- OTTAWA (AFP) - With the arrival
of the New Year, as many as five million law-abiding Canadian gun owners
may become criminals, as a new national registry comes into effect.
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- Starting January 1, the Canadian government is insisting
that all gun owners obtain a license to own weapons. They will also have
to register all their firearms with a central registry by January 1, 2003.
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- The controversial law has sparked off seemingly unlikely
alliances between the right-wing populist Canadian Alliance Party, the
left-wing New Democratic government of Saskatchewan, white landowners and
aboriginal peoples living in some of the country's poorest regions.
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- The Canadian Alliance, which fought an unsuccessful campaign
to stop the Liberal government in Ottawa from pushing through the gun-registry
legislation, has accused the Liberals of simply trying to impose a hidden
tax.
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- Opponents have insisted that many Canadians will simply
refuse to register rather than pay the 10 dollar (6.6 US) license fee.
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- This week, the federal Justice Department said 1.8 million
Canadians had already registered.
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- But the National Firearms Association, which claims to
represent a large sector of Canadian gun-owners, says their are about seven
million gun-owners in Canