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Transparent Classification Process Needed

Sep 10, 2016 | 8:35 AM

Firearm owners all over Canada are angry over the recent prohibition of magazines specifically manufactured for the 10/22 Ruger platform.

Designed to be used in a low-caliber rifle, this cartridge magazine is owned by hundreds of thousands of gun owners across Canada. 

Recently, the RCMP began the process of notifying police agencies and retail outlets that these are now prohibited devices in Canada. They did not provide any notice to firearms owners until after they changed the classification. With the stroke of a pen, the RCMP has criminalized thousands of law-abiding individuals for simply owning property they purchased legally.

This re-classification mirrors a number of others, including the Swiss Arms Classic Green Rifle in 2014 and substantiates the need for the RCMP to be more open and transparent. Canadians would be outraged if, overnight, the police or government made owning any other type of property (a car for example) illegal. Unfortunately, waking up to discover that with the stroke of a pen, that your legally purchased item is now retroactively made illegal, has become the norm for the average law-abiding firearms owner in Canada.

If the RCMP wants to make classification changes such as these, they should be required to present a proposal to the public in advance, and give time for gun owners to provide feedback. The RCMP should then release a statement to justify their decision. 

For the recent classification change, I call on the Government to introduce an amnesty for those who own the magazines so that they are not criminalized for owning legally purchased property. 

Furthermore, until the RCMP implements a fair and transparent process for classifying firearms, Cabinet will need to keep every available power to protect law-abiding Canadian firearms owners. Therefore, I urge the Government to rethink their promise to repeal measures brought in by the Conservative Government to give Cabinet the ability to reverse these arbitrary decisions made by the RCMP.