POWASSAN, Ontario -- Gun laws in Canada are getting a major overhaul, government sources have confirmed to Sun News Network.
And as of Wednesday, in a separate regulation, owners of Swiss Arms and CZ 858 rifles can transport and use those rifles as they were previously classified -- non-restricted or restricted depending on barrel length -- before the RCMP prohibited them earlier this year.
Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney was expected to announce the new "Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act" and the extended amnesty regulation here later Wednesday.
The act, if passed, will limit the powers of provincial Chief Firearms Officers, make all firearm licenses possession-and-acquisition (PAL) licenses, make it easier for legal gun owners to transport restricted firearms around their home province, provide a grace period to renew expired gun licenses, make the gun safety course mandatory for new shooters, and strengthen gun ownership prohibition orders for convicted domestic abusers.
"These measures would streamline licensing and eliminate needless red tape for law-abiding gun owners," Blaney stated in a news release prior to the announcement. "It would also take steps to ensure that those convicted of domestic violent offences can be banned from owning firearms. My foremost priority is keeping the public safe, through common sense policies."
In 2012, the Tories also scrapped the controversial long gun registry.
But since then, some provincial Chief Firearms Officer have come under fire from the firearms community for imposing stiff arbitrary measures on gun ownership and gun sales under the clause 58(1) of the current firearms act that allows CFOs to attach "any reasonable condition" they see fit to gun licenses, business licenses and permits to transport restricted guns.
A government source said that power, in particular, will be curbed in the new act and will give elected lawmakers the final say.
Another major change in the new act is essentially a universal Authorization to Transport (ATT) for restricted firearms owners that will be a condition of their license. Effectively, the change will allow them to transport their handguns and other restricted guns to any legal destination in their home province -- any range, any gun shop, any gunsmith, and so on -- with the same ATT.
Currently, a separate ATT is required whenever a restricted gun owner wants to take his or her gun to a different range (other than the range at which they are a member) or any legal destination that is not their own gun club.
"This will remove about 99% of the bureaucratic paperwork required to transport restricted firearms," a government source told QMI Agency.
Gun rights advocates have long argued the excessive paperwork did nothing to improve public safety and was an unnecessary burden on legal gun owners.
But the ATT transportation rules will still apply, meaning gun owners will still have to double lock the firearm while in transit and they must travel directly between their home and their legal destination.
If passed, the act will also do away with possession-only licenses (POL) that currently allow some Canadians to own guns but not acquire new ones. All POLs will become Possession and Acquisition licenses, which will be the only type of license.
Other measures in the "Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act" expected to be unveiled by Blaney later Wednesday will make the firearms safety course mandatory for all shooters, meaning no one -- not even those with firearms experience -- will be able to challenge the firearms test without first taking the course.
And gun owners who let their licenses expire will not become so-called "paper criminals" overnight for owning guns without a valid license, but will instead be given a grace period within which they can renew their expired license.
The source said the length of the grace period has yet to be finalized.
The Minister is also expected to unveil a separate regulation -- to take effect Wednesday -- that will allow owners of Swiss Arms and CZ 858 rifles to use them and transport then as they did before the RCMP controversially and arbitrarily prohibited them earlier this year.
While those guns will still technically be classified as prohibited weapons, there will be an exception for people who already own them so that they can treat them as though they were never reclassified. (non-restricted or restricted rifles depending on barrel length.
But they can't be sold privately and are not available for sale at stores in Canada given their current prohibited status.
The amnesty for CZ 858 and Swiss Arms owners is in effect until March 2016.
