Public Safety committee  Thank you very much for the question. This motion would impose a requirement on individuals to have a valid firearms licence to import a firearm part. It specifies that an individual must, at the time of importation, have a valid firearms licence. It must be presented to a customs officer in order to import the firearm part, and the licence must be shown to a customs officer.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Sure. For example, somebody is going to the United States, and when they are there they go and buy a handgun barrel as a part. For example, they have maybe a specialized firearm, and they need a barrel. As they come across the border they would declare, “I am bringing in a handgun barrel”, in the same way that if you bring firearms into Canada you must declare them upon entry into Canada.

Public Safety committee  The same would apply if you apply by mail. When you go to pick it up, anything that you require a permit for.... Let's say you were ordering a firearm online. When you were to go and pick it up, you would have to show your firearms licence. You would have to confirm that you have a valid firearms licence in order to pick up your firearm.

Public Safety committee  This would be up to our colleagues at the Canada Border Services Agency to apply, and they would apply the same process as they do for the importation of firearms in terms of verifying that people have a valid licence. It would extend to firearms parts that are defined as barrels and handgun slides.

Public Safety committee  I can't comment on the questions of compliance or non-compliance with the CBSA. I can tell you how it would be applied generally, and it would be the same process as for firearms.

Public Safety committee  With regard to the trafficking of firearms and measures that are included in the bill, I will refer to materials that are available online with regard to measures that are going to strengthen with regard to trafficking. However, this specific motion has to do with addressing certain firearm parts that go into the manufacturing of illegal firearms or ghost guns—these are the parts that people don't necessarily make with a 3-D printer; they will go and buy these parts—and trying to prevent their entry into Canada.

Public Safety committee  The French term is "chargeur." In English, it's a cartridge magazine.

Public Safety committee  What identification number it means could not be clearly determined, so it would lack clarity. I would also like to point out that the government announced last week that it intends to make regulatory amendments to require that there be a Firearms Reference Table reference number.

Public Safety committee  Thank you for the question. I needs to specify what identification number it is referring to. The amendment doesn't define what a Royal Canadian Mounted Police identification number is. If I understand correctly, it means the identification number for the make and model corresponding to the one in the Firearms Reference Table.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  In fact, if the individual has self-declared and surrendered their firearms, they can tell their attending physician. If the physician then checks with the authorities, they will be able to see that the firearms have been proactively surrendered.

Public Safety committee  I think we are talking here about someone whose underlying reason for self-declaring is perhaps not common. We are talking about mental health, but there may be other situations where self-declaring might be justified. It might be someone who themself declares proactively that they should not have firearms at home, for their safety and the safety of their family and friends, and decides to remove them temporarily.

Public Safety committee  I would point to the first sentence where we say that it has the meaning assigned in the regulations. That would give the government time to develop and propose the regulations, consult and define exactly the types of competent authorities and types of orders. That second clause would sort of signify the intent of the legislature to say what kinds of orders and protection orders are captured by the regulations.

Public Safety committee  Again, that's outside of my personal scope of expertise, but I would rely on the fact that, if the government were to develop regulations, those questions would be answered and the meaning of competent authority would be sorted out.