Last Thursday, the Legislature voted into law Bill 4: the Firearm Violence Protection Act. In the debate the Provincial government defended the bill as creating new penalties for illegally possessing and using firearms in vehicles and puts additional requirements on ranges to collect information on range users. We believe we are already compliant with the range reporting requirements, though we will of course review the final published law and any implementation details. Minister Mike Farnworth also responded to a question in the Legislature asking about requirements from smaller shooting ranges that had simple sign in and sign out procedures and stated “The offence would be on the user for not complying with the rules and regulations”.
In addition Minister Farnworth responded to questions raised about whether the prohibition on shooting from boats would impact hunting – both from First Nations and other hunters – saying in the debate “it is not going to be in conflict. The Wildlife Act is currently being amended, and there will be a consequential amendment in that to establish the regulations around being able to fire from a boat while hunting.” An amendment was also passed which recognized the act would not conflict with First Nations rights enshrined in the Constitution.
Last year the club was invited to participate in reviewing proposals for records keeping for ranges and we asked to be included in good faith as we are more than happy to cooperate toward ensuring public safety. However, between then and the introduction of the bill no other consultation was offered. The board will continue to review any further changes affecting our members.