(Ottawa) The federal government must adopt more objective criteria to define assault weapons in order to avoid including certain hunting weapons, according to the Quebec Federation of Hunters and Fishermen. The assault weapons ban added to Bill C-21 last fall caused confusion and the government finally had to back down. He intends to return to the charge after a series of consultations.
“We don’t want assault weapons, we don’t need that person. That, we do not oppose. We are rather opposed to the wording, the way it is done, ”argued the president of the Federation, Marc Renaud, in an interview.
The government alienated hunters last fall by trying to broaden the scope of Bill C-21, which was originally intended to ban handguns. He had tabled two amendments after consultations in the parliamentary committee, which had caused an outcry. The first added specifications to the definition of a prohibited firearm and the other listed approximately 300 pages of models that would have been prohibited. Some weapons used for hunting were there.
“We are not the right target,” lamented Mr. Renaud. The Quebec Federation of Hunters and Anglers opposed these amendments. She met with the Minister of Public Security in January to try to get answers to her questions and shared her views in parliamentary committee on Tuesday. The amendments withdrawn in February are still subject to further consultation at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.
Mr. Renaud believes that the list put forward by the government was not developed based on objective criteria. “There is an aesthetic criterion, he lamented. There is a gun put in the list because of the way the butt is made. It may look like a military weapon, but in fact it is a 20 caliber. A weapon used in hunting for small game, hare even waterfowl. »
He proposes that the government first make the distinction between handguns and long guns in its definition before considering other criteria such as the loading mechanism or the capacity of the magazine.
If we agree on what an assault weapon is, we won’t have to work from lists.
Emily Vallée, communications coordinator for the Fédération québécoise des chasseurs during her testimony on Tuesday
She said she agreed with the new way of categorizing weapons proposed by the professor at Cégep de Trois-Rivières, Francis Langlois, who is also a member of the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. He suggests classifying them according to their handling and firing mechanism. They could then be grouped into sub-categories, according to their type and size, for example. “It will make more sense to ban some rather than others,” he said by email on Wednesday.
During his testimony before the parliamentary committee on February 17, he specified that the government should avoid the multiplication of lists to prevent certain models from being withdrawn in the event of a change of government. A list enshrined in legislation could not be updated regularly given the cumbersome parliamentary process, so the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would have to keep another one to add new models manufactured by the industry that would be prohibited.
“If there has to be a list, there has to be only one for everyone,” he said. In this way, ambiguities and confusion would be avoided. »
The group PolySeSouvient, which has been campaigning for an assault weapons ban since the 1989 École Polytechnique mass feminicide, is calling for both a “comprehensive and permanent definition” of assault weapons and a list.
“There are assault weapons that have different mechanisms and can only be listed through a case-by-case process where you look at military characteristics,” PolySeSouvient coordinator Heidi Rathjen said. in parliamentary committee on February 14.
This new round of consultation ends on Friday. For his part, Minister Mendicino has been increasing meetings since December with various groups representing Aboriginal communities, hunters, police officers and the families of victims. He then intends to return to the charge. A ban on assault weapons has already been imposed by executive order in 2020, but the Liberals promised to toughen it up in legislation during the last election campaign.