Canadian safety council wants replica guns registered

[hunter5]

Replica guns should be licensed and registered just like the real thing, say safety advocates and police. In recent years, police officers across the country have shot and killed several people holding guns that later turned out to be replicas.

The Canada Safety Council has approached police to push for gun replicas to be regulated under the federal Firearms Act, said council president Emile Thérien. That would require them to be licensed and registered.

The Ottawa Police Services Board supports that proposal and is asking its provincial and federal counterparts to lobby for the changes.

Acting Staff Sgt. Mark Patterson of the Ottawa police guns and gangs unit said it's often difficult for police officers to tell a real gun from a replica during threatening situations like armed robberies.

"You don't have that luxury, for lack of better term, to see what firearm is being used being by the suspect," he said.
Just a month ago, Edmonton police shot to death a woman brandishing a replica handgun.

Last March, Ottawa police shot to death a bank robbery suspect who pointed a gun at officers and threatened to shoot. The man's gun later proved to be a replica, but Ontario's Special Investigation Unit cleared Ottawa police of wrongdoing, saying the man's behaviour would cause a "reasonable" person to think the gun was real.

Patterson said replica pellet guns are also a risk because their pellets can travel fast enough to cause serious injury, especially to people's eyes.

Replica guns are extremely common in Ottawa and about 40 per cent of handguns seized by police last year were replicas, Patterson said.

Thérien said replica pellet guns are advertised by many mass merchandisers in their catalogues around Christmas. "So they're easy to buy."

In Ontario, the only restriction he knows of is that you must be 18 to purchase one.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2 ... z0gUApIzx9

link I am not really sure what the point of registering replica guns is or how it will prevent police from shooting people that use them during criminal act. Can anyone from Canada do a better job explaining it.

[Sephirius]

Airsoft.

[Phantasee]

I know this is a dick thing to say, but I don't think the problem will be solved by registering the replica guns. I think it'll be solved by continuing to shoot people who point guns that look like the real thing at police. Anyone who isn't an idiot will realize that doing so will get their ass shot.

It's either that, or just start banning the replicas. Air soft enthusiasts can learn to live with the clear plastic types, or the ones that don't obviously look like actual firearms.

[Sephirius]

Air soft enthusiasts can learn to live with the clear plastic types, or the ones that don't obviously look like actual firearms.

Uh no. That's the whole reason they don't play Paintball or something else. (I'm keeping my Western Arms 1911A1, thanks.) The best solution for all parties would be that replicas require a PAL to purchase, but are otherwise unregulated.

[[R_H]]

Airsoft type weapons require a license here, I think it might be the same one you need to buy real firearms. Are the replicas sold with orange tips?

[Sephirius]

Airsoft type weapons require a license here, I think it might be the same one you need to buy real firearms. Are the replicas sold with orange tips?

No, most now have a clear plastic lower these days (albeit tinted black). I avoided that by snagging a used WA1911, but the plastic lower still takes a beating over time owing to the gas system. I'm trying to hunt down a steel frame for it.
I don't care what kind of engineer you are, metal does not go with plastic. /rant

[Aaron]

Uh no. That's the whole reason they don't play Paintball or something else. (I'm keeping my Western Arms 1911A1, thanks.) The best solution for all parties would be that replicas require a PAL to purchase, but are otherwise unregulated.

Just lump then in with air rifles over 500fps (IIRC), you need a PAL for those. Though I'm laughing pretty hard at this, register your replicas but I'm still able to buy and use a flintlock without a PAL. That will be next I suppose.

[General Zod]

This is kind of hilarious. Do they want people to register cap guns too? Just paint the orange barrel black and some of them can be hard to distinguish at a distance.

[Aaron]

This is kind of hilarious. Do they want people to register cap guns too? Just paint the orange barrel black and some of them can be hard to distinguish at a distance.

Canada, sense and firearms don't go together man. This will probably be as effective as the actual gun registry, where years later the Feds are still offering amnesties to register because half the owners never did it.

[aerius]

I know this is a dick thing to say, but I don't think the problem will be solved by registering the replica guns. I think it'll be solved by continuing to shoot people who point guns that look like the real thing at police. Anyone who isn't an idiot will realize that doing so will get their ass shot.

This is exactly my thoughts, if someone wants to point a real looking gun at the cops he probably deserves to get shot. And if the dumbass wants to commit crimes & holdup people with an airsoft gun then they can throw the damn book at him and hit him with a ton of weapons related charges.

