Ottawa, ON – Recently, Bill C-42, the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, received Royal Assent and was passed into law to remove needless red tape for law-abiding gun owners while also making it more difficult for offenders to own a firearm.
Bill C-42 was introduced in the House of Commons in October of 2014 by the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness. Specifically, the bill will do the following:
- Merge the Possession Only License (POL) and the Possession and Acquisition License (PAL);
- Restrict the ability of the Chief Firearms Officers to make arbitrary decisions;
- Create a grace period at the end of the five-year license to stop people from immediately becoming criminalized for paperwork errors;
- End the needless paperwork in regards to Authorizations to Transport by making these authorizations a condition of license;
- Require mandatory firearms safety course for first-time gun owners;
- Strengthening firearms prohibitions for those who are convicted of domestic violence offences.
"The Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act will go a long way to ensure that firearms licensing in Canada is as efficient and effective as possible," said Larry Miller, MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound. "This bill will instate common sense firearms policies that law-abiding gun owners have been calling for after a decade of flawed policy from previous governments. This bill eliminates needless red tape while also making it more difficult for those who break the law to own a gun. I am very pleased to see Bill C-42 passed into law."