In a nutshell, we are fighting what we consider to be a bad law. The Order-in-Council (OIC) of May 1, 2020 presented amendments to Canadian firearms law that re-classify as prohibited many guns which were legally owned and safely used by us and thousands of other Canadians.
We are asking the Federal Court to reject these amendments because we believe they violate basic principles of justice and existing Canadian law. Here is a list of the main points:
- Obscurity of reasoning in determining what is “reasonable for use for hunting or sporting purposes”.
- Vagueness, in particular that of the term “variant”.
- Misuse by the Governor-in-Council and the RCMP of the firearms classification system.
- Violation of the exclusive jurisdiction of Provinces to regulate private property and civil rights.
- Violation of the Canadian Bill of Rights.
- Violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
One of the premises of our case, at a high level, is that the May 1st, 2020 regulation is an unlawful executive overreach that runs contrary to section 117.15(2) of the Criminal Code. That section states that a firearm can only be reclassified as prohibited through an Order in Council if the firearm is deemed to NOT be reasonable for use in Canada for hunting or sporting purposes.
As we all know, every semi-automatic firearm that was legally available in Canada prior to May 1, 2020 was reasonable for sporting or hunting use. In fact, the government’s OWN AMNESTY indirectly acknowledges this by declaring that you can continue using these newly banned-firearms for sustenance hunting until the amnesty expiry…thus how could they not have valid sporting or hunting use?
The legal arguments are made in our application filed in Federal Court, case file number T-677-20. Complete filed documents are accessible on our Court documents page.