Harper law delists sniper rifles, semi-automatics

The Toronto Star:

Ottawa — The powerful Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle used in the 1989 Montreal massacre and this summer’s Norway bloodbath.

Sniper rifles that can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 kilometres.

Or one that can drop a target two kilometres away.

They are all weapons that will soon be declassified under the Conservatives’ bill to kill the long-gun registry and freed from binding controls that now see them listed with the RCMP-run database.

They fall under the class of “non-restricted” weapons and they are about to become unregistered. Restricted or prohibited firearms such automatic assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns or handguns are not affected by the bill and would remain under current controls.

But under Bill C-19, the law would no longer require a licensed gun owner to hold a registration certificate for “non-restricted” weapons.

The Coalition for Gun Control, which has mounted the fiercest defence of the long-gun registry, says many are not the workaday rifles and shotguns used by “law-abiding duck hunters and farmers” that the Conservatives say should be protected from Orwellian gun control laws.

The coalition is still analyzing the legislation. But in information sent to the Star, its researchers point out that under the Conservative bill the Ruger Mini-14, the .50-calibre sniper rifle known as the Steyr-Mannlicher HS .50 — a sniper rifle that can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 km — and the L115A3 Long Range Sniper Rifle, which can accurately hit a target 2 kilometres away will no longer require registration certificates.

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