PUBLICATION:        The Moncton Times and Transcript

DATE:                         2004.11.16

SECTION:                  Opinion/Editorial

PAGE:                         B8

COLUMN:                  Everett Mosher

BYLINE:                     Everett Mosher Outdoor Life

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More hassles with licensing of firearms

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The federal government has found itself in a bit of a bind regarding the licensing of firearm owners. As most owners are aware, the possession only licence (POL) was issued to adults 18 years of age or older that on Dec. 1, 1998, owned one or more firearms, but did not anticipate acquiring more. The cutoff date for this licence was Dec. 31, 2000. After that, no more POLs would be issued, although those firearm owners that had by then obtained a POL can have their POL renewed every five years, for the rest of their life. The catch was that a great many waited until the last minute to apply just prior to Dec.31, 2000, with the result that there was a tremendous backlog that took months to clear. To prevent a reoccurrence of this, the Canadian Firearms Centre is extending the renewal deadline for the over 770,000 holders of a POL.

By this time, extension notices have been mailed out to most of those selected in central and western Canada. In the Atlantic provinces those selected will receive their extension notices later this month, or no later that early December. Not everyone will receive this extension, since only 770,000 out of the 1.3 million POL holders have been extended. It's understood that a sticker to be affixed to a persons POL card accompanies the extension notice.

Its always been a mystery to many why those currently with a POL and owning firearms must take the Federal Firearm Safety course and obtain a Possession and Acquisition Licence in order to purchase another firearm. Bill C-68 is supposedly about public safety, but it's hard to understand why someone currently owning firearms would suddenly become less safe by purchasing one more firearm.

It would save a whole lot of money, not to mention a great deal of hassle, to simply change all POLs over to PALs. But then, those that came up with Bill C-68 have by now clearly demonstrated their lack of ability to think things through.