An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Firearms Act and the Contraventions Act (long guns)

This bill was last introduced in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session, which ended in March 2011.

Sponsor

Charlie Angus  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Oct. 8, 2010
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Criminal Code to remove the first time offence of possession of a firearm other than a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm without having registered that firearm under the Criminal Code. It clarifies that firearm possession proceedings under that Act do not abrogate or derogate from any existing rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada.
It also amends the Firearms Act to eliminate the fee for registration of a firearm that is neither a prohibited firearm nor a restricted firearm. It imposes more control on the release of records that are kept under that Act and that could be used to identify an individual, and ensures that the Chief Firearms Officer, in determining whether a person is eligible to hold a firearms licence, may review records relating to that person’s discharge from or unsuccessful application for membership in a law enforcement agency or the military.
Finally, it amends the Contraventions Act to designate a first time offence under section 112 of the Firearms Act as a contraventions offence for the purposes of the Contraventions Act.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Criminal CodeRoutine Proceedings

October 8th, 2010 / 12:05 p.m.
See context

NDP

Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-580, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Firearms Act and the Contraventions Act (long guns).

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in the House of Commons, representing the people of Timmins—James Bay, seconded by my colleague from Nickel Belt, and representatives of the rural caucus of the New Democratic Party, to introduce a bill that we feel will finally end the poisonous, divisive politics around gun policy in this country.

Specifically, the bill lays out a way to start moving forward with gun policy that respects the cultural rights of rural citizens. It ensures that rural citizens are not left to feel like criminals and it contains audit processes to ensure that Canadians are getting accountability for the dollars that are being spent. But also, and this is very important, we need to have gun policy in this country that ensures that guns are not able to get into the country and end up on the black market, guns that should never be classified as sports hunting guns, which are now getting in through some of the loopholes in the system, a gun such as the Ruger Mini-14. That is not something that a legitimate duck hunter or farmer would need.

We feel that unless we come together as parliamentarians to address gun policy in this country, we will continue to leave citizens at risk while creating further and further frustration in rural Canada.

We are very proud to present the bill. We are interested in working with our colleagues. This is the beginning, I believe, of a long-term consultation to move us off the politics of fear and move us towards the politics of developing good gun policy that respects Canadians and ensures that we have a progressive policy for guns in this country.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)