CUFOA

Canadian Unlicensed Firearms Owners Association
Association canadienne des propriétaires d’armes sans permis

The Firearms Act, chapter 39, section 117, Statues of Canada -1995; p. 54 declares:

The Governor in Council may make regulations
     (a) regarding the issuance of licenses, ... and prescribing the circumstances in which persons are or
          are not eligible to hold licences; ...
     (c) prescribing the circumstances in which an individual does
          or does not need firearms
               (1) to protect the life of that individual, ... .

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

Candice Hoeppner, MP, CPC, Portage—Lisgar
886 Thornhill Street Unit E
Morden, Manitoba R6M 2E1

Dear Ms. Hoeppner,

Re: Stop the Diversion; Address the Real Problem; Repeal Licensing

While many firearms organizations have loudly applauded your Private Member’s Bill C-391 to scrap the long gun registry, compared to the real problem firearms owners face, the registration of long-guns is but a very minor irritant. The true evil of the Firearms Act is the licensing mandate.

Unlike the registration of a firearm, the licensing of firearms owners is much more than an inconvenient bureaucratic hassle. Licensing demands that honest, responsible citizens must seek the federal government’s permission to possess a firearm. The provisions of the licensing offenses of Criminal Code ss. 91(1) and 92(1) “Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm”, which can send a person to prison for ten years for the mere possession of a firearm without a licence, combined with the very serious ramifications of s. 117 of the Firearms Act – the government’s power to deny anyone a licence - demonstrates the deadly effect of the licensing mandate of the Firearms Act.

Some obscure bureaucrat in Ottawa or Miramichi now decides whether to allow responsible citizens to own a firearm to defend themselves, their family, or their property. Licensing thus obliterates an ancient, innate, inalienable British Right – the Right to have ‘Armes for their Defense’ – a Right recognized in the English Declaration of Rights of 1689. Armed self-protection has been a vital part of the Common Law of Great Britain and Canada for two and a half centuries until the United Kingdom began the destruction of this Right by licensing firearms owners after World War I with their Firearms Act.

World history – and present-day events - has conclusively shown that citizens have more to fear from their governments than from criminals. To demand that we must ask permission from the government to defend ourselves against the government is totally illogical. Thus licensing – the registration of responsible citizens - is what our Conservative Government should to be striving to repeal.

While your more senior Conservative parliamentary colleagues toiled as the Official Opposition they recognized the insanity and the inherent wickedness of licensing. For over twelve years while Yorkton MP Garry Breitkreuz diligently served Canadians as the official Firearms Critic, Mr. Breitkreuz courageously demanded the repeal of the entire Firearms Act. In a very pertinent letter posted in January 2004 Mr. Breitkreuz emphatically admonished then Prime Minister Paul Martin not to imprudently flirt with an ineffectual, partial solution to a deadly problem:

Because the gun registry was a purely political priority dreamed up by your predecessor, you may be inclined to try and find a political solution rather than the logical one. A purely political solution might be to announce you’re scrapping the gun registration component but leaving everything else that is bad about your firearms program in place. This would be a costly mistake, … .

Unfortunately for Canada, Mr. Martin refused to heed sound reasoning.

But Mr. Martin’s fallacious plan is now the very action that Mr. Harper has illogically chosen to endorse. Instead of demonstrating strength of character by implementing sound policy, Mr. Harper relegated Mr. Breitkreuz to the backbenches. Shortly thereafter Mr. Harper injudiciously began espousing “enhanced licensing”. The Conservatives’ official Party line has now absurdly morphed into Mr. Harper’s deceptive cry of “scrap the long-gun registry”.

Ms. Hoeppner, help stop this charade; withdraw your Bill. We ask for your wholehearted assistance in calling upon Mr. Harper and your true Conservative colleagues to honour their promises, and to, as you so correctly said, “refocus on the criminals." I trust we can count on your support in the real fight, the fight to repeal the licensing of responsible citizens.

Sincerely,

Edward B. Hudson DVM, MS
Secretary

CC: The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
       The Honounable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety
       Conservative Senators and Members of Parliament
       National Council of the Conservative Party of Canada

Enclosures:
1. The Conservatives’ Promises to Firearms Owners
2. The Whole Firearms Act Has to Go – Not Just the Gun Registry, Garry Breitkreuz, 2004
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/Article217.htm
3. Gun Registry Fails All Seven of Prime Minster Martin's Tests, Garry Breitkreuz, 2003
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/Article213.htm

Canadian Unlicensed Firearms Owners Association
Association canadienne des propriétaries sans permis
402 Skeena Court Saskatoon
Saskatchewan S7K 4H2
(306) 242-2379 (306) 230-8929
edwardhudson@shaw.ca
www.cufoa.ca

The Conservatives’ Promises to Firearms Owners

Mr. Harper’s Promise to Repeal Bill C-68

I was and still am in total agreement with the statement made in the House of Commons by former Reform Leader Preston Manning on 13 June 1995:

Bill C-68, if passed into law will not be a good law. It will be a blight on the legislative record of the government, a law that fails the three great tests of constitutionality, of effectiveness and of democratic consent to f the governed. What should be the fate of a bad a law? It should be repealed ... .

Bill C-68 [The Firearms Act] has proven to be a bad law and has created a bureaucratic nightmare for both gun owners and the government. As Leader of the Official Opposition, I will use all powers afforded to me as Leader and continue our party’s fight to repeal Bill C-68 and replace it with a firearms control system that is cost effective and respects the rights of Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly.
- Stephen Harper, January 2002

The Conservative Party of Canada Policy Declaration

As approved by the CPC Montréal Convention, 19 March 2005
81. Firearms -- A Conservative Government will repeal Canada’s costly gun registry legislation and work with the provinces and territories on cost-effective gun control programs designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals while respecting the rights of law-abiding Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly. Measures will include: mandatory minimum sentences for the criminal use of firearms; strict monitoring of high-risk individuals; crackdown on the smuggling; safe storage provisions; firearms safety training; a certification screening system for all those wishing to acquire firearms legally; and putting more law enforcement officers on our streets.

The Promise of the Conservatives while Serving as the Loyal Opposition

“There is only one to fix this mess and that is to elect a Conservative government. We promise to repeal Bill C-68 and return the gun laws to the way they were before 1995. Then I personally promise that I will start the task of fixing all the flaws in federal firearm laws by requiring that they be subjected to a public safety test administered by the Auditor General of Canada. My proposal includes a sunset clause on all gun control laws that have been proven by the Auditor General not to be cost effective at reducing the criminal use of firearms and improving public safety.”
- Garry Breitkreuz, M.P., Yorkton-Melville (SK), Conservative Firearms Critic, 08 July 2005

Register Criminals, NOT Duck Hunters

Garry Breitkreuz, MP, 25 February 2004