Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 13/99) - NWT chief firearms officer, Doug Ivey, said according to the evolving firearms legislation, new firearms owners must obtain licenses instead of the out-dated firearms acquisition certificate or FAC.

"Under the new legislation, anyone who owns or wishes to purchase a firearm must have a firearm licence," Ivey said.

"Under the old system we referred to that as a firearms acquisition certificate or FAC -- it basically serves the same purpose."

Holders of valid FACs will not need to renew until the certificate expires, Ivey said.

"An FAC will serve as a firearms licence until it expires," Ivey said.

"That valid FAC legally covers you to legally keep your firearm or acquire new ones."

Louis Cormier at the Department of Justice explained the new legislation is similar to motor vehicle licensing.

"You have to have a licence and you have to have a registration, the are two separate documents," Cormier explained.

"It could be compared to having a driver's license and registration for your car.

"By December 31, 2000 everybody must have a licence for a gun," he said.

"If you are caught with a gun without a permit, you could be charged with a criminal offence.

"It has a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a heavy fine," he warned.

Ivey said there are two types of licenses for gun owners:

-possession allows current gun owners to legally possess their weapons.

-possession and acquisition allows owners to legally own and purchase new firearms.

The applications are available throughout the territories, he said.

"It works very similar to applying for a passport."

"The forms are available at all Canada Post outlets.

"A possession-only licence as of Dec. 1 went up to $45 from $10 for the first year of operation," he said. "Possession and acquisition is $60 and restricted and prohibited is $80."

Safety first

The Department of Justice offers two firearms courses which are required for acquisition and restricted firearms owners:

-The Canadian Firearms Safety Course for all firearms owners.

-The Canadian Restricted Firearms Safety Course for hand gun and restricted firearms owners.

Ivey said the courses run about 15 hours each and are being offered throughout the North on an on-going basis.

"For possession only licences, the safety course is not required," he said.

"Our instructor network are all volunteers.

"These people are giving up their weekends to teach firearms safety and I think there's a lot to be said for that. Without the dedication of these people, this would have been impossible to implement."

Ivey said there are many opposing opinions to firearms legislation, but no good arguments against safety.

"Firearms safety, to me, is paramount," Ivey said. "In the NWT we have far too many accidental shootings."

President of the Aklavik Hunter and Trappers Committee, John Lucas Jr., said the hunters he's spoken to don't have a problem with the new laws.

"The way I see it, everybody seems to be going along with it," Lucas said.

"It's not really a big problem."

Lucas said they are waiting to have someone trained to offer the safety courses in Aklavik.

"They are supposed to be sending people up here to train our people," he said.

"Because we don't have an RCMP up here, they are going to train our bylaw officer to do the courses."