Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the federal government rejects the idea of allowing hunters to use the same type of military-style assault rifle involved in a mass shooting in Florida.
Last month, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of the Lawful Firearm Owners of Canada that calls for the classification of the AR-15 rifle to be changed from a restricted firearm to a non-restricted one.
The petition was signed by more than 25,000 people, mainly from Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Goodale says the Liberal government will present a formal written reply to the petition, but he made it clear there is no intention of changing the weapon’s classification.
“The request has been made to change the classification, but our position is ‘no,’ that the existing classification will remain.”
The AR-15 is a civilian model of the M16 rifle used by the U.S. army and has been used to carry out other mass slayings, including the 2012 killing of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn.
One of the top-selling rifles in the U.S., the AR-15’s variations are used by some military and police forces around the world.
The petition says the federal government changed the rifle’s classification to “restricted” in the mid-1990s purely because of the way it looks. It says the AR-15 isn’t more dangerous or different than thousands of other firearms in Canada.
“The rifle is the most versatile hunting rifle in the world,” the petition reads. “The Armalite Rifle-15 was in fact legal to hunt with before the 1990s firearm classification changes and we hunters would like that opportunity restored.”
Goodale says the decision to classify the AR-15 as a restricted weapon was made by RCMP firearms experts, and that decision should not be second-guessed by politicians.
The “restricted” classification means that most Canadians can only use the AR-15 at a gun range.
From The Canadian Press
