Hunters balk at extension of immunity
By FRANK DOBROVNIK, The Sault Star
The federal government continues to draw fire from hunters and sport shooters, who have only four days left to apply for a licence, despite a reprieve. The Department of Justice Canada announced last week that owners who apply for a firearms licence but don't receive it by the Jan. 1 deadline have until June 30 before they face legal repercussions.
But the president of the St. Joseph's Island Hunters and Anglers Association calls that ``a drop in the bucket'' considering the backlog of applications the Canadian Firearms Centre currently faces. Steve Elliott says at current staffing levels, the CFC can process only about 8,000 applications a month.
``At that rate, it's going to take 30 years, so extending it six months _ thank you very much,'' Elliott said. ``They're just not making a lot of people criminals for another six months . . . whereas the people that this is intended to stop are never going to register their weapons anyway.''
Elliott said most of the association's approximately 275 members he has spoken to have already applied for a possession-only or possession and acquisition licence. But how many have received them is another story. Seven months after phoning to get an application, Elliott is still waiting.
CFC spokesperson Janet Long confirmed Wednesday ``There is a backlog of applications coming in,'' because a rush of applications are being received in the days leading up to deadline.
The CFC estimates approximately 1.8 million owners have applied for and/or received licences to own guns so far _ despite estimating in April only 1.6 million owners are out there.
But that still doesn't mean they're doing it willingly.
Elliott says most hunters and sport shooters he knows have grudgingly accepted that this ``wrong-headed legislation'' will soon be a reality in Canada, despite a strong local protest vote at last month's federal elections.
MP Brent St. Denis hung on to his seat in the Algoma-Manitoulin riding but garnered only 27.4 per cent of the vote at St. Joseph's Island's polling stations, second to the Canadian Alliance candidate Ron Swain with 49.4 per cent of the vote.
``We're going to have a Liberal government for as far as the eye can see. This is going to be the law of the land, so it's better to at least get a possession certificate,'' he said, calling the licensing and registering of firearms nothing but ``a convoluted way to get money out of hunters and sport shooters.''
The government has passed several initiatives over the last several months to entice people to apply. Transfer fees of $25 were waived from June 10 to Dec. 31, and a reduced licence fee of $10 that was set to jump to $60 on Oct. 15 was also extended to the end of the year.
The second phase of the Firearms Act takes effect in 2003, when owners must have registered all their weapons |
