December 2, 2000
Oh shoot, a bureaucratic mess
It may have come as a surprise to city people, but those of us who live in rural areas could easily understand why gun control is a hot enough topic in Canada to win seats in elections. It did so last Monday in two Ottawa-area ridings -- the only two to be won by the Canadian Alliance -- and one of the main reasons is anger at the federal Liberals' stiff gun control laws that are forcing Canadians to register their rifles and shotguns by the end of 2002. But it is no surprise to Mrs. Jane Smith (not her real name), a pleasant 61-year-old widow who lives on the edge of a small town. Mrs. Smith's encounters with Canada's gun control laws would be enough to anger anyone. Mrs. Smith's late husband was a gun collector and, because he was a dutiful citizen, he was among the first to register his weapons back in January 1999. "Maybe this may seem foolhardy to some," writes Mrs. Smith, "but on the other hand, he felt it was his duty as a law-abiding citizen." Mr. Smith died seven months ago and Mrs. Smith found herself the owner of all his firearms. Although she didn't really want them, she did want to keep her husband's estate intact so it could be passed on to their son, a police officer, so she kept them. They are locked up out of harm's way and, for extra security, her house has an alarm system. But of course, keeping the guns made her a lawbreaker, since she had neither a Firearms Acquisition Certificate nor a Possession and Acquisition Licence. "In order for me, his widow, to keep these firearms in my home where they have been under lock and key for the past 17 years," says Mrs. Smith, "or to transport them to a relative or friend with an FAC or PAL, I had to get a PAL myself, because I acquired these firearms through inheritance." If it seems a little strange that the law wouldn't let a wife inherit her husband's collection, read on. It gets stranger. To get a PAL, which costs $60, Mrs. Smith had to take a firearms safety course, which cost $100. To transfer the ownership into her name cost $25 per weapon, or $300. If Mr. Smith had not registered his weapons in the first place, they would have been considered part of the household furnishings, Mrs. Smith would only have had to apply for a Possession Only Licence, which costs $10, and a registration fee of $10 to $18, depending on the date registered, for a total of $20 to $28. Mrs. Smith completed her safety course and then applied for her PAL, which she is still waiting to receive, but she found the whole situation odd. She had also inherited a boat, a truck and an all-terrain vehicle, yet she was not required to register or acquire a special licence beyond her regular driver's licence for any of them. The cost of transferring ownership was small. "I believe that these three vehicles cause more deaths in Canada than do firearms," she wrote, "but then, that's not for me to judge." So far, the bill for Mr. Smith's honesty and desire to obey the law has been $460. Mrs. Smith is dismayed. "No one should have to suffer this kind of frustration and financial hardship just to keep what is rightfully theirs in the first place," she says. "Obviously, the Firearms Act has not been clearly thought through and before others have to experience what I have, and before more of our money is spent on the Act and its registration of firearms, something constructive must be done about it." In addition to her federal candidates, Mrs. Smith has written to the Minister of Justice and the Canadian Firearms Centre. "I sincerely hope that it will help," she says. But I don't think she's holding her breath. Next Story: Killer's fate in limbo Previous Story: He'll be OK ... he's my father
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