[Aaron]

Indeed, you already get charged as if it was a real weapon if you use a replica to commit a crime.

[Havok]

Wow, I agree with Phant and aerius. *checks for fever*

Seriously, so the fake gun is now registered... does that instantly make people not stupid?

[SapphireFox]

This is Absolutely Retarded what good would it do to register a replica, it still looks like a real gun so if someone pulls out a replica registered or not they are going to get shot! Sometimes there are moments of stupidity that make me embarrassed to live here.

[Aaron]

This is Absolutely Retarded what good would it do to register a replica, it still looks like a real gun so if someone pulls out a replica registered or not they are going to get shot! Sometimes there are moments of stupidity that make me embarrassed to live here.

Yeah but most gun crimes are committed with unregistered weapons, so if we register everything, no more gun crime! Right?

[hunter5]

This is Absolutely Retarded what good would it do to register a replica, it still looks like a real gun so if someone pulls out a replica registered or not they are going to get shot! Sometimes there are moments of stupidity that make me embarrassed to live here.

Yeah but most gun crimes are committed with unregistered weapons, so if we register everything, no more gun crime! Right?

That is the theory, but as far as I can tell it hasn't worked yet.

[Phantasee]

Air soft enthusiasts can learn to live with the clear plastic types, or the ones that don't obviously look like actual firearms.

Uh no. That's the whole reason they don't play Paintball or something else. (I'm keeping my Western Arms 1911A1, thanks.) The best solution for all parties would be that replicas require a PAL to purchase, but are otherwise unregulated.

Your hobby can take a backseat to public safety issues, thanks.

However, requiring a PAL is a good idea. The hoops you have to jump through to get one is pretty adequate regulation already, I think. Registering a weapon that can't actually kill anyone is going a bit too far and likely to be as successful as the long gun registry, although on a smaller scale. Not a lot of farmers with airsoft rifles.

[Sephirius]

Air soft enthusiasts can learn to live with the clear plastic types, or the ones that don't obviously look like actual firearms.

Uh no. That's the whole reason they don't play Paintball or something else. (I'm keeping my Western Arms 1911A1, thanks.) The best solution for all parties would be that replicas require a PAL to purchase, but are otherwise unregulated.

Your hobby can take a backseat to public safety issues, thanks.

If this was really about public safety in any way, it'd have my support. This is an illogical knee-jerk reaction to a few idiots getting themselves whacked by the police. I still think the best way to ensure a safe public is CCW, though...

[Aaron]

Dude, we don't have the sorts of problems that the US has, what in the world would we need CCW for?

[Alyeska]

Your hobby can take a backseat to public safety issues, thanks.

Thanks for the worthless sound bite. Do you have anything of substance to add?

[General Brock]

I am not really sure what the point of registering replica guns is or how it will prevent police from shooting people that use them during criminal act. Can anyone from Canada do a better job explaining it.

Its fresh pork from the barrel to whomever gets the contract, to either top up the existing gun registry boondoggle or start a new one.

[Surlethe]

From a different perspective, this doesn't sound like it would be worth the cost of implementation and maintenance. How many lives is it going to save? And how much will it cost the Canadian government? If the goal is cutting down on ownership of replicas, just slap a tax on them and be done with it.

[JointStrikeFighter]

In Australia airsoft guns are import banned and paintball guns require a firearms license.

[Aaron]

From a different perspective, this doesn't sound like it would be worth the cost of implementation and maintenance. How many lives is it going to save? And how much will it cost the Canadian government? If the goal is cutting down on ownership of replicas, just slap a tax on them and be done with it.

Well the gun registry in use right now cost us 2 billion dollars. So far I haven't been able to find out what, if anything it accomplished. The current registry is still incomplete and I doubt making it mandatory to register a replica is going to make the situation any better, it will just add to the backlog.

[SapphireFox]

From a different perspective, this doesn't sound like it would be worth the cost of implementation and maintenance. How many lives is it going to save? And how much will it cost the Canadian government? If the goal is cutting down on ownership of replicas, just slap a tax on them and be done with it.

Number of lives saved, none.

Cost of implementation, several million.

A tax on replicas, probably less than useless.

All in all a knee jerk reaction to a problem that Is unlikely as severe as they claim.

[Stuart Mackey]

In Australia airsoft guns are import banned and paintball guns require a firearms license.

Its interesting to note that in NZ you can get either without any restrictions, although I understand that airsoft guns cannot be full auto, but thats it. But then I think that NZ weapons laws are much more enlightened than Australia/UK.