Chair, again, this goes back to adding the authority-to-transport clauses for gunsmiths and ranges as they were previously and for gun shops and gun shows. I understand why open-ended transportation permits for anyone would be an issue. For those who receive a firearms licence, however, who we understand are already subject to daily scrutiny, as has been identified, they can have their property seized by police much more readily than regular members of society, despite not being the problem. As we know, gangs and guns, drug issues, and violent criminals are the problem. It would stand to reason that restricting the straightforward and legal necessary transportation of a firearm to a gunsmith, a gun shop, or a gun show would continue to be a reasonable measure and would offer no significant risk to the public.
Now, from experience, I can tell you that I have on occasion stopped vehicles that were transporting firearms. Law-abiding gun owners, in all the circumstances that I recall, advised me upon my approaching that vehicle that they were licensed gun owners and had a firearm in their vehicle, and they advised me of where they were coming from and where they were going. They posed no threat to me, and they certainly posed no threat to anyone else in the public from that perspective. In most circumstances, I didn't see the firearms, because they were either in the trunk or secured in another location in the vehicle. In all circumstances, their triggers were locked, the guns were in a locked case, and they were not readily available to be seen by members of the public.
I am at a loss to understand any rationale from a public safety perspective, as indicated before, as to why the ATTs should be reduced at all. We already know that individuals and licensed businesses are subject to significant criminal sanctions if they break the rules. We know that if a gun shop sells a firearm to someone who doesn't have a PAL, if they sell it illegally, they could face up to five years in jail. A legal expert told us at committee that individuals and businesses are subject to gun-related offences should they not follow the rules.
It's unfortunate.... We have an opportunity here to maybe even endear this to some of our law-abiding firearms owners who have been ranting, appropriately so, against this particular bill, for them to recognize there's some reasonableness behind it. To me, reinstating some of the authorities to transport in this legislation provides at least a level of reasonableness that the law-abiding gun owners in this country are looking for from the current government.