MP Zimmer Stands Up for Lawful Firearms Owners at Committee Meeting

OTTAWA – Bob Zimmer, Member of Parliament for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies and Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Outdoor Caucus, stood up for law-abiding firearms owners today at the Standing Joint Committee for the Scrutiny of Regulations, defending the need for the word ‘variant’ to be clearly defined in firearms regulations.

“I’m still having a hard time understanding why clarifying firearms regulations is somehow a problem,” said Mr. Zimmer during the meeting. “I would simply make it more accurate. The way that firearms are classified should be based on the receiver…that is the global understanding about how firearms are defined.”

The term ‘variant’ is currently used extensively when it comes to the regulatory framework surrounding firearms but does not have any kind of legal definition in the Criminal Code or in the Firearms Act.

“This [committee] is supposed to decide on making our regulations more accurate so Canadians can have a legal system that is more accurate,” said Mr. Zimmer. “That is exactly what this definition, what my colleague Larry Miller offered before in his attempt at a great private members’ bill, and it’s to help that kind of situation not happen.”

Larry Miller, Member of Parliament for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound, had introduced Bill C-230, an Act to amend the Criminal Code (firearm – definition of variant), however it was defeated by the Liberal government in October 2016.

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