Promise made, promise kept: Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act is now the law in Canada
June 22, 2021
Canadian hunters, farmers, sport shooters and law-abiding gun owners can count on our Conservative Government to enact reasonable legislation that respects the rights of gun owners while ensuring community safety.
This fall, our Conservative Government introduced Bill C-42: The Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act. On June 18, 2015, Governor General David Johnston signed the bill into law. Our Conservative Government has made good on its promise to ensure this becomes the law before we rose for the summer in our ridings, and to make sure it becomes law before this fall’s federal election.
Bill C-42 contains a number of reasonable and responsible updates to the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act: It will merge a possession-only licence with a possession and acquisition licence (POL and PAL), necessitate an in-person training course for first-time firearms owners, make an authorization to transport (ATT) an automatic condition of obtaining a licence, allow a grace period following the expiry of a licence to ensure firearms owners don’t become overnight criminals because of paperwork delays, and prohibit firearms possession for individuals convicted of domestic violence.
These are reasonable policies that respect Canada’s law-abiding gun owners while ensuring our streets and communities remain safe.
But our fight is not over yet. Only weeks ago, one of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Senators introduced a bill that would ban almost all firearms, prohibit any possession of firearms outside of a shooting range, reverse Bill C-42, and require that firearms owners turn over their firearms to police on the day that bill becomes law. This demonstrates the continuing anti-firearms owner mentality in both the Liberal Party and the NDP. Both have pledged to bring back the long-gun registry.
Clearly, only our Conservative Government can be trusted to stand up for Canada’s hunters, farmers, anglers, and sport shooters.
Robert Sopuck, MP
Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette
Chair, Conservative Hunting and Angling Caucus