Mr. Speaker, the safety course the government has forced law-abiding responsible firearms owners in British Columbia to take is no more than a Liberal anti-gun re-education exercise.
There was no need for the federal government to spend over $7 million on yet another level of bureaucracy of firearms instruction. The British Columbia conservation outdoor recreation education course offers students the ability to shoot a gun and learn with firsthand experience the proper way to handle a firearm, including the significance of safety concerns and the difficulties of hitting a target. The federal course does not even do that.
My constituents compare the federal course to teaching individuals to drive a car without ever allowing them behind the wheel. The RCMP has backed away from the Liberal gun registry. Public safety and fighting crime have not been the priorities of the government's firearms laws. These laws are causing great hardship to hunters and families who need firearms to protect themselves and live safely in remote areas of our country.
Sixty-eight years of handgun registration did nothing for public safety and neither does this firearms safety course.