Story | Windsor Star
Legislation unfairly targets hunters' firearms
Marty Gobin
Special to The Windsor Star
Monday, November 19, 2007
Deer season has just begun in most areas of the country.
Some hunters are hunting in groups, driving deer with hounds. Others are silently stalking deer by themselves or waiting for their prey to come close to where they're hiding. Some will hunt for a few days on some close-to-town piece of Crown land, and others will hunt for a few weeks at their private camps.
Regardless of how they're hunting or who they're hunting with, the group most likely to publicly respond to calls for more control over their right to hunt is getting away from it all as they exercise their ancient right to live off of the land.
And so the Coalition for Gun Control sees its opportunity.
While hunters pursue their prey in the wilderness, the gun control advocates pursue their hunting tools. The organization has begun a media campaign to pressure the Conservative government to enforce one of the most intrusive pieces of legislation for gun owners since the Firearms Act was passed in 1995.
Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, has appeared on TV and in the newspapers to criticize the Conservatives for repeatedly delaying the implementation of the bill, while Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day has questioned its usefulness.
The legislation which was passed during the previous Liberal government and which is known as Bill C-10A will require all newly manufactured or imported firearms be marked with the letters "CA 07" in addition to the pre-existing serial number. The marking requirement is in compliance with a United Nations treaty which seeks to add a country code to each firearm in an attempt to trace the illicit trafficking of firearms to war zones in third world countries.
While the marking requirement may seem trivial to most Canadians, groups representing gun owners such as the Canadian Shooting Sports Association have pointed out that most Canadian-purchased firearms come from the
United States
, which will not ratify the UN treaty because, among other things, it violates the U.S. Bill of Rights.
Most Canadian-owned firearms will therefore not be marked during the manufacturing process in the U.S., and so Canadians will have to either pay a huge premium on marking individual imported firearms or face not being able to buy any guns at all.
Not only will the price increase discourage new hunters, but collectors will suffer, too. No exemption exists in the legislation for newly imported antiques and priceless historical war relics or lever action pieces from the Old West will be required to have a laser-etched marking added to their classic, already traceable serial number.
And for all the trouble that hunters and collectors will be caused by the new legislation, there is no evidence to suggest it would have any use in preventing the flow of small arms to conflict zones. Anybody who has taken a shop class in high school knows that a piece of sandpaper or a file can remove something like a serial number in less than a minute from a piece of metal. China, which is one of the biggest suppliers of conflict firearms which typically consist of automatic rifles, has demonstrated it is unlikely to comply with the marking treaty.
But hunters' and target shooters' semi-automatic, single-shot, double-barreled, lever-action, or bolt-action firearms will be subject to the marking. When was the last time a U.S. Civil War reproduction was confiscated by U.N. forces in the Somalian civil war? Has Hamas formed a wagon circle around the West Bank and armed themselves with John Wayne-style lever action rifles?
The answer, of course, is that the idea that hunting firearms would be used in conflict zones is ridiculous. It's clear that the Coalition for Gun Control, which received $380, 000 from the Department of Justice during the previous Liberal government, is just trying to put down the Conservatives in the public eye to help their Liberal benefactors. Many speculate that an election could be called soon, and history shows us that gun control always makes a great wedge issue for a party when they have nothing of value to offer the voters. A Liberal government would be much more profitable for the Coalition than the current Conservative one.
But Canadians should remember the last gun control fiasco. Law-abiding hunters, target shooters and collectors were unfairly targeted by legislation promoted by special interest groups such as the Coalition for Gun Control, who had a financial interest in it being passed.
For all the billions of tax dollars wasted on the registry, and all the duck hunters who have been charged for not having a small slip of paper on them while doing what they have done as long as they can remember, we have seen an increase in illicit firearms trafficking and more dangerous streets in our cities.
Before supporting the next politician who opens their mouth to propose another gun law be passed as a preventative measure for criminal acts, Canadians should remember one very important detail: Criminals don't obey laws.
Marty Gobin is communications director of the Ontario Libertarian Party and a member of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. He lives in Whitby.
© The Windsor Star 2007
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