Commons Speaker Geoff Regan has ruled the RCMP could be found in contempt of Parliament over advice to firearm owners and gun shops on rifle prohibitions under new gun law amendments.

Regan said language the national police force had used assumed the government’s bill to bring in new controls over gun sales had already been approved by the Commons – when it had not yet passed through committee hearings.

Responding to a complaint from Alberta Conservative MP Glen Motz, Regan said the RCMP acted in a “careless manner” by posting advice to gun owners and businesses that made it seem as if Bill C-71 had already become law.

The Commons referred the incident to the Procedure and House Affairs Committee for investigation on a motion from Motz.

In his ruling, Regan dismissed RCMP attempts to duck the issue quickly by changing the wording on its Canadian Firearms Program web site the same day Motz made his complaint in the Commons.

After the Mountie web site adjustments, Liberal MP Mark Holland, the Parliamentary secretary to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, had urged Regan to dismiss the contempt allegations because “the matter raised was simply one of debate as there was clearly no presumption of anything in the information respecting Bill C-71 on the RCMP website.”

The dispute centres on a clause in the gun legislation that would prohibit specific models of controversial semi-automatic rifles imported from Czechoslovakia and Switzerland.

The controversy goes back to 2015, when the former Conservative cabinet amended the Firearms Act to give cabinet authority to overrule RCMP firearms classifications that prohibited the Swiss and Czech rifles, after the Mounties had earlier classified the guns as either non-restricted or restricted – and therefore legal to own in Canada.

Bill C-71 proposes to amend the Criminal Code to repeal the Conservative changes that gave the new override power to cabinet, and the bill also proposes to prohibit all 16 of the Swiss Arms guns the Conservatives legalized and most of the Czech CZ 858 rifles listed in the bill.

An RCMP bulletin to firearm retailers in April, shortly after Goodale tabled the legislation in late March, advised “businesses will need to determine if their firearm(s) will be affected by these changes.”

It also said outright that the Swiss weapons will also be prohibited.

A separate RCMP web post for individual gun owners stated “If your SA (Swiss Arms) firearm was listed in Bill C-71, it will be classified as a prohibited firearm.”

The legislation includes a “grandfathering” clause for current owners of any of the rifles that would be prohibited.

Anyone who legally owns the newly prohibited rifles as of June 30 would be able to continue to legally own them should the legislation become law.

“Parliament’s authority in scrutinizing and adopting legislative proposals remains unquestionable and should not be taken for granted,” Regan said in his ruling Tuesday.

“The Chair is troubled by the careless manner in which the RCMP chose to ignore this vital fact and, for more than three weeks, allowed citizens and retailers to draw improper conclusions as to their obligations under the law,” Regan said.

“Changing the website after the fact does little to alleviate these concerns. Parliamentarians and citizens should be able to trust that officials responsible for disseminating information related to legislation are paying attention to what is happening in Parliament and are providing a clear and accurate history of the bills in question.”

“Accordingly, the Chair finds this to be a prima facie matter of contempt of the House,” said Regan. “I invite the member … to move the appropriate motion.”

Motz and other Conservative MPs used a subsequent debate over Motz’ motion to denounce the new firearm bill.