HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2000-12-27, Page 13News
Gun registration deadline looms
Huron Bruce MP Steckle still opposes the gun bill
By Ron WassMtk
Kincardine News staff
The deadline for gun
owners; to apply for the new.
firearms license is less than a
Week away.
Despite vocal objections
and threats of civil
disobedience 1.8 million of
an estimated 2.2 million
Canadian gun owners have
applied for a license.
"That doesn't include what
we call our 'last minute
club,'. said David Austin.
"We've had more thSn
17.000 applications in the last
two days. The rate of
response over last week is
double."
..Austin, of Ottawa, is a
spokesperson with the
• Canadian Firearms Centre.
which' comes under the
Department of Justice.
'Millions and millions of
gun owners . haven't
registered and they probably
won't." said Paul Steckle,
Huron -Bruce MP.
"There. are -probably 10
million owners and upwards
of 25 million firearms. It's
certainly higher than seven
million." .
Estimates that there are as
many as nine million gun
owners in Canada -from the
National Firearms
Association (NFA) have been
disputed by the CFC..
Austin said when the NFA
was questioned as tothe
source of the number, "they
said they got the numbers
from Scats Canada. But. they
(Stats .Canada) said they.
never collected those types of
statistic's."
He. feels the government's
estimate of .2.2 million is
,more realistic. But. to be'
sure. the. federal .government
has commissioned a study.
overseen by a panel of
experts to determine exactly.
how many gun owners there
are in Canada.
"We want a number that
-*ill stand up to reproach."
Gun owners, who don't
apply .for a firearms license.
will be breaking the law as of
Jan. 1. 2001. If they fail to
• register. they have three -
options open to them. They
can take their guns to the
police for disposal. They can
give/sell their guns to a •
licensed person or business.
Or, they can have their guns
deactivated so they -won't
fire. for .instance; to hang it
over the fireplace.:-_-. --- . .
Gun owners. who' don't
have a firearms . license,
won't :be able to buy
ammunition.
Wally' Motz of Point Clark.
applied for his license in July
and only last week received a
temporary license.
"It took -five months ... it's
a real shmozzle ... that's the
reason I'm against it," said
Motz, who is a hunter and a
Zone H director, of. the
Ontario Federation of
Anglers and Hunters
(OFAH). -
"1 disagree strongly (with
the bill), Motz said, adding
the only'reason he applied for
a license was so he can
continue to shoot at the gun
club range.
"Without this license 1
wouldn't receive a permit to
transport my guns to the gun
club."
"What the federal
government is doing is
identifying who has firearms,
but it can only identify those
who have followed the legal
procedures." said Steckle.
Steckle isn't a proponent of
the bill that promotes the
licensing requirements.
"1 opposed the bill (Bill C-
68 in second reading. 1t goes
back to a couple of women
who have made it their life
mission to get rid of firearms.
One was a student at L'ecole
Polytechnique in Montreal."
It was at that university
where Marc s Lepine, a
gunman armed with a high
powered rifle carried out a
personal mission to kill
women. When the shooting
ended. Lepine killed 14
women and shot himself.
"They're intent on ridding
the country of firearms. But it
won't happen ... they're
dreaming in t&hni-color."
Paul Stedde
Bill or no bill, and whether
gun owners become license
dand registered or not.
Steckle's opinion is ."we're
. not going to rid the country
of firearms.''
However, he said the law.
which outlined -safe storage.
of firearms. "would do a lot
more to makeour streets
safer."
Steckle is a gun owner and
a hunter_Though. he opposed
the bill. he has complied.with
the new law .and has applied
for a firearms license.
The crux of the issue is
criminals and guns. Law
abiding gun owners and
hunters feel they're being
forced' to comply with new
'gun laws, but say the laws
will do nothing where it
counts, Criminals won't
register guns or apply for gun
licenses.
Blake Evans of Wingham
is a firearms safety
instructor/examiner-and is_a
retired conservation officer.
He has examination •centres
in Wingham. Seaforth.
Kincardine and Hanover.
"Does the program .prevent
a bank robber:' Only time
will tell," Evans said.
Said Motz. "Honestly. I
don't feel it will solve the
criminal problem. If it would
help deter criminal activity.
most of us would. register
right away." -
Motz said more people
have been stabbed or clubbed
to death "than killed with a
gun,"
Evans said there has been a
•
Nellie Evans photo.
when Adolf Hitler took
control of firearms.
Evans doesn't hold that
fear. "I have never known
Canadians to he
revolutionaries." .
Austin said the Canadian
government's intentidn with
the firearms hill was not to
confiscate firearms.
"I would like to think i the
bill) would end murders and
hank robberies. hut i don't
think that will happen.
r ---"Tile-cr•i.minal element
won't -he affected."
Evans :aid only time will
tell if stricter gun. laws are
making Canada a safer place.
If the process saves one child
from heing shot and kilted.
it's worth it, he .aid.
. Confiscation will he -a real
threat to gun owners atter the
Jan. 1. 2001 deadline: even
• for the farmer shooting
. groundhogs on his property.
"The .least the police will
do is remove the firearm."
said -Austin: adding there will
be a question whether the gun
owners gets his weapon.back.
"It's not a situation'
someone will want to find
- themselves i• n."
"The police are somewhat
separated from the issue."
said. Paul Holmes.. staff
sergeant of. the
Kincardine/Walkerton OPP
He,said people choo.ini»
not to apply for a license arc
turning their guns into the
police for disposal.
Knowing where guns are
will help police. but he said
officers responding to calls.
• even 'now. for cxampic
domestic disputes: assume
.the• worst --that there are•
weapons in the house.
"Cops have to _!o into
situation 'with their guard up
all the time."
" great deal of opposition to
the bill from legitimate. legal
firearms Owners:
Though he never• heard
anyone say that the shooting
in Montreal 11 years ago.
spawned the gun ownership
law. "possibly the program
may have prevented it."
The Montreal massacre..
however. did address eentre-
fire semi-automatic
weapons.` These types of
guns are now limited to five
rounds. prior ."to the
rnassacre.. the guns could
take banana clip that held
20 rounds of .ammunition.
"In Montreal he i Lepine
had 20 -round clips and had
several on his person." '
The confiscation fear
stems from what happened'
in Germany. in the late 1930s
' Dublin Lions Club
NEW
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Sunday
December 31,
2000
Age of -Majority
Lunch Provided.
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