Yellowknife (June 13/03) - After a nine month absence in the NWT, the Canadian Firearms Centre should have an office open here soon.

Both offices in Yellowknife and Hay River were closed last September, deeply angering some gun owners who felt abandoned at a most inopportune time -- three months before the Jan. 1 deadline to register guns.

At the time, officials with the firearms centre said they couldn't find adequate staff to run the offices and were forced to shut them down.

Now, after a switch of departmental control and a budget frozen by Justice Minister Martin Cauchon last winter, CFC say they're ready to open again -- at least in Yellowknife.

"The budget under (the Department of) Justice was actually frozen so they were sort of waiting for that to come through," said Michelle Snyder, communications officer with the CFC office in Edmonton.

"But, in terms of Yellowknife, it should be staffed right away."

Snyder said the main purpose of the new firearms office in Yellowknife will be to screen new NWT applicants seeking to obtain a Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL).

Dale Johnston, manager of Wolverine Sports Shop, said Yellowknife firearms office should concentrate on better informing aboriginal people in outlying communities.

He said many people in the communities were led to believe after the government's last information blitz in 2000 that all they needed was a simple Position-only Licence. This licence only allowed gun owners to possess the firearms they already owned but not purchase ammunition or more guns.

"There are many times a week where individuals (come in thinking) they can buy a gun, and led to believe they can buy a gun but cannot," said Johnston.

"I think the government has done a very poor job."