The Conservative government botched its first attempt at weakening the Liberal-imposed long gun registry last year when it announced a temporary amnesty for those who had not registered.
That confused many gun owners, new federal documents suggest. Many thought it signaled the end of the registry and did not bother to register.
However, it was not the end to the registry that the Conservatives had promised in the 2006 election campaign but an opportunity for defiant gun owners to comply.
Last week, the government announced a new one-year long gun registration amnesty while warning gun owners that if they do not comply by May 16, 2008, they will be breaking the law and could lose their guns.
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In a regulation published April 7 and announced April 11, the government all but conceded that last year’s announcement sowed confusion. It was a rare admission by the Stephen Harper government that it misplayed a file, particularly one as close to its rural base as the unpopular gun registry.
“The current legislation remains validly enacted,” said regulations published by the justice department proposing to extend the registration period for one more year. “The amending order does not have the effect of suspending the requirement in the current legislation, which requires long gun owners to be licensed and to hold registration certificates.”
When public security minister Stockwell Day announced last year that long gun owners had until May 2007 to register, and that legislation was being introduced in June 2006 to end the need for long gun registration, many gun owners thought the registry was effectively dead.
However, the government has never brought that legislation forward for debate in Parliament, knowing that it would be defeated in a minority House. The gun registry remains the law.
Last week’s proposal to once again extend the registration period came with the warning that anyone not in compliance by May 2008 will be subject to Criminal Code prosecution. The public has until the last week of April to make comments on the proposal.
“Feedback from the public suggests that the application, scope and purpose of the amnesty order 2006 has not been well understood by some stakeholders or the public at large,” said the justice department publication.
“Owners of long guns whose licences have expired after Jan. 1, 2004, or for which the registration certificate has expired in a number of cases, seem to have failed to understand that police can seize any long guns for which the owner does not have a valid licence or registration under the Firearms Act.
“They do not seem to have realized” that they are protected only if they use the amnesty period offered by the Conservatives to register.
Liberal party critics of the latest amnesty said it was simply an attempt to undermine gun control rules by dragging out the registration time so the registry has less legitimacy.
