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441-00548 (Justice)
Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:
- On April 29, 2022, the Liberal government introduced an order to introduce further restrictions with a 'shadow registry' on licensed firearms owners in Canada;
- The previous gun registry cost taxpayers over 1 billion dollars;
- The Auditor General's report found that the program did not collect data to analyze the effectiveness of the gun registry in meeting its stated goal of improving public safety. The performance report focuses on activities such as issuing licences and registering firearms. The Centre does not show how these activities help minimize risks to public safety with evidence-based outcomes such as reduced deaths, injuries and threats from firearms;
- Providing personal information to private sellers can result in identity theft and fraud;
- This will unfairly cost businesses countless dollars in wages and time to process; and
- This unfairly targets Canadian firearms owners who are already among the most vetted in Canadian society, Possession and Acquisition License (PAL) and Restricted PAL (RPAL) holders are subject to daily screening and are statistically proven to be less likely to commit crimes than non-PAL and non-RPAL holders.
We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to immediately repeal the order issued April 29, 2022.
Response by the Minister of Public Safety
Signed by (Minister or Parliamentary Secretary): Pam Damoff, M.P.
The Government has implemented a variety of measures to control firearms in Canada.
Former Bill C-71, which received Royal Assent in 2019, included measures to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have them as well as to enable the tracing of firearms used in crime. Last summer, the Government brought into force measures from that Bill. This includes expanded background checks for firearms licence applications to capture the full history of an applicant. The Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) must now consider whether the applicant has a history of harassment, restraining orders, or otherwise poses a danger to another person.
Another measure brought into force requires individuals to obtain an Authorization to Transport (ATT) from their CFO to transport restricted and prohibited firearms within our communities. Individuals must now seek a CFO’s discretionary authorization to transport these firearms to destinations other than a shooting range or to their home following a purchase.
In May 2022, the Government brought into force the final measures to implement Former Bill C-71; licence verification and business record-keeping. These measures were in place before the institution of the long gun registry in 2005. These common sense measures will protect public safety by reducing the risk of non-restricted firearms being sold or given to anyone who does not possess a valid firearms licence.
Additionally, former Bill C-71 included a provision clarifying that the Government could not recreate the long gun registry. No information about non-restricted firearms will be held by the Government. Law enforcement will be required to have a valid purpose in order to access the records (e.g., to trace a crime gun), often with a warrant.
June 8, 2022 (Petition No. 441-00548)
Only validated signatures are counted towards the total number of signatures.