Thank you, Madam Chair.
The previous regime is commonly referred to as the FAC, the firearms acquisition certificate system. That system had been in place for many years. It operated off a different system, the restricted weapons registration system, the RWRS.
The passage of the Firearms Act required the putting together of an entirely different system platform to support the new requirements of the Firearms Act, which of course moved from several hundred thousand handguns to what is now today over 7 million firearms of all types, plus universal licensing of everybody. Essentially the old system handled people coming in the door for the first time. There would be a check on their background and then it was issued. With the Firearms Act, everyone who wishes to acquire or use a firearm has to have a valid licence, which expires roughly every five years. It's a new system dealing with considerably greater volumes of transactions.