Jack Ramsay

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 151

That Bill C-68, in Clause 110, be amended by deleting lines 12 and 13, on page 56.

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 114

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 80.

Motion No. 115

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 81.

Motion No. 116

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 82.

Motion No. 117

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 83.

Motion No. 118

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 84.

Motion No. 119

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 85.

Motion No. 120

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 86.

Motion No. 121

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 87.

Motion No. 122

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 88.

Motion No. 123

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 89.

Motion No. 124

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 90.

Motion No. 125

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 91.

Motion No. 126

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 92.

Motion No. 127

That Bill C-68, in Clause 93, be amended by replacing lines 22 to 24, on page 46, with the following:

"registration certificates and authorizations; and".

Motion No. 128

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 97.

Motion No. 129

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 98.

Motion No. 130

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 99.

Motion No. 131

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 100.

Motion No. 132

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 101.

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 30

That Bill C-68 be amended by deleting Clause 15.

Motion No. 31

That Bill C-68, in Clause 16 be amended by replacing lines 1 to 4, on page 13, with the following:

"16. (1) A registration certificate for a prohib-ited firearm or a restricted firearm may be issued to only one person.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in the case of a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm for which a registration certificate".

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 226

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended a ) by replacing line 32, on page 108, with the following:

"(2) Subject to subsection (3), in making regulations, the Governor in"; and b ) by adding after line 38, on page 108, the following:

"(3) The Governor in Council may not prescribe any handgun that is designed or adapted to discharge a .25 or .32 calibre cartridge to be a prohibited firearm."

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 160

That Bill C-68 be amended by adding after line 40, on page 59, the following new Clause:

"113.1 (1) Every person who, immediately before the coming into force of any of subsections 106(1), 106.2(1) and 106.4(1), possessed a firearm without a firearm acquisition certificate because a ) the person possessed the firearm before January 1, 1979, or b ) the firearm acquisition certificate under which the person had acquired the firearm had expired, shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection to be, until January 1, 2001 or such other date as is prescribed, the holder of a licence under which the person may possess the firearm.

(2) Every person who, immediately before the coming into force of any of subsections 106(1), 106.2(1) and 106.4(1), possessed a firearm and was the holder of a firearm acquisition certificate shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection to be, until January 1, 2001 or such other date as is prescribed, the holder of a licence under which the person may possess the firearm.

(3) Every person who, at any time between the coming into force of subsection 106(1), 106.2(1) or 106.4(1) and the later of January 1, 1998 and such other date as is prescribed, possesses a firearm that, as of that date, is not a prohibited firearm or a restricted firearm, shall be deemed for the purposes of that subsection to be, until January 1, 2003 or such other date as is prescribed, the holder of a registration certificate for that firearm."

Motion No. 168

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended by replacing lines 30 to 34, on page 69, with the following: a ) a handgun that has a barrel equal to or less than 105 mm in length''.

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 25

That Bill C-68, in Clause 12, be amended by replacing lines 19 to 20, on page 13, with the following:

"and for which on".

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 17

That Bill C-68, in Clause 7, be amended by replacing lines 39 to 42, on page 8, and lines 1 and 2, on page 9, with the following:

"dividual against whom a prohibition order was made merely because another person against whom a prohibition order was made cohabited with, or was an associate of, the individual."

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 15

That Bill C-68, in Clause 6, be amended a ) by replacing line 30, on page 6, with the following:

"6. A person is eligible to hold a licence"; and b ) by deleting lines 36 to 39, on page 6.

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

moved:

Motion No. 13

That Bill C-68, in Clause 5, be amended by replacing line 21, on page 5, with the following:

"safety of any other person, that the".

Motion No. 14

That Bill C-68, in Clause 5, be amended a ) by replacing line 13, on page 6, with the following:

"against any other person; or"; and b ) by replacing line 17, on page 6, with the following:

"other person."

Motion No. 38

That Bill C-68, in Clause 21, be amended by replacing lines 35 and 36, on page 16, with the following:

"desirable, in the interests of the safety of any other person, that the".

Motion No. 209

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended by replacing lines 23 and 24, on page 90, with the following:

"ble in the interests of the safety of any other person, to make an order".

Motion No. 211

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended by replacing lines 17 and 18, on page 91, with the following:

"the interests of the safety of any other".

Motion No. 217

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended a ) by replacing lines 40 and 41, on page 99, with the following:

"desirable in the interests of the safety of any other person, for the person"; b ) by replacing lines 4 and 5, on page 100, with the following:

"in the interests of the safety of any other person, for the person to possess any"; and c ) by replacing line 11, on page 100, with the following:

"safety of any other person, it".

Motion No. 219

That Bill C-68, in Clause 133, be amended by replacing lines 25 and 27, on page 101, with the following:

"interests of the safety of any other".

Motion No. 258

That Bill C-68, in Clause 147, be amended by replacing lines 41 and 42, on page 114, with the following:

"n the interests of the safety of any other person."

Motion No. 260

That Bill C-68, in Clause 151, be amended by replacing lines 4 and 5, on page 116, with the following:

"the interests of the safety of any other person, to include as a condition".

Motion No. 262

That Bill C-68, in Clause 169, be amended by replacing lines 21 and 22, on page 123, with the following:

"interests of the safety of any other person, to make an order prohibiting the".

[Firearms Act, June 12th, 1995]

Madam Speaker, I will just take a few minutes to address my amendment here. It has to do with the subject of decriminalizing the offences that are now in the Criminal Code.

If we look at sections 91 and 92, we see that the penalties under indictment of both of those sections are absolutely draconian. Section 92 allows for an individual who knowingly refuses or neglects to register his or her firearm to be sentenced to a term of ten years. Under section 91 if they proceed by way of indictment they can be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of five years.

There has been a new section put into the act at committee stage, I think it is 107.1, which makes it a summary conviction offence. However, the police will have the authority to arrest anyone in possession of a firearm under any of those sections, even the most draconian, which is under section 92. They can arrest them. It is an indictable offence. They can charge them, fingerprint them, and then they can reduce or withdraw the charge afterwards, while that person's fingerprints are on file.

We see the same kind of thing occurring to a certain degree under section 85 of the Criminal Code, where they lay charges against individuals for using a firearm in the commission of an offence and then later withdraw those charges as a plea bargaining tool. I see the same kind of power and authority being granted through these sections.

Therefore, the purpose of our amendments is to eliminate the draconian measures and penalties that are included in this bill. I might bring to everyone's attention that the idea of sentencing someone or making them liable to a penalty of ten years for

deliberately neglecting to register their .22 or their shotgun is absolutely absurd and unacceptable.

We all remember Mr. Lortie, who went into the Quebec assembly and murdered three people. He served ten years. To equate that kind of an act and that kind of punishment with the failure to register a rifle or a shotgun is to me beyond comprehension and absurd.

These amendments are designed to decriminalize offences where there is no mens rea involved, no intent and no overt act to endanger anyone. It is simply that they have failed, whether deliberately or inadvertently, to fulfil an administrative act, which is to register. It should not be a criminal offence and there should be no means whereby the police can arrest the person under those circumstances and have that person face an indictable offence where the punishment is as much as ten years or five years, depending on whether it is under section 92 or 91 of this act.

Those are my comments on that.