Banning Firearms Through Bill C-21 Impacts Training of Those Required to Carry a Gun at Work: Active Duty Officers

'Shooting is a perishable skill,' says former soldier and police officer

Armed police respond to an incident in Montreal in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

Some active duty officers say that if the Liberal government’s Bill C-21 is passed, it will impact officers who use their off-duty time to go to the range and keep their training up to par using privately licensed firearms.

A military veteran and former infantry soldier who had been stationed in Afghanistan says the legislation will affect “every peace officer, police officer, soldier, armoured car driver, or anyone else who uses handguns or semi-automatic rifles/carbines in their line of work.”

“Mark,” who is also a firearms safety trainer and former range safety officer, now works for Correctional Service Canada. He said he cannot use his real name because speaking publicly on this issue could get him fired.

Keeping Shooting Skills Sharp

Mark told The Epoch Times that most agencies only provide their staff with a minimal amount of time or allocation of ammunition to practise shooting skills, and the standards are not very high—just “enough training so that they can say in an inquiry or court of law that they have a training standard.”

Over the years, as a trainer, he has taken other staff to the public range to shoot on their off-duty days.

“It’s the only way they can practise and improve their abilities,” he says.

New recruits to his agency only fire 350 rounds with a carbine and less than that with a pistol before being turned loose.

“For a new shooter, that is not a lot of shooting. When you consider that they may actually have to employ that firearm to stop a murder or an escape, it’s really not a lot of shooting. Annually, officers only fire 60 rounds to re-qualify,” he says.

Mark notes that if Bill C-21 passes, the resulting ban will prevent those who carry a firearm at work from legally owning and shooting any firearm even remotely similar to their service-issued gun.

“Taking away the ability for a police officer to own a firearm similar to their duty weapon does not increase public safety,” he says.

A military officer in the Canadian Armed Forces who asked not to be named to protect his job also says that “members of police services and armed services need the ability to train, practise, and reconcile training deficiencies in their off-time.”

If they do not keep their skills sharp, it has an “operational impact,” he told The Epoch Times.

“You need to shoot to stay current. It’s in the best interests of the government and the public for officers who use weapons in their daily jobs to be as trained as possible on applicable weapons systems.”

CAF’s standard is “firing your weapon once per year, roughly 150 rounds,” he says, and “it’s not enough. There’s no precision.”

“You cannot do anything once per year and be as competent as you would be if you did training regularly on your own time.”

The officer said the legislation erodes Canadians’ “fundamental freedoms.”

“Canada is going the way of communist China, taking away fundamental freedoms—the right for law-abiding citizens and peacekeepers to use firearms for recreation and to hunt for sustenance and their families.”

‘Assault-Style Firearms’

Bill C-21, an act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act, among other legislation, is currently being debated by a House of Commons committee.

If passed, the bill will ban most semi-automatic shotguns and rifles—even some ordinary hunting shotguns and rifles purchased legally. The proposed amendments would also ban any gun that can hold a detachable magazine. An existing regulatory ban recently saw handguns made illegal in Canada.

The Browning BAR 270 deer-hunting rifle would be prohibited if the government’s gun legislation amendments pass. Courtesy Tracey Wilson, CCFR

The bill and sweeping last-minute amendments have sparked an uproar from firearms owners, who say it targets hunters, farmers, ranchers, and sport shooters.

The proposed legislation has also drawn strong criticism from all three Prairie provinces—Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba—along with Yukon and New Brunswick, as well as the Conservative Party and First Nations.

The Assembly of First Nations passed an emergency resolution on Dec. 8 to oppose the bill due to concerns it would criminalize firearms many First Nations people use for hunting, and the NDP has said it doesn’t support the latest amendments.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters on Dec. 8 that his government is moving ahead with amendments to the bill while “fine-tuning” the details. He said he wants a legal definition for so-called “assault-style” firearms—a term that isn’t found in Canadian law. Fully automatic assault weapons are already prohibited in Canada and have been since 1978.

“The definition is something that we are very much committed to. But the actual list that goes with it, that’s something that we’re consulting on right now,” he said.

‘It Was My Responsibility’

Wilbert Rozendaal, 38, who served as a Military Police (MP) officer with the Canadian Armed Forces for almost 14 years and is also a former Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) auxiliary constable, says Bill C-21 won’t do anything to decrease gun violence.

He said that during his time as an MP it was “exceptionally rare” that a person charged with a crime had a firearms licence.

“It was always the person who had illegal firearms that I was concerned about, as they had already shown a complete disregard for the laws,” he said in an interview.

Rozendaal, who lives in southeastern Ontario and has been a licensed firearms owner for 18 years, also says that individuals who need to use a gun in the course of their work or career will be heavily affected if C-21 passes.

At one time he was stationed in North Bay, Ontario, where he coordinated training on dealing with nuisance black bears with government-issued firearms. He also spent time stationed in Northern Ontario, specifically to protect troops and camps from polar bear threats.

Wilbert Rozendaal, licensed firearms owner and former law enforcement officer, shows another firearms owner a grip to improve his shooting during range practice. In this photo, taken before handguns were banned in Canada, Rozendaal is using a Sig Sauer P226, which is similar in function and style to his government-issued sidearm. Courtesy Wilbert Rozendaal

After talking to the local people, all indigenous, Rozendaal says a quality, semi-automatic, magazine-fed firearm is essential. “These firearms are used to defend people in the North from attacks from predators.”

During his military career, he used his service weapons at the range once per year. That was all that was required to maintain his qualifications, for both the OPP and the Military Police.

“Anytime I suggested that I wanted some more range time, I was told that either nobody had time to open the range, there wasn’t ammunition available, or simply just ‘no,’” he says.

Rozendaal says he had less than 10 opportunities in his entire career to actually work on his skills with his service weapon.

“I strongly felt that shooting was a perishable skill, and it was my responsibility to the people I served to maintain those skills, whether or not it was funded or approved by my employer. I ended up purchasing firearms similar to my service weapon, and would take them to the range whenever I could,” he said.

Once the government announced in May 2020 that over 1,500 different types of “assault-style” weapons would be immediately banned, Rozendaal says he could no longer go to the range for practice.

“I strongly believe there will be more lives lost in Canada due to the proposed amendment than will be saved,” he says.