Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the SECU committee. I'm Tony Bernardo, the executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. I have been asked to testify to this committee with regard to the technical aspects of this bill. I also wish to provide some backgr

Public Safety committee  Yes, I can. First of all...[Technical difficulty—Editor]...500 feet per second, 495 feet per second, is an accepted world standard. Virtually every country in the world says that if it's over that, it's a firearm and if it's under that, it's a BB gun. Even in places like England

Public Safety committee  I'd like to say, sir, that “high-velocity air guns” that are being referred to here are already considered firearms in Canadian law, and they require a licence to purchase. The committee that was struck to deal with these air gun laws took previous laws in Canada and coordinate

Public Safety committee  Thank you. I'm Tony Bernardo. I'm the executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. I'm a member of the Canadian firearms advisory committee, from Anne McLellan to Steven Blaney continuously and a member of Anne McLellan's firearms experts technical committee.

Public Safety committee  This is very significant, Mr. Motz. Thank you for asking this because, you see, the licence verification requires that it happen for each firearm. If I'm selling you a firearm, we go through this licence verification thing. If I'm selling you three at the same time, we have to do

Public Safety committee  Okay. I would suggest a panel of experts, not just the RCMP. The RCMP has a vested interest in doing what it does, but there are other expert opinions, and many of them are more expert than the RCMP by a considerable margin. They should have input into this process. Then when a d

Public Safety committee  The answer is clearly yes. Section 102 of the existing Firearms Act gives the inspector access to any record to copy or duplicate, access to electronic records, everything. An inspector could walk into a gun store right now today and say, “I want all your records.” This doesn't c

Public Safety committee  Yes it is. Are we now going to model our gun laws after the U.S.?

Public Safety committee  Because clearly, they have some that aren't working, so let's flip this back around.

Public Safety committee  Yes, they do. When they go to a store, and they have to do the ATF forms and the waiting periods and everything that most people don't know they have to do, yes, they view it as a registry, that ATF is collecting this data, which of course, they are.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. Of course they do warranties and things like that, but those records belong to the business, not the federal government. That's the difference.

Public Safety committee  It doesn't have to be a warrant. I just explained that section 102 allows a chief firearms officer inspector access to the records anytime, 24-7. They can walk in the store and say, “Let me see the records.”

Public Safety committee  For the purposes of whatever they want. There are no purposes defined. They walk in and say, “We're photocopying every single record you have. We're taking your computer with us.” They can do that now.

Public Safety committee  That's what I'm saying, yes. They can do that. There's no—

Public Safety committee  Right. Then how can you tell me they need a warrant? They don't need a warrant.