REGINA – Federal justice minister Allan Rock’s concessions on the proposed new gun bill don’t come close to satisfying his opponents.
“It’s not nearly enough,” Saskatchewan justice minister Bob Mitchell said about the concessions, which restrict powers of police to search gun owners’ homes and less severe penalties for first time offenders who unintentionally fail to register a firearm.
“I think it’s a move in the right direction but it’s not nearly enough.”
Alberta premier Ralph Klein said he still plans a constitutional challenge of the gun bill if it passes. Mitchell has said Saskatchewan would join Alberta’s challenge, as will the two northern territories.
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Ed Begin, of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation, said Rock’s concessions do not satisfy his group and will not convert opponents to support the bill.
He said some reluctant backbench Liberal MP’s might vote for the bill now that Rock has said he will change it, but “they would have probably voted for it anyway,” said Begin.
The gun law proposes to establish a national gun registry which would eventually carry details of all firearms in Canada. It has been attacked by many prairie politicians and organizations since it was announced.
But Mitchell said New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna’s recent decision to officially oppose the law “is decisive.
“They can no longer just blame this on us rednecks from the Prairies, or however they’ve been trying to paint us, and they have to take it far more seriously,” especially because McKenna is a Liberal, Mitchell said.
Keith Carter of the coalition for gun control said: “The core of the bill is maintained and we’re happy with that. You can’t expect to get everything.”
Carter said he wished the inspection provisions had been maintained, though. The provisions would have “urged people to take seriously the idea of safe storage. They would have been truly held accountable,” if the police had powers to inspect gunowners’ homes, Carter said.
