-Caveat Lector-
Ottawa delays its $25 gun fee
'NOT WORKING': This is the second time the
transfer fee has been waived, and critics blame a
clogged registry.
CAMPBELL MORRISON Times Globe staff writer
OTTAWA - Gun owners are being given yet more time to fall in
line as the federal government tries to make its gun-control
system run smoothly.
On Justice Minister Anne McLellan's "urgent" request,
cabinet
has agreed to amend the gun law's regulations to permit an
18-month extension to the $25 transfer fee, which has now
been
waived until the end of 2002. It was first postponed last
June.
By waiving the transfer fee, applied whenever a new gun or a
used gun is purchased, the government is hoping to suppress
lingering public frustration with the 1995 law.
The amended regulations "provide an added incentive and
further
strengthen the sharply increased level of compliance that
is now
being experienced by the Canadian Firearms program," says an
impact analysis statement on the new regulation.
The lost revenue will be assumed by the program but will be
"offset by the enhancement of the overall success of the
program," says the statement prepared by the Privy Council
Office.
Wally Butts of the National Firearms Association said the
latest
extensions highlight the serious flaws in the government's
gun
laws.
"Basically, the system is so screwed up they don't know what
they've got," he said. "They just keep passing it off . . .
We
expected it because we know the system's not working."
Mr. Butts said hundreds of gun owners who applied by the
deadline last Dec. 31 still haven't received their firearms
licences -
although the grace period ends this Saturday.
Ms. McLellan's press release late yesterday acknowledged
there
have been some problems in getting the licences out.
"The vast majority of eligible firearms owners will receive
a
replacement for their temporary firearms licence before
they expire
on June 30," said the government release.
A spokeswoman for the Coalition for Gun Control said she
has no
problem with the latest federal extensions.
"The kinds of things they did last year to streamline and
encourage compliance with the licencing provisions I thought
were very smart and paid off, big time," said Wendy Cukier,
who
noted that 80 per cent of gun owners applied for a gun
licence
before the Jan. 1 deadline. "My sense is they are trying to
apply
the same kind of streamlining to the registration process."
A spokesman for the Justice Department's firearms centre
said the
amnesty extension on certain prohibited weapons relates to
the
delayed passage of Bill C-15 and will keep handgun owners
from
being inconvenienced in the meantime.
The extension of the $25 transfer fee waiver was done at the
behest of gun lobbyists, "so it's part of the customer
services,"
said David Austin.
About 90 per cent of an estimated 2.3 million firearms
owners
have properly obtained ownership licenses, Mr. Austin said.
Other measures included an outreach program and an
advertising
blitz as the final deadline of Jan. 2, 2001, came closer.
Similar efforts are being planned for the registration of
the
firearms themselves as the deadline of Jan. 1, 2003, gets
closer,
Mr. Austin said.
Furthermore, the registration centre, based in Miramichi,
has been
inundated with applications in the past year as people are
sending in their registration forms. About 1.4 million
applications
were received in the past year. The government is now
conducting a survey to determine how many guns there are in
Canada, but estimates range as high as seven million.
Fundy-Royal Progressive Conservative MP John Herron, whose
rural riding includes many firearms owners, said the
waivers prove
that the government is having trouble convincing Canadians
that
the 1995 gun control bill is appropriate.
"The fact that they are even doing it is an indication that
compliance is not as high as they had expected it to be,"
Mr.
Herron said.
Waiving fees is "bribing" Canadians into compliance, he
added.
Mr. Herron was first elected in 1997 in part on the anger
against
the Liberal government's gun control bill, which requires
all
owners to register all guns. Mr. Herron defeated former
Liberal
MP Paul Zed despite Mr. Zed's efforts to distance himself
from
the law brought in by his party.
While Mr. Herron believes there should be control on
prohibited
weapons as a means of fighting crime - there has been a
registry
of all handguns in Canada for 70 years - he objects to the
registration of rifles and shotguns and to the ballooning
cost of
the Canadian Firearms Centre.
The government first estimated that the start-up cost of the
Canadian Firearms Centre would be $85-million, but later
revised it
to $120-million. Including the start up cost, the
government has
spent $489-million in the first six years of operation
ending March
31.
"Rather than spending money fighting biker gangs, the
government is taxing deer hunters, duck hunters and
farmers," he
said.
With files from Canadian Press.
[Back] [Top]
As published on page A1 in the Saint John Times Globe
on Tuesday, June26, 2001.
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