Public Safety committee  I am not in a position to answer that. Firearms possession and acquisition licences are managed by the federal government. Unfortunately, I do not have any data on these licences. However, most hunters who buy licences hold a firearms possession and acquisition licence, or the owner of the firearm must be nearby.

Public Safety committee  That is correct.

Public Safety committee  Initially, we have to work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to issue permits if people have obtained firearms legally. However, if the firearms are illegal, that is a criminal matter. So we do not need an amended bill that harms hunters and sport shooters when the problem is one of crime.

Public Safety committee  You can buy ammunition or firearms legally, according to the legal rules that already exist in Canada. If a firearm, assembled piece by piece, becomes an illegal firearm, the owner does not have the right to possess it. It is an illegal firearm, and hunters are not in possession of illegal firearms.

Public Safety committee  I would say that yes, we could remove the notion of “fusil de chasse”, but also the word “conçu”, because that word leads to interpretation problems. We could add “certaines armes”, that are used for hunting by certain people. I agree that the terms “fusil de chasse” and “est conçu” are not very clear.

Public Safety committee  I wholeheartedly agree. We were surprised by these amendments because laws already exist. That is why this should be very clear if the government is going to propose new amendments. I completely agree with you. This already exists. Is it necessary? It remains to be seen.

Public Safety committee  Obviously, we feel it is very important that we be consulted. We will always be concerned about crime, both as individuals and as an association. However, what is the real objective or target of these amendments and Bill C‑21? Clearly, legitimate gun owners are not the target. That is likely not the problem.

Public Safety committee  We have 125,000 members and there are 220 member associations in Quebec, not counting all of the community partners. We therefore have a large group of members.

Public Safety committee  If I understand correctly, you are asking us whether, like the federal Minister of Public Safety, we are concerned about the number of people who are taking firearms safety courses. That is not the case. I am not concerned. That is a sign that Canadians care about using firearms safely.

Public Safety committee  Yes, we know that there are classes of prohibited weapons. Large-capacity assault weapons are already prohibited in Canada. That is why—

Public Safety committee  The amendments do not refer to semi-automatic weapons with a cartridge magazine that can hold more than five cartridges because they are already prohibited. However, they do talk about weapons designed to hold such cartridge magazines. There is a risk that many hunting weapons that are already regulated in terms of magazine cartridge capacity will be included, while military weapons will be excluded.

Public Safety committee  The best person to answer that question is Ms. Vallée since she is part of the communications team.

Public Safety committee  That's correct.

Public Safety committee  We were not consulted before the amendments were presented. When we saw the amendments, we asked to be heard and consulted. That is why we are saying that, even if the amendments come back in another form in the future, all of our members must be consulted.

Public Safety committee  I will start and I'm sure Ms. Vallée will have comments to add. The notions of prohibited weapons, restricted weapons and long guns already exist. Is it necessary to go that far? Would that make the amendments clearer? We can already clarify what the amendment says about firearms designed as military or large-capacity firearms.