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)

A new Liberal gun bill governing sales of rifles and shotguns contains a licence vetting system so far from the former long gun registry that the RCMP will not even know whether individual long guns are actually being sold, the Mountie national firearms office says.

In reaction to a claim from the National Firearms Association that a new method of verifying licences and eligibility of gun buyers is, in effect, a new long gun registry, the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s office insist Bill C-71 does not reinstate the registry dismantled by the former Conservative government in 2012.

The bill, combined with new regulations to be passed by cabinet, proposes a numbering system originating from the Canadian Firearms Program to verify licences while at the same time keeping secret all details of rifles or shotguns being sold to buyers who have valid licences and are legally allowed to possess non-restricted firearms.

Under the plan, with details yet to be spelled out through regulations under the new statute, a gun retailer would be required to contact the national firearms registrar, technically the commissioner of the RCMP, to inquire whether the would-be buyer is qualified to go through with the purchase.

During the contact with the registrar, in effect officers in the Canadian Firearms Program, the retailer would not pass along any identifying characteristics of the gun.

If the licence is in order and there is no other up-to-date information that would prevent the buyer from acquiring the rifle or shotgun, the Mounties, also in charge of the National Firearms Registry of restricted and prohibited handguns and rifles, would issue a “reference number” to the retailer.

The retailer would be required to keep the authorizing number as a record, along with identifying details of the long gun and the buyer’s licence that would be available to police in case of a criminal identification.

“That is the same process as the registry,” Blair Hagen, vice-president of the National Firearms Association, said in an interview with iPolitics last week. “The only difference is under that registry there was a reference number and a registration certificate number.”

“Under this registry there will just be the reference number; it will serve as the registration certificate number,” Hagen said.

Hagen, a licensed firearms retailer in Vancouver, said the number system of tracking a gun sale breaks a Liberal election promise that a Liberal government would not reinstate the long gun registry, which required the recording and registration of all details in the transfer or sale of non-restricted firearms, including the name and address of the buyer.

Individuals who sell non-restricted long guns under the new bill would also be required to obtain a go-ahead from the RCMP through the reference-number system, but they would not be required to maintain the same sales records as businesses in case of future criminal investigations.

In response to Hagen’s claim, the firearms centre, through Goodale’s director of communications, Dan Brien, responded by email saying, “It is important to note that Bill C-71 does NOT reinstate the long gun registry.”

The email addressed Conservative and gun lobby concerns that the retailer’s retention of the transaction details in a gun sale is in effect a registry. The firearms response to Blair’s claim noted the information of the purchase transaction would be available only to police through a court-approved order.

The RCMP, through the email from Brien, said the reference number requirement is “simply to make sure that the non-restricted firearm is going to someone who can legally possess a firearm in Canada.”

“No information about the non-restricted firearm involved in the exchange would be provided to the CFP,” the statement said.

“To be clear, the reference number provided by the CFP would only confirm that the buyer/recipient has a valid licence,” the email said.

“The CFP will have no knowledge whether the sale, in the end, took place,” the firearms program said.