December 29, 2000
Overnight outlawsGov't shotgun, rifle registration deadline arrives
Thousands of Manitobans will be instant criminals if they don't apply for a firearms licence by Dec. 31. "Come Jan. 1 there will be people who wake up and become criminals just because they haven't registered," said Don Adams, the Manitoba president of the National Firearms Association (NFA). Sunday is the deadline for shotgun and rifle owners to apply for a firearms licence. Without it, gun owners won't be able to buy ammunition and could be fined up to $2,000 or jailed for five years under the criminal code if found with unlicensed firearms in their possession. APPLICATION DEADLINE But confusion with the application deadline and outright non-compliance means hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of Canadians will be in violation of Bill C-68. "If they don't have an application for a licence in by the end of Dec. 31 they will be in contravention of the law because you will have firearms illegally," said Canadian Firearms Centre (CFC) spokeswoman Janet Long. The CFC says 1.8 million people have applied for a licence so far and there is a backlog of 200,000 applications. The government announced a six-month extension for gun owners to have the licence in their possession, which has led to confusion among people who think they don't need to apply until June 30, said Larry Neufeld, NFA Manitoba vice-president. "Lots of people will be breaking the law unintentionally," he said. "In terms of frustration I would say it's at a peak right now," added Joel Korsunsky, co-owner of Farmers Supply, which has been besieged with calls about the process and the forms. Some people are refusing outright to get a licence, despite the threat of breaking the law, said St. Pierre Jolys resident Eugene LaBelle, who has taught firearm safety courses for 25 years. EXACT NUMBER UNKNOWN
"I'm very sure there are 30 to 50% who haven't applied. There's lots of people with firearms the government doesn't even know about," he said. "I know there are many hundreds out there who are refusing to register their firearms, more than you or I might think," Adams said. The exact number of gun owners in Manitoba is unknown, but Canadian Alliance firearms critic Garry Breitkreuz (Yorkton-Melville) believes the Canadian total is double the 2.2 million the federal government claims. He points to an old Justice Department report which pegged gun ownership at one in four households. He believes the government lowered their initial estimate of three million gun owners to make it look like they were meeting their targets. WON'T IMMEDIATELY ENFORCE "If after the six months if everybody still hasn't complied, what is the government going to do? I don't think there's enough jails in Canada to deal with everybody," he said. Winnipeg Police spokesman Bob Johnson said police agencies won't immediately enforce the law. "With the extension being until the 30th of June you can rest assured there will be no action by any police agency until after that deadline because who would know who had a licence until they're all processed and handed out," he said. A possession-only licence is $10, while a possession and acquisition licence costs $60, plus an extra $20 for restricted weapons.
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