Bill C 21 A Look At The Proposed Freeze Of The Pistol

The federal government announced the C-21 bill on May 30, with Prime Minister Justin Trinto calling it “some of the strongest measures in Canadian history to keep guns away from our communities and build a safer future for all.”
Public Security Secretary Marco Mendicino also said the legislation “will help reduce armed violence and keep Canadians safe.”
Since its introduction, the Bill C-21 has received praise from gun control advocates, who see it as a positive step forward in the fight against armed violence, with gun rights groups arguing that the bill is unjustly targeted. lawful gun owners and will do little to tackle crime.
Some law enforcement officials also have differing views on certain parts of the bill.
But what does the C-21 bill propose and will it actually address the issue of armed violence in Canada?  CTVNews.ca looked at these and other questions asked by readers.
In this story:

WHAT WOULD BILL C-21 DO?

A key measure in Bill C-21 is to “freeze” the sale, purchase or transfer of weapons to Canada, except for a limited number of individuals and companies, without completely banning their use.
The legislation will also create “red flag” and “yellow flag” laws, allowing an individual to apply for an emergency firearm in court to immediately remove a person’s firearms for up to 30 days, as well as suspend his weapons license if they endanger themselves or others.
The bill would also increase the maximum sentences to 14 years from 10 for firearm-related offenses, such as smuggling, make it an offense to modify a cartridge case beyond its legal capacity, and ban some firearms replicas. with real weapons.
In addition to the bill, the federal government plans to proceed with the firearms repurchase program, which was announced in 2020 after the ban on more than 1,500 models and variants of “attack” firearms after Nova Scotia.  mass shooting.  However, the federal government extended the amnesty period until October 30, 2023.
The term “assault” or “assault weapon” is generally considered a political term, usually referring to a semi-automatic weapon.  This compares to an “assault rifle”, which can be fully automatic, meaning it can be fired continuously while you hold the trigger.  Fully automatic firearms are banned in Canada.

HOW MANY WEAPONS USED FOR CRIME ARE ILLEGAL?

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police wrote in the Firearms Commissioner’s 2020 Report that there are more than 2.2 million firearms license holders in Canada.
About half are in Ontario and Quebec, with another nearly a third in Alberta and British Columbia.  There are approximately 1.1 to 1.2 million registered pistols in Canada.
Violence-related crime rates have risen in Canada in recent years, having fallen for some time, according to a recent report by Statistics Canada.  Pistols remain the most serious weapon used in most violent firearms-related crimes.
But in the same report, StatCan says there is little information to determine the source of a firearm used in the crime, including whether it was stolen, illegally purchased or smuggled.  Provinces also do not require investigators to send firearms used in crime detection.
Police, however, have generally said that the majority of firearms used in crime come illegally, including from the United States.
Addressing parliament’s public security committee in February, National Police Federation President Brian Sowe said, while data is still needed at the national level, “it is the experience of law enforcement that most of these weapons are acquired illegally”.
Already in fiscal year 2021-22, Canada Border Services has seized 955 firearms, most for any fiscal year 2017-18.
Holder of a restricted firearm owns an AR-15 at his home in Langley, BC, May 1, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS / Jonathan Hayward

WHAT DO THE DEFENSE OF ARMS CONTROL SAY?

The Coalition for Arms Control, formed in the aftermath of the massacre at the École Polytechnique in Montreal in which a gunman killed 14 women, applauded the federal government for the “game-changing” bill, namely the national ban on weapons.
“This proposed law represents an important step forward, introducing significant measures to reduce armed violence and strengthen Canadian values, because there is no ‘right to own’ weapons in this country,” said Wendy Cukier, its president. Coalition for Gun Control and professor at Toronto Metropolitan University, said in a statement.

WHAT DOES THE POLICE SAY?

While some polls show that two-thirds of Canadians support a national arms embargo, not proposed by C-21, police unions were less willing to support such a measure.
But even with a gun freeze, Chris Lewis, a public security analyst and former Ontario provincial police commissioner, told CTV Your Morning on Friday that adding more laws to lawful owners would not affect criminals who not interested in them.  law’s.
In the mass shooting in Nova Scotia, which killed 22 people, including a pregnant mother, he notes that the gunman acquired these firearms illegally from the United States.
“I no longer have any weapons, but if we are going to focus, let us focus on the right things: criminals, smuggling, people who should not have weapons,” he said.
Evan Bray, chief of the Regina Police Department and co-chair of the Firearms Committee of the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, told CTVNews.ca on Thursday that the association supports a national approach to any firearm, as opposed to one that leaves it in the provinces. municipalities to understand.
But while he sees positive aspects in the C-21 bill – such as new firearms offenses, tighter border controls and sanctions for smuggling and a ban on the sale of certain copies of firearms – others, although well-intentioned, may not have the mark.
“Most of the problems we face with firearms are people who use them for criminal purposes and most of the time they are not legal and law-abiding gun owners or gun owners,” he said.
In response to the announcement of the C-21 bill, the CACP issued a statement emphasizing this point.
“We believe that gun freezing is a method of reducing access to these types of firearms, while allowing existing law-abiding gun owners to practice their sport,” the statement said.
“However, we continue to argue that restricting the legal possession of weapons will not actually address the real issue: illegal weapons received from the United States that have led to the worrying current trend of gun violence that is largely gang-related. and other sophisticated organized crime groups. “
Even if governments wanted to make it mandatory to detect weapons used in crime, Bray says that would require more resources.  The National Firearms Tracking Center of Canada, he says, estimates it locates 6 to 10 percent of all firearms seized after being used in crimes in Canada.
“I think we need to know if we want to do it, it will take a national commitment to it and something we all agree on and focus on,” he said.

WHAT DO WEAPON RIGHTS GROUPS SAY?

“It sucks,” Tony Bernardo, executive director of the 37,000-member Canadian Shooting Association, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview Thursday.
He described the bill as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the problems in the United States, calling the bill “turning points and discussions.”
“Laws affect the lawful, it’s so simple,” he said.
Tracey Wilson, vice president of public relations and information for the Canadian Firearms Coalition and a registered advocacy group, told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview Friday that while the bill also contains measures that could be valuable, Arguments provisions would be ineffective.
The coalition has about 40,000 paid members and about an equal number of non-members financial backers, he says.
As for the “freezing” of weapons in particular, advocates of gun rights say the measure only applies to licensed gun owners and not criminals.
Aside from some concerns about system abuse, they also say they do not oppose the red and yellow flag laws, but that there is already a process.
A person, they say, can call the police or the Canadian Firearms Program to report someone who appears to be a danger to themselves or others and confiscate that person’s firearms.
Bray also told CTVNews.ca that officers now have the option of revoking someone’s license and confiscating their firearms if the person is involved in an unstable situation, such as a domestic attack or may pose a danger to themselves. .
But legislation, he says, would make that response more proactive, as opposed to waiting for something bad to happen before making a decision.
For athletic shooting, according to the Bill C-21, individuals could sell or transfer their registered weapons to “authorized high-performance athletic shooting athletes and coaches.”
But part of the concern for sports shooters, gun advocates say, is that arms retailers are unlikely to keep or stockpile to satisfy a few dozen or even a few hundred people.
“We have up-and-coming athletes now who may not be on the Canada Team yet, but that’s it. Their future is over,” said Wilson.
Both organizations say they plan to submit to the House and Senate committees that are considering the bill as it passes Parliament.
The Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights is also fighting a ban on “offensive-style weapons” in federal court.
The weapons confiscated during many gang-related arrests are …