‘All about politics’: Feds, under pressure, walk back gun bill

The federal government recently rolled back an amendment to its latest gun legislation that would have banned many hunting rifles and shotguns.

Bill C-21, originally designed to ban handguns, was amended at the last minute in the fall, dramatically expanding its scope.

Although the change has now been scrapped, companies have taken a hit.

Wes Winkel, owner of Elwood Epps Sporting Goods on Highway 11, said his business lost up to $12,000 in the confusion caused by the bill.

He said around 20 percent of his inventory would have been affected by the change, which would have removed 420 types of guns from the market.

“When they announced these changes in November, we all went as an industry and canceled the order for these guns because we didn’t want to get caught with them, so we paid cancellation fees and all sorts of stuff,” Winkel said. “Now they’ve canceled the changes, (and) now we have to rearrange them.”

More frustrating than the financial implications, however, are the broader implications of the changes and the way the government is incorporating the change, he said.

“One of the members of the Liberal committee … brings in two amendments that are normally supposed to be small and procedural changes, but in this case they were massive,” he said.

“They added another 420 different brands and models of guns to the banned list, including many hunting guns, so all of us in the industry were like, ‘What the hell is going on? Like, where did that come from?’”

Winkel, president of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association, said he has spoken to government officials about the implications of the bill in more than 30 Zoom meetings over the past few months.

He said the changes have “decimated Canada’s firearms industry,” banned numerous weapons used by Indigenous communities for hunting, and even affected police and military operations.

“We have stated that if these changes go through as written, they will essentially cause a virtual collapse of the industry. (It had) so many widespread implications, in wildlife control situations and…even right down to the police and military. Getting ammo is going to be difficult because there’s just no industry supporting it anymore,” he said.

“Also, the indigenous gangs were quite upset because the government has now affected their ability to hunt and feed their families.”

Simcoe North MP Adam Chambers said the proposed changes were “embarrassing” for the federal government and added fuel to an already thorny arms talk in Canada.

“It didn’t do the whole conversation any good in terms of publicity. It’s a very divisive issue, and it’s something that people need to sit down and work through together… Are there any improvements we can make to the system?” he said.

“They said, ‘We do not target hunting rifles and we do not ban hunting rifles,’ and yet the legislation listed rifles that were commonly used for hunting. It turned out that what all these groups were saying was actually true, and the government is now admitting it was true.”

Chambers also expressed frustration with the way the changes were introduced, noting a lack of consultation with Indigenous communities. He said the way the current government has dealt with gun legislation is more “politically” and “ideologically” motivated than increasing community safety.

“It’s not that we have the perfect system and we shouldn’t do anything and there are no ways we should try to make changes or tweaks to improve the system,” he said. “It’s like the process that the government is using … is all about politics. It’s not really what it’s supposed to be about when it comes to keeping guns off the streets.”

Canada already has a strict gun control system, Chambers argued, saying legal gun owners are, by and large, law-abiding citizens trying to protect their gun privileges.

He said federal agencies did little to address the social roots of crime or prevent illegal firearms from entering the country, and that the changes brought about by the amendment did not address those issues.

For example, Chambers asked the government for data on illegal smuggling by railroad cars between 2018 and 2022.

“I asked the government (in) how many wagons that crossed the border found illegal, prohibited items at border crossings on trains in recent years, whether alcohol, tobacco, firearms,” ​​he said. “Between 2018 and 2021 the government confiscated absolutely zero items.”

The government has made four seizures on railroad cars in 2022 over alcohol, tobacco and illegal knives, but Chambers has expressed concern at the total lack of seizures over that four-year period.

“Are you telling me there wasn’t one? Couldn’t find one? That tells me they’re not looking,” he said. “The problem is our porous border and our inability to really thoroughly inspect the goods coming across the border, both at land crossings and by train.”

Chambers also questioned the government’s proposed arms buyback program through Bill C-21, arguing that those funds would be better spent fighting crime in communities.

“However, the government intends to spend hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars to buy firearms from people. They will spend money on it, but not devote more resources and no longer focus on the border, (or) on increased policing efforts for better coverage in our cities for gang-related activities, or on social support to prevent people from getting out getting involved with gangs,” he said.

“We only have a limited amount of resources, so we should be really careful about where we decide to spend them.”

Winkel had similar concerns.

“It seems like there’s a big disconnect between crime policy and current federal government firearms policy,” he said. “They (are not concerned with) … the root causes of the crime, they are simply trying to limit the proliferation of firearms.”

The government still intends to move forward with Bill C-21 without the amendment, which among other things will ban the sale of handguns in Canada.