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Mounties will once again have final authority over the classification of firearms, the Liberal government says, reversing legislative changes made by the Conservatives allowing Cabinet to override RCMP decisions.

Police are the “experts” in these matters, Scott Bardsley, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, said in an email Friday.

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“We know of no other Western democracy,” he added, in which a cabinet or government department has the authority to override firearms classification rules set out in legislation.

Bardsley said details would be announced in “due course.”

Message boards on gun enthusiasts’ websites have been awash in recent weeks with speculation about what types of gun laws the Liberals would introduce.

A spokesman for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association said Friday it was “immoral” that a technician working in an RCMP lab should be allowed to have the final say on gun restrictions.