(Excerpt from Bill C-42) COMING INTO FORCE
38. (1) Subsections 4(4), (7) and (8) and section 37 come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the governor in Council.
(2) Subection 2(1), sections 6 and 11 and subsection 13(1) come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
(3) Sections 10 and 15 come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
(4) Sections 14 and 35 come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.
Canada – -(Ammoland.com)- It’s not every day that you learn about sweeping new powers assumed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) but, June 18, 2015, is a day to mark in our history books.
Contrary to both current law and Parliamentary tradition, some RCMP bureaucrats decided they, not the Governor in Council, now have the power to tell Canadians when laws come into force.
The law at issue is, of course, Bill C-42, the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act. Clearly there are some that are distinctly unhappy this legislation received Royal Assent yesterday. Those unhappy bureaucrats issued an official RCMP press release dictating the terms of when and how the relevant changes to law would be made.
The Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) must make significant system and process changes to implement certain elements of the legislation. The following legislative amendment will come into force three months after Bill C-42 receives Royal Assent:
- Streamline the licensing system by eliminating the Possession Only Licence (POL) and converting all existing POLs to Possession and Acquisition Licences (PALs).
The following legislative amendments will come into force nine months after Bill C-42 receives Royal Assent:
- Provide a six-month grace period at the end of the five-year licence period; and
- Make Authorizations to Transport (ATTs) a condition of a licence for certain routine and lawful activities.
The following legislative amendment will come into force 21 months after Bill C-42 receives Royal Assent:
Authorize firearms import information sharing when restricted and prohibited firearms are imported into Canada by businesses.
These statements stretch the limits of incredulousness. Even if they had the legal authority to do what they claim, and they do not, what could justify taking nine months to make virtual Authorizations to Transport a condition of existing firearm licenses?
The truth is that it doesn’t. The RCMP is torquing this up to try and maintain control over this useless, expensive mess. It is the ugliest kind of power politics, pure and simple. It’s simply more evidence that this power-mad bureaucracy wants to believe it runs Canada, not Parliament.
The bureaucrats are trying to run the clock on the Harper government in the hopes that Canadians will elect a different government in the next election, one that will be more friendly to the RCMP’s naked attempt to disarm Canadians. And of course, we can expect the usual cadre of “useful-idiot” ninnies to back the ‘crats with moronic statements like “the police know best.”
And let’s get it straight here and now. The problem is not the dedicated men and women that police our land, it is a few self-serving officials that exists at the top of our national police force, a bureaucracy that believes the exercise of power is their exclusive right, not the democratically elected Parliament of Canada.
Do these elitists actually believe the world as we know it will end if there is one less piece of paperwork for gun owners to deal with? From yesterday’s CSSA release,
“Like the ending of the long gun registry, the sky will not fall. Public safety will be just as intact as before. Just as Canadians came to realize that the registry was a waste of time and money, we believe they will come to accept additional cuts in red tape in the spirit of fairness to responsible firearms owners. These are changes that the general public would never even notice, but responsible Canadian sport shooters will be much better off.”
Thank you to Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney and Prime Minister Stephen Harper for pushing this legislation through before the summer recess. You’ve kept your word to Canada’s most law-abiding citizens, our licensed firearm owners, and we applaud you for that. Given the current political climate it would have been very easy for you both to let this bill slide. You didn’t, and we greatly appreciate that.
Now, about those RCMP bureaucrats usurping your Parliamentary powers…
About:
The CSSA is the voice of the sport shooter and firearms enthusiast in Canada. Our national membership supports and promotes Canada’s firearms heritage, traditional target shooting competition, modern action shooting sports, hunting, and archery. We support and sponsor competitions and youth programs that promote these Canadian heritage activities. Website www.cdnshootingsports.org