Public Safety committee  It has been prepared. It is being vetted through our approval process to be able to forward it to the committee.

Public Safety committee  If you didn't list it as a shotgun and rifle, it's going to apply to all firearms, which would include handguns. I believe Mr. Smith probably has something else to add.

Public Safety committee  I think perhaps the best way to go about explaining G-4 is to step back a little and perhaps discuss how firearms are prohibited through the Criminal Code. Section 84 of the Criminal Code sets out a definition of a prohibited firearm and lists some physical characteristics. It also has an ability to prescribe firearms as being prohibited.

Public Safety committee  No, that's good.

Public Safety committee  Could I interject one more clarification? As Mr. Smith has indicated, the firearms reference table is a law enforcement tool, and the classification determinations made by the Canadian firearms program are not legal determinations. They are simply tools that are available to law enforcement to help law enforcement determine whether or not a specific firearm is restricted, non-restricted or prohibited.

Public Safety committee  I can make a point of clarification. When the schedule or the definition in paragraph (g) comes into force by order in council, at that point.... When the May 1, 2020 OIC came into effect, there was an amnesty order. The delayed coming into force of paragraph (g) and the schedule in paragraph (i) would give the government an opportunity to decide how to proceed with these firearms.

Public Safety committee  In the schedule, where it uses the term “variant”, that would be a new firearm that is a variant of any of the firearms that are listed in the schedule. It would be captured and would be prohibited. There's also the definition in paragraph (g), which may capture future firearms that are not listed in the schedule but that meet the definition with the characteristics that are set out in (g).

Public Safety committee  Classifying a firearm as “prohibited” means it is prohibited for everybody within Canada, including, for instance, those coming in from the U.S. to hunt as a form of tourism. It applies to any group that uses these firearms as part of a business. It applies to everybody in Canada.

Public Safety committee  When the Benelli was prescribed as prohibited in the 1990s, there were firearms that were exempted from that definition, and that was the decision made at a political level: to exempt these makes and models from the prohibition.

Public Safety committee  You're correct.

Public Safety committee  I agree with that statement.

Public Safety committee  My response would be that this is a motion put before the committee. The committee and Parliament have the ability to modify the wording of the proposed definition. This is something to be debated and passed by Parliament. Should an amendment to the definition be agreed upon by Parliament, that is a decision that could be made at the political level.

Public Safety committee  Could I clarify the drafting of the provision as well?

Public Safety committee  There seems to be a misunderstanding that the “designed to accept” a cartridge magazine means that it applies to any cartridge magazine over five. The phrasing of the provision says “greater than five cartridges”, and then what follows afterward says “of the type for which the firearm was originally designed”.

Public Safety committee  It says, "a firearm that is a rifle or shotgun", and then it goes on to say, “that is capable of discharging centre-fire ammunition in a semi-automatic manner”. Then the third requirement is that the firearm “is designed to accept a detachable...magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges”.