New bill causing massive headache for gun owners

Starting Wednesday, there are some new steps in place when it comes to purchasing a gun in Canada.

The changes include a need to consult with the Registrar of Firearms. Whether it’s a transfer of the ownership of a gun through a store or a person-to-person purchase, the person selling or handing over the gun will need to get a reference number from the registrar.

The owner at TnT Gunworks in Regina, Darryl Schemenauer, says business was booming in advance of this significant change.

“A lot of people just want to buy a firearm that the government doesn’t have their hands on,” Schemenauer said. “It was a very, very busy week. I don’t even know the number that we were selling but everybody seemed to want a firearm before the registry came into play.”

The registrar will ask for information about the person’s licence to have a non-restricted gun and will verify that they’re eligible.

Businesses will then have to keep records for at least 20 years of the reference number, the date and the person who bought the gun, and information about the make, model and serial number of the gun. Schemenauer said he already keeps records and has for the 30 years he has been open.

The new system is administered online but it will require an account and it’s unclear how quickly an answer will be delivered.

Schemenauer says he is already noticing frustration from a customer perspective with the changes, including lots of confusion as many people don’t really know the new rules are in place.

“We called one in the morning; it was our first trial run,” Schemenauer said. “We called it in for a regular customer who has purchased before.

“Apparently, it was not approved, (so) we waited for a half-hour (and the next call) took probably 20 minutes to get through. They said it wasn’t approved, (so) we waited for another half-hour and we call back to ask what the reason was and they said, ‘Oh, it is approved,’ though they didn’t give a reason why.

“But they made the customer wait before he could take the firearm.”

As a business owner, Schemenauer is seeing lots of problems as well.

“It’s the first day, but if it’s going to be like this, it’s going to be a real nightmare for gun owners and especially business owners,” he said. “It’s going to be a time thing.

“If we have to sit on hold or wait for the approval and you’ve got lots of people from out of town that come in to buy a firearm, if they have to wait an hour (or) two hours (or) even a day or so, it’s going to be hard on sales for sure.

“If the first day is any indication of how it’s going to go, it’s not going to be very good.”

There are also privacy concerns, with people now having to share more than what they might want to with strangers.

“Now when you purchase a firearm from your neighbour, that neighbour has to give you his (Possession and Acquisition License) number, his name, his address, his phone number and they’re supposed to record that,” Schemenauer claimed.

“So they’re actually giving each other information that they shouldn’t be allowed to because the person that takes all that information can store that (and) he can reuse that to buy another firearm from somebody else in somebody else’s name.

“I think that’s going to be a big problem out there. They’re giving too much information on their personal stuff.”

The federal government is calling it an effort to fight gun crime.

“We are taking action to keep Canadians safe from gun violence,” Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said in a news release while calling them “common-sense” regulations.

“Today’s regulations under Bill C-71 will help ensure that firearms do not end up in the wrong hands, assist police in tracing guns used in crime, and are part of the broader strategy to keep communities safe.”

Schemenauer says these changes are ultimately impacting the wrong people.

“It’s the people that don’t have a licence or buying them off the street or from an underground market,” he said. “That’s the people they have to target and this does absolutely nothing for that kind of thing to stop.

“This is going after the wrong people and it’s going to be very expensive.”