A Conservative MP is urging the government to reject a United Nations resolution that he says, if implemented, could create a “backdoor gun registry” in Canada.
Bob Zimmer, MP for the British Columbia riding of Prince George—Peace River, tabled a motion in late March discouraging the adoption of UN resolution 55/255, an anti-arms trafficking treaty Canada signed in 2002 but hasn’t yet ratified. The motion will be debated in the House of Commons Tuesday.
States who sign on to the UN protocol must require identification markings on firearms with the country of manufacturing and importation “for the purpose of identifying and tracing each (gun).”
Zimmer said in a press release in March that the UN protocol would add “another layer of unnecessary red tape” for lawful gun owners. Canadian law already requires all firearms be uniquely identified with a serial number or firearms identification number, he said.
“Adding yet another marking on a firearm will do nothing for public safety,” he said in the release. “If implemented, this marking regime would only drive up the costs for law-abiding firearms owners, or drive down the gun market, affecting small business owners throughout Canada.”
Zimmer also said at the time that his motion would help ensure “any door that could re-open the long-gun registry remains firmly closed.”
Some of the world’s top arms manufacturers — France, Russia and the United States — have not signed the protocol.
In March, the MP told Rebel Media’s Brian Lilley the resolution would effectively create a registry by forcing Canada to keep track of all long guns. He said the additional markings on firearms would cost gun owners “around $200 per firearm, and up.”
The interview occurred on the same day the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could order the destruction of Quebec’s federal gun-registry data.
“This just further enhances that the long-gun registry is dead and we want to keep it that way,” Zimmer said.
Zimmer did not respond to an interview request from The Huffington Post Canada.
The full text of the MP’s motion, M-589:
That, in the opinion of the House: (a) Canada already exceeds all the standards listed in United Nations resolution 55/255 concerning firearms (the resolution); (b) the regulations envisioned in the resolution would do nothing to enhance public safety, and would serve only to burden the law-abiding firearms community; and therefore, the government has already surpassed its obligations with respect to the resolution and is not required to take any further steps.
With files from Althia Raj
Also on HuffPost
