Collateral damage
National Post ---Editorial---January 03, 2001
No doubt many Canadians believe Ottawa's gun control policy, ill-conceived and mismanaged though it may be, is of interest only to those Canadians who actually own guns. That the Jan. 1, 2001, deadline for applying for a gun licence has made law-breakers of millions of Canadian gun-owners may be of little concern to the majority who do not own guns. And yet Ottawa's attempt at gun regulation has implications that touch all Canadians. The new gun control provisions threaten many of the civil liberties we -- gun-owners and non-owners alike -- take for granted.
For one thing, Ottawa is doing away with the need for search warrants and the protection of private property under certain circumstances. The Firearms Act allows firearms officials to enter any private property that is not specifically a home to search for guns. They may also search computers they come across. Furthermore, property owners are compelled to assist the officers in turning their own private property inside out. All this in the name of gun control.
A further threat to Canadians' traditional legal rights can be found in the Act's treatment of the burden of proof. If a prospective gun owner is rejected for a gun licence, it says: "[T]he burden of proof is on the applicant ... to satisfy the provincial court judge." So much for innocent until proven guilty.
Given the threat the new gun control law poses to all Canadians, it is worth asking what good it will achieve. Advocates suggest the new gun registry and licensing procedures will allow officers to screen gun owners. And yet this was already possible under the old Firearms Acquisition Certificate system, and in a manner that was far less threatening to all Canadians. As well, it scarcely needs be repeated here that criminals, the purported target of this legislation, tend to acquire their guns by means other than legitimate purchases, and so will escape the provisions of this new law.
While law-abiding gun owners bear the greatest burden of Ottawa's firearms regulations, everyone will inevitably suffer from the infringement of rights and freedoms it entails. That it will do nothing to prevent criminals from using guns is just more salt in the wound. |
