Guns turned over to police in Waterloo, Ont., during their November 2017 gun-amnesty program. (Waterloo Regional Police Service / Twitter photo)

A two-sentence clause in Liberal gun legislation set to become law will allow thousands of owners of newly prohibited semi-automatic rifles to do something thousands of other owners of prohibited rifles can’t do — fire their prohibited guns at shooting ranges and gun clubs.

Bill C-71, hotly contested since it was tabled in Parliament early last year, includes amendments to the Firearms Act that received almost no attention during dozens of Parliamentary committee hearings before its final vote of approval in the Senate in May.

A leading firearm expert in Canada says that was because Conservative MPs were focused on demands for financial compensation for guns being prohibited by Bill C-71, while the government did not want to draw attention to the Firearm Act amendments allowing the prohibited rifles to be transported to ranges and clubs.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale confirmed the intent of the clause in answer to a reporter’s question about it Wednesday.

“Yes, we told them (Conservatives demanding financial compensation) time and time and time again,” Goodale said.

READ MORE: Liberal gun bill passes, firearm owners turn to assault rifle ban

Independent Senator André Pratte, who sponsored the government bill in the Senate and led support for the bill among the Independent Senators Group, said prohibitions in the past have restricted the possession of newly prohibited guns to home only, while others allowed transport to ranges and clubs.

“The grandfathering provisions vary: in some cases it’s only possession, in other cases its possession (and) use at an approved gun range,” Pratte said, referring questions to Public Safety Canada for specifics.

“One thing is certain, C-71 does not set a precedent,” Pratte said in an email.

The section of the Firearms Act concerning use of prohibited firearms at ranges allows authorization to transport certain prohibited handguns to ranges or clubs, but specifically precludes other prohibited firearms.

The Firearms Act amendments in Bill C-71 adds the bill’s prohibited semi-automatic rifles to the exception that already exists for short-barrel handguns that were prohibited in 1998 after the Chrétien overnment established a national long gun registry in 1995.

Other federal firearm prohibitions, going back decades as governments responded to demands for stricter gun control with tighter restrictions, grandfathered the ownership of firearms that were to be prohibited but not the ability to take the guns outside the owner’s residence to clubs or ranges.

Gun control advocate Heidi Rathjen had a different take on the new measures.

“One of many concessions to the gun lobby that are peppered throughout C-71,” Rathjen said.

As part of the Liberal government’s attempt to fulfil gun-control promises from the 2015 federal election, Bill C-71 reverses a Conservative decision to overrule RCMP re-classifications for four models of a Soviet-era Czechoslovakian assault rifle that had been modified from an automatic shooting capability to semi-automatic only and imported into Canada.

The RCMP, which initially classified the Czech-made CZ858 as a non-restricted firearm, which could be used for hunting or range purposes, had reclassified the rifles as prohibited. The RCMP said the guns could be converted back into automatic-fire weapons.

READ MORE: RCMP decisions on restricted, prohibited firearms going public

In 2015, as a federal election was approaching, the Conservative government amended the Criminal Code to allow cabinet and then Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney to lower the classification to non-restricted.

Bill C-71 also will pave the way for cabinet-ordered regulations to re-classify 16 models of Swiss Arms as prohibited weapons.

The chair of the House of Commons Public Safety Committee, Liberal MP John McKay, confirmed the two-paragraph clause, Clause 4, was not discussed publicly during the Commons committee study of Bill C-71.

The amendment effectively puts both groups of semi-automatic rifles into the same category as firearms that are classified as restricted firearms, with authorization to transport the guns to shooting ranges or gun clubs and gunsmiths.

Neither restricted nor prohibited firearms may be used for hunting.

Firearm expert Tony Bernardo, a longtime opponent of the former registry and staunch critic of RCMP firearms classification decisions, calls the prohibition of guns that were legally owned as restricted firearms “delayed confiscation” because grandfathering provisions allowing ownership by next of kin will some day run out.

Still, he did see a positive note in the allowance to use the rifles prohibited by C-71 at ranges and gun clubs.

“Honestly, it’s better than nothing,” Bernardo said in an interview Wednesday. “The take away 100 per cent and give back 50 per cent.”