Gun registration opponents say the federal government has no chance of attaining its end-of-the-year goal for licensing firearms owners.
“It’s an impossible task that they have, to try in the next eight months to process all the rest of the people,” said Yorkton-Melville (Sask.) MP Garry Breitkreuz.
The Canadian Firearms Centre said an estimated 1.6 million gun owners still need to be licensed.
Breitkreuz said the number is much higher than that, but he doesn’t dispute the centre’s assertion that it is far behind schedule.
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He said the main reason people aren’t applying for a gun licence is that they are unaware of the legislation. They are also unaware of the consequences of not getting a licence.
“I think most people don’t realize that by not doing anything they become a criminal.”
Many of those who do know about the requirement for obtaining a gun licence by Dec. 31, 2000 are suspicious of the government’s motives and are refusing to co-operate, said Breitkreuz.
Dave Tomlinson, head of the National Firearms Association, said the problem lies with the cumbersome application forms.
“The government has made it practically impossible to comply.”
He said the forms are long and complicated and lead to application errors that have bottlenecked the system.
“The people who designed the forms are incompetent.”
Tomlinson said it’s completely impossible for the Canadian Firearms Centre to meet its year-end goal and it will be forced into a situation where it will have to grant an amnesty to gun owners.
- PRATT
