Most people are aware that on May 1, government passed an order-in-council (OIC) banning some 1,500 legally owned firearms from law-abiding Canadians. However, this OIC also banned any “variant or modified version” of those guns, without defining what that meant.
Since then, RCMP have been updating the Firearms Reference Table (FRT). Hundreds of firearms with no connection to those named in the OIC are being reclassified as prohibited in the FRT. Firearms like .410 calibre hunting shotguns and .22 calibre target rifles.
That’s bad enough, but it gets worse: firearm owners aren’t told that these reclassifications are happening. Many gun owners here on P.E.I. incorrectly think the ban doesn’t affect them. Those who do know what’s happening have no way of accessing the updated list. The FRT is available only to law enforcement, dealers and verifiers, not firearm owners. And, at this point, the list seems to be changing almost daily.
So, you’re a responsible firearm owner. You diligently went through the 1,500 firearms named in the OIC, and confirmed nothing you own was listed. Not good enough. You are somehow expected to not only get access to the inaccessible FRT, but also to check it regularly to see whether the gun you wanted to take hunting or target shooting is still legal or not. The consequences for making a mistake here are serious and long-lasting; they’re literally criminal. Our members of Parliament should be ashamed for supporting this.
Kate MacQuarrie,
Women Shooters of P.E.I.,
Hazelgrove
