The Federal government will not reclassify the restricted semi-automatic AR-15 rifle, despite being presented with a petition with 25,249 signatures, all but 198 of which were from Canadians.
Prince George – Peace River MP Bob Zimmer presented the petition in Ottawa on May 13th hoping that the gun’s status would become “unrestricted,” meaning owners wouldn’t need a special restricted firearms license to use one.
He feels the Liberals are delegating a lot legal gun decisions to the RCMP and not consulting other groups.
“Rural Canadians use firearms on a regular basis and I hope they really try to understand the issue is a big one and that oversight needs to be paramount and needs to be done by a broad-based group rather than just one particular user group.”
He’s also concerned the government’s decision was politically motivated.
“The Orlando shooting that had happened a month after the petition had been tabled; it became a political issue and, unfortunately, I don’t think a sound decision was made.”
This was the largest online federal petition every brought forward, which included 5,183 signatures from BC residents.
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