Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 11:31:25 -0600 (CST) From: "David A. Tomlinson" Subject: NFA "Public Agents Firearms Regulations Comments (1) Order in Council JUS-97-547-01 "PUBLIC AGENTS FIREARMS REGULATIONS" defines "public agent" as "any of the following persons in the course of their duties or for the purposes of their employment: (i) peace officers..." I wonder if they have any idea how broad that term "peace officer" ACTUALLY is? Criminal Code section [CC s.] 2 defines "peace officer" as (a) a mayor, warden, reeve, sheriff, deputy sheriff, sheriff's officer and justice of the peace, (b) ...a warden, deputy warden, instructor, keeper, jailer, guard and any other officer or permanent employee [including the cook! -- DAT] of a prison..., (c) a police officer, police constable, bailiff, constable or other person employed for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process, (d) an officer or a person having the powers of a customs or excise officer when performing any duty in the administration of the Customs Act or the Excise Act, (e) a person designated as a fishery guardian...and...a fishery officer..., (f) the pilot in command of an aircraft...while the aircraft is in flight, (g) officers and non-commissioned members of the Canadian Forces who are (special circumstances). So, as I go on, bear in mind that this all applies to the mayor of your village... "Public agent" also includes "(ii) persons training to become police officers OR peace officers under the control...of a police force or police academy..., (iii) persons...prescribed by the regulations [see C-68 CC s. 117.07 "Exempted persons]; (iv) chief firearms officers and firearms officers; and (v) an individual acting on behalf of, and under the authority of, a police force or a[ny] department of the government of Canada or a province." Public service agency firearms are divided into "agency firearms" used by agents and "protected firearms" NOT used by agents [for example, your firearm being held by police pending the arrival of the registration cerificate]. Regulation 3 says that a "public service agency" (defined as "a police force, a department or agency of the public service of Canada or of a province or municipality, a police academy or other public agency** that employs or has under its authority public agents)... **[WHY do they keep using the words they are defining as PART OF THE DEFINITION? It is INSANE! -- DAT] Right. Back to number 3: "(1) A public service agency and a public agent SHALL store firearms when not in use by a public agent in a container, receptacle, vault, safe or room that is kept securely locked and that is constructed so that it cannot be readily broken open or into." Of course, the firearm can be taken OUT of storage at any time and for any purpose, including cleaning, admiring, showing to a friend, or protection of human life from criminal violence... just as our firearms can. 3(2) says that if a public agent is storing in a home, the rules for storing in a home by individuals apply. That means the firearm must then be stored UNLOADED -- but it is noteworthy that none of the other regulations in this set require stored guns to be UNLOADED. Is it SAFE for an "agency" to store LOADED firearms? 3(3) says that a "peace officer" [a mayor?] may store an "agency firearm" at home as directed in writing by "a person in authority designated by the public service agency" [the mayor?]. 3(4) says that the agency must specify storage rules that are "reasonably safe" for periods when the firearm is not in use. Heaven knows what "reasonably safe" means. 4 says that the rules for "prohibited devices, prohibited weapons, restricted weapons, and prohibited ammunition" storage "when not in use" are the same rules set for firearms in 3(1). UNLOADING before putting into storage is not required. 5 requires each "public service agency" to ensure that each armed public agent "receives [appropriate] training" before "storing, transporting, handling or using them." No levels of training are specified; the Liberals apparently are VERY trusting when dealing with a "public agency," just as they are VERY untrusting when dealing with honest firearms owners. Liberals are VERY naive. 6(1) requires every "public service agency" to get an "agency identification number." 6(2) requires the agency to notify the Registrar of any change of its name or address "within 30 days." 7(1)(a) requires the Registrar to issue an "agency identification number" to the agency if it asks for one, or reports that it has a firearm. 7(1)(b) requires the Registrar to issue a "firearms identification number" [FIN] to the agency for each firearm that it has -- unless the firearm already has one. 7(2) requires the Registrar to send a "sticky" with the FIN on it if the firearm's serial number is inadequate to identify it. 8(1) requires each agency to "provide the Registrar within one year" with "its name and agency identification number as well as a complete inventory of [its agency and protected] firearms." 8(2) requires each agency to give the Registrar Make, Manufacturer, Model, Type, Action, Calibre, Barrel length, Shots and Serial number data for each firearm. 8(3) exempts a "firearm [owned by the agency, which does not have a serial number sufficient to distinguish it from its littermates] kept for the EXCLUSIVE use of public officers envolved in covert operations" from being made identifiable. All others must be stamped or engraved with the FIN. That is a precursor to making every private citizen stamp the FIN into every firearm he or she owns. "The government agencies have to do it to THEIR firearms, so YOU have to do it to YOUR engraved mint-condition nickel-plated Model 1873 Colt Single-action Army that used to belong to Teddy Roosevelt." AAAAaaaaarrghhh! 8(4) requires the agency to attach "stickies" to "protected firearms" - -- to firearms that do not BELONG to the agency. THAT is going to cause lawsuits. 9 requires the agency to register firearms with the Registrar as if it were a person. 10 requires the agency to report every "protected firearm" that it acquires, within 30 days. (Gun stores must report acquisitions within 48 HOURS. Why the difference? Just favoritism? Probably. Or is it just recognition of agency inefficiency?) 10(3) requires attaching the "sticky" to a "protected firearm" by placing it on "the frame or receiver in a visible place." Neat trick - -- many firearms do not HAVE a "frame or receiver." Try and find the "frame or receiver" of a cap-and-ball rifle! And how well does their "sticky" adhere to teflon/plastic/steel/nickel/chromium? 12 requires the agency to "advise the Registrar" if a firearm is modified enough to change its class, within 30 days. Of course, if the firearm is always modified BACK within that 30 days, NO notification is ever required that it was once (or often!) a "prohibited firearm." 14 and 15 require the agency to notify the Registrar of firearms importation or exportation "within 30 days thereafter." Firearms community dealers and individuals must report such transactions BEFORE importing or exporting. 16 forbids every agency to create public funds by selling any firearm to anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. A firearm can be "offered" to the Chief Firearms Officer or the Registrar -- but not to a museum, or offered for sale. That is destruction of valuable public property in order to satisfy the paranoia of the Department of Justice. It is state-supported vandalism. It is also more than a little witless, and demonstrates the lack of care regarding the conservation of public funds that has characterized our federal governments for far too long a period. 17 says that every "public agent who convtravenes subsections 3(1) to (3) or section 4 [the STORAGE rules -- DAT] commits an offence." Fascinating. No rules about vandalizing "protected firearms" held by the agency. No rules about improper use by the agency. Just the usual witless obsession with "storage" violations. Does anyone in the Department of Justice -- yes, and I include YOU, Anne McLellan -- realize that storage rules are the LEAST effective technique that can be applied to the problem of firearms safety? Storage rules frequently have no effect because the person who does something wrong or stupid with the firearm is usually the person who is in legitimate possession of the KEYS to the storage system. In most other cases, it is a member of the family who gains access to the keys -- and how many of us are so untrusting of our own families that we can -- or will -- treat them as suspects? Lord, I wish that the Department of Justice had someone in charge who could look at all this costly nonsense and judge its effects in the REAL world. Dave Tomlinson, NFA FOCUS: This is going to COST, and it cannot be made COST-EFFECTIVE. Just LOOK at the blizzard of paper, the new "number" systems, the opportunities for administrative error inherent in this enormous bureaucracy -- the COST, and the clear lack of any valuable BENEFIT.