Yes, and then we would be rid of the long gun registry. But what about all the other issues? Like the one this thread is based on? Prior to 1995 a person whose residence was in a rural area who owned a piece of land big enough to shoot on could take their .357 out back and target shoot. He can't now. Or, if I want to work on a restricted firearm in my garage, I would be breaking the law because my garage is detached and therefore not part of my "dwelling". If it is outside of my dwelling it must be trigger locked and locked into another container as well, and it better be on the way to a certified range, or else. And what about all the confusion about safe/legal storage of ammunition, and legal transport of ammunition? Wouldn't be nice if we had a firearm act that clearly defined the parameters?
Then we can get into the arbitrary bans on firearms. Because a semi-automatic rifle that would be perfect for hunting coyotes is built on the same platform of military rifles, they are banned? A saying I like is "of course they won't ban your bolt action hunting rifle, first they will call it a high powered sniper rifle and THEN they'll ban it". The RCMP have taken semi-auto shotguns and rifles which were legally on the market, and after months of tinkering and converting them to full-auto, have banned them because they are "easily" convertible.
Let's talk about licencing. I am not in disagreement with licencing of firearms owners. I AM against the intrusive questions regarding the mental health, job status, and relationship status of applicants. Those questions are never asked of those renewing driver's licences before they are allowed among the innocent masses with a truly lethal weapon. Or how about this? If an abused woman leaves a relationship but feels she is in danger of assault or death at the hands of her ex, and decides she would like to purchase a firearm for home defense, she of course must apply for a PAL. To do that she must get the signature of her current partner and that of any person that she has been in a relationship with during the last two years. If she doesn't and through their investigation of her during the application process the CFC finds she WAS in a relationship they can deny her application and/or notify the ex of her application. Nice, eh?
And how about our friends at the United Nations? They are at work trying to create a mechanism that bans the private ownership of small arms worldwide. That means us too. The NFA and CSSA have representatives attending international forums working to protect our interest in this area.
No less daunting is the likelihood that the Liberals will some day form another majority government. They will no doubt try to add more restrictive and onerous legislation pertaining to firearms, and broaden the scope of fireams bans. We need to work NOW to bring the current firearms act to it's knees and replace it with sensible legislation. We need to show the public that blood won't be running in the streets if this happens. We need to demonstrate to them that the Libs/NDP/Bloc/Green anti-gun propagana is just that. If we can do that, hopefully people will be wise enough to not vote for them, but if they do, hopefully they will also tell them to shut up about guns and work on the real issues surrounding the economy, environment , health care, education, immigration, public safety, etc.
The CSSA and NFA are the organizations that are doing the heavy lifting on all these fronts. Again, the OFAH has my respect for all the work they have done to support Bill C-391. We have to remember though, registration is just the tip of the iceberg.
