December 29, 2000
UNDER THE GUN!Canada Post outlets running out of firearms registration forms just days before the deadline
The latest misfire in the feds' new gun registry is a shortage of blanks. As in blank registration forms! Gun owners aiming to make a Jan. 1 deadline to apply for a licence could find no forms available at besieged city postal outlets. A number of the stations have run out and don't expect new forms to arrive in time. "I know that there are some outlets that don't have the forms - they have already run out," said Canada Post spokesman Teresa Williams. Failing to file the forms by Jan. 1, will leave a gun owner in violation of the law, facing a possible criminal record, hefty fines and jail time. "If they do not have their licence application by the end of this year, and that means as of Jan. 1, they are in illegal possession of firearms," said Janet Long, Canadian Firearms Centre spokesman. Possible penalties for that include as much as a five-year prison term or a little as a fine, up to $2,000. Canada Post's Williams says gun owners who want to avoid that should start working the phones, looking for postal stations that still have the forms.
"I called over to our main post office about the gun registration forms," said Williams. "When I asked him, 'How much of an increase have you noticed?' he said, 'A thousand per cent.' "He said he would guess over the past two days, they've had 400 to 500 people a day. And it's just been the last couple of days it really has increased." Canada Post outlets at a number of city drugstores polled by The Sun yesterday reported they'd run out. Diana, post office manager at Shoppers Drug Mart, 10955 23 Ave., said she ran out of licence applications Wednesday and faxed an order to the Firearms Centre. But in the past it has taken five or six business days to get a new batch, she said, and that will be past the Jan. 1 deadline. Anyone who has not applied for a possession licence by Jan. 1 will only be allowed to apply for the more expensive acquisition and possession licences, which require completion of a firearms safety course. Those licences are intended for people who do not already own firearms, and applying for them after Jan. 1 will not help an unlicensed current gun owner. Despite the demand for applications, Williams said Canada Post has no plan to extend its hours. Main outlets close today at 5:45 p.m. and won't open again until Jan. 2. One possible reprieve remains for the unlicensed and unapplied-for - Alberta cops have been told by the province not to bother provincial prosecutors with the new gun law's violations, deciding that Ottawa's Firearms Centre will have to enforce them. But from Ottawa the firearms centre's Long told The Sun the agency isn't involved in law enforcement and can't fill the void left by local police forces. Asked who will enforce the new law in Alberta, Long said: "I can't answer that question - I don't know."
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