The RCMP firearms program may have jumped the gun in a web post that until last month advised firearm retailers that existing federal law requires retailers to verify licences before selling long guns.

The statement, which contradicts the relaxation of gun-sale requirements under changes to the Firearms Act by the Harper government in 2012, would have been accurate if new Liberal gun legislation, Bill C-71, were already law.

The RCMP post temporarily gave credence to the concerns of gun owners and firearm rights advocates who have long argued it was mandatory for gun sellers to verify the validity of licences under the Conservative amendments – which is not the case.

The RCMP acknowledged Tuesday the advice was incorrect.

“The correction was not made to indicate a relaxing of the requirement but ‎rather to more correctly state that the current requirement does not make it obligatory for a seller to confirm the validity of the licence,” the RCMP media relations branch told iPolitics.

“A review of online materials noted the discrepancy and staff modified the text,” the media branch said in an email.

The Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights drew attention to the Mountie retraction to counter government claims that the Liberal legislation will restore mandatory licence checks after repealing the Conservative changes.

“It appears that the RCMP were (until recently) under the impression that the Firearms Act, as it currently stands, creates a positive requirement that the buyer have a licence and that the seller must also check it,” the coalition said in a web site post after detecting the correction.

After tracking the Mountie web site before and after the Liberals tabled Bill C-71 in the Commons, the coalition posted an RCMP statement about sales of non-restricted rifles and shotguns that had been on the firearms program page until April 5, 2018.

“Transfers of non-restricted firearms can be conducted without contacting the Canadian Firearms Program, as registration is no longer required for this class of firearm,” the site stated. “The transferor (seller) is nevertheless required to verify that the transferee (buyer) has a valid PAL (Possession and Acquisition Licence). The transferor can call the CFP toll-free number (1-800-731-4000) to confirm the validity of the transferee’s licence before making a sale,” the post said prior to April 5.

On April 5, the site’s advice for gun sellers and buyers changed, substituting the word may for the words “required to.”

“Transfers of non-restricted firearms can be conducted without contacting the CFP, as registration is no longer required for this class of firearm. The transferor may verify that the transferee has a valid PAL by calling the CFP toll-free number (1-800-731-4000) before making a sale.”

Neither Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s office nor the RCMP would say precisely when the change was made. The new gun legislation was tabled in the Commons on March 20.

Goodale’s director of communications, Dan Brien, referred iPolitics to Goodale’s comments at the first Commons committee hearing on the legislation last week.

“The legislation will also help ensure that people who acquire firearms are actually licensed to own them,” Goodale told MPs on the Commons Public Safety Committee.

“Since 2012, all that has been required in this regard at the time of a sale is that the vendor have “no reason to believe” that the purchaser is not licensed. It’s a double negative. Vendors often check anyway, but they are not in fact required to do so,” Goodale said.

The president of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights said Tuesday the coalition’s legal counsel advised the group that the current Conservative law requires licence checks, when several subsections on firearm sales are linked together.

“It’s clearly implied that the transferor (seller) has to check,” said coalition president Rod Giltaca.

The issue is one of several differences between Liberal and Conservative MPs as they head into committee study and more debate over Bill C-71 over the next month.