Quebec Hunters Haven’t Registered 90% of Their Guns, Paper Says

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TheGunBlog.ca — Gun owners in Quebec haven’t registered more than 90 percent of their so-called “Non-restricted” rifles and shotguns as a January deadline approaches, Courrier de Portneuf newspaper reported this week, citing the province’s Firearms Registration Service.

Owners had registered 156,210 of an estimated 1.6 million “Non-restricted” firearms in Quebec as of Aug. 26, the paper reported Sept. 4, quoting the provincial registration service, known by its French acronym SIAF.

Quebec is the only province in Canada that requires federally licensed hunters and sport shooters to register their “Non-restricted” firearms with the government. Many gun owners eschew registration to protect themselves from confiscations such as the ones proposed in the federal government’s Bill C-71.

The province’s Firearms Registration Act came into force last January and owners have until Jan. 29 to submit their application to register, the SIAF website says.

Failing to comply can lead to a fine of $500 to $5,000, Courrier de Portneuf said.

SIAF records the brand, model, barrel length, operating mechanism, type, calibre, serial number and where the firearm is kept.

The information is valuable for police when they are executing prohibition orders and want to seize someone’s firearms, Clement Robitaille, the head of the SIAF, was quoted as telling Courrier de Portneuf.

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