Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer says he’s supportive of tougher screening for firearms regulations in the country.
The Canadian government introduced a new legislation earlier this week, which would see extensive background checks on prospective gun and gun license purchasers, including a mental health inspection.
However, Zimmer adds Bill C-71 needs to be more clear on how the process will work.
“We already have a rigorous screening process in Canada for background screening of persons that want to have a firearms license or purchase a firearm, but as I’ve said many times before in the House of Commons, we don’t want to see is somebody getting a firearm that’s either going to hurt themselves or somebody else.”
The Federal Conservative also claims the Bill doesn’t specify how it intends on making communities safer.
Zimmer says he’s confused on how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals will ensure that safety moving forward.
“There’s a lot of legal transactions every day in Canada, thousands a day even. So how’s that actually going to be monitored and made effective? Is it going to make that process, which is now about a half-an-hour process, into one that lasts a week? Is it going to be 6 months? We just don’t know.”
He believes the new legislation doesn’t also favour current law-abiding citizens and treats them like criminals with ‘all the red tape.’
Being a gun-owner himself, Zimmer understands the message as well of making sure no questionable registries are being handed out.