New federal gun control bill expected this week

The federal government is expected to introduce new legislation this week that would strengthen laws surrounding the selling of firearms in an effort to crack down on gun violence. 

Changes could include expanded background checks that would examine the criminal backgrounds and mental health history of someone trying to purchase an unrestricted gun. 

The bill could also beef up screening of people who already own guns, allowing a continuous eligibility evaluation that would flag criminal behaviour as grounds for a potential investigation into their firearm ownership. 

It could also require people buying guns to prove they have a licence before completing a transaction. 

Currently, firearm vendors are not obligated to ask for proof of a licence before selling to a customer — nor do they have to keep files of gun inventory and sales. 

Anyone with a firearms licence legally can buy unrestricted guns, and they don't have to show proof of a licence. So they could buy dozens of guns, and the stores that sold the firearms wouldn't be required to have a record of the purchases.

The government used to require the sales records from the vendors, along with a proof of licence. But those conditions were scrapped by the Harper government in 2012, at the same time the long-gun registry was abandoned. 

New funding, new concerns

Revising firearms laws was an election promise from the Liberals, but little public action was taken until recently. 

In November, the government announced $327 million over five years, and $100 million every year after, for initiatives to reduce gun and gang-related crime.

They also convened a summit with community partners on guns and gangs at the beginning of the month.

According to their mandate tracker, the Liberals will not recreate a federal long-gun registry. 

The proposed bill comes at a time when there are country-wide concerns about homicide trends and gun violence in rural areas. 

There were 223 firearm-related homicides in Canada in 2016 — up 44 from 2015.

Statistics from the government also show that 2,223 firearms licences were revoked in 2016, with mental health concerns factoring in 424 of those cases.

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