Public Safety committee  I can tell from my past experience as a law enforcement officer whether it was one round, five rounds or 50 rounds. I didn't want to look at any of those. To say there's going to be something visual for a law enforcement officer to base his risk assessment on in the situation is

Public Safety committee  That falls under the licensing aspects for private individuals, making sure that the licensing processes are in place and that these individuals are fully vetted and firearms owners get vetted daily.

Public Safety committee  Yes, there are lots of deterrents in there, but it comes down to accountability. If we're going to water down offences and punishments for those who contravene the law, then we're losing part of that. If there's no deterrent and there are no repercussions, there's no accountabili

Public Safety committee  On the subject of high-capacity magazines, they were prohibited back in 1993. That's when the magazine capacity limits were brought into legislation, so they are prohibited and they have been since 1993.

Public Safety committee  It can be a factor, absolutely, in dealing with a situation. I'm trying to answer your question on if they're already at five rounds. What are you saying?

Public Safety committee  But that is already in place.

Public Safety committee  That is in the U.S. You used U.S. statistics. We live in Canada.

Public Safety committee  The base platform for this firearm was already designed. It wasn't something new. It's based off a non-restricted firearm that is already in the Canadian market.

Public Safety committee  This rifle is a non-restricted platform. It conforms with the sport shooting market and with varmint hunters' and many shooters' requirements in Canada.

Public Safety committee  Just to pre-empt that, high-capacity magazines were banned back in 1993, which was one of the points of that CTV news broadcast, namely that high-capacity magazines are still readily available. Getting back to modifications, it all depends on how that magazine was modified as to

Public Safety committee  I don't have anything specific from my time in law enforcement, but listening to what my colleague just said about 80% being smuggled, it makes one wonder how a handgun ban would be effective if 80% of the firearms seized were smuggled illegally into the country to start with.

Public Safety committee  Off the top of my head, I'm not aware of any who I have personally dealt with.

Public Safety committee  I would say that the root cause is coming from the gang side, the criminal activity, not the legal firearms owner.

Public Safety committee  Okay. I'm sorry about that. Quite simply, no: History is starting to show that with the legislation that's already in place and how ineffective it's been. That's why I'm saying get to the root cause of the issues, not the objects that we're dealing with, like the border securit

Public Safety committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. My most important last thought is to get to the root cause and to work together to have common-sense regulations that can be enforced and keep Canadians safe.