor stage, we can ensure the firearms we're putting across the counter are going into a legal person's hands and not someone who has had their privileges revoked," he said.

"In that way, I can almost see some merit in the idea in having a store like ours phone in and check to make sure that person's privileges are still in place. What I don't like is that it tracks the activity of that person. So, if we had somebody come in and if we phone in with their firearms licence number 12 times in a month, and they get unique reference numbers issued with each of those inquiries, they're now tracking an individual and that he's had 12 potential purchases — not the details of what he purchased, but the activity. That's the downside to it, and that's the potential for it to be abused."

It was a suggestion that found support around the table, though it came with concerns. Such a system at a national level in today's age would need to be digitized in some way, meaning its trackable and hackable, Darryl Webber of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said.

"As soon as something is automated, it's zeroes and ones, and it's hackable," he said.

The roundtable also drew in guide outfitters, sports club representatives, and one non-gun owner. Zimmer said he was hosting the roundtable to address misunderstandings about current laws in Canada as mass shootings continue to mount in the United States. While there are many for and against firearms, there are many more in the middle, he said.

"There's a legitimate group in the middle that just doesn't understand," Zimmer said.

"They're maybe concerned, they've seen the shootings and they want to make sure their kids are safe when they go to school, that somebody is not going to come in and do them harm."

He noted most of those at the roundtable represented the firearms community, but added he invited groups with different viewpoints across the constituency. He held a similar roundtable in Prince George earlier in April, and said he represents 107,000 people with a range of views on gun control.

"I represent them all. I want to hear all those concerns," he said.

Other voices:

As a non-gun owner:

"I'm not a gun owner, I'm not a gun enthusiast. I'm the 80 per cent in the middle. For me, it's safety, and being invited here is for a knowledge base for me to be answering some of the questions that are thrown at me. People get confused at what level of the government can do what, especially when there's school shootings. Those concerns get expressed to us on council, of what we can do, what we are doing, who to talk to, and what the laws are." — Coun. Byron Stewart

On RCMP control over firearms classifications:

"They had that power, and that was changed, especially after what happened in High River. We're going to go back to that, and we're asked to trust them? We need to put that power in the hands of some government oversight, and in hands that can be trusted to make the right decisions for Canadians. What happened in High River, it cost I don't know how many millions of dollars to basically remunerate people for the doors that were busted in and all the firearms that were seized and some that disappeared." — Guy Lahaye, North Peace Rod and Gun Club

"The RCMP having full designation on the classification of firearms without government consultation scares the hell out of me." — Andy Waddell, Dawson Creek Sportsman Club

On the AR-15:

"The AR-15 is a restricted weapon but there are multiple guns that fire the exact same ammunition… that are non-restricted. The ones that are sold in Canada you can't make automatic unless you actually get it into a milling machine and mill it out yourself. Unless you know what you're doing, you can't just take a gun, especially an AR-15, and do that." — Chris Bigras

On transportation authorizations:

"Right now, with last government, the change was made so that when you get a PAL card, you were allowed to take that firearm to the range, to a gun show, to a gunsmith, to a border crossing. Those things have been removed. You're going to require a short-term ATT (Authorization To Transport). So, if I want to go to a shoot, for instance, in Grande Prairie, I need to phone in, I need to get authorization to be able to take my firearms and bring them to that shoot. And if I want to take my gun to the gun store to have them put a new scope on it, I'm going to need an ATT. We try to make things easier for people normally to do business and we're setting more spokes. Instead of letting things run smoothly, we're putting in a lot of hiccups here and its not for the best." — Guy Lahaye, North Peace Rod and Gun Club

On the bill:

"I've been in the guiding business for 44 years now. Regarding this Bill C-71, I didn't know a lot about it until I got the invite to this roundtable. Certainly, it's a bit of a eye-opener when you start looking at these bills and the ramifications. I just see more red tape and bureaucracy on the law abiding citizen that wants to own a gun or hunt. Certainly, I don't see any public safety regarding this bill." — Greg Williams, Golden Bear Outfitting

Email Managing Editor Matt Preprost at editor@ahnfsj.ca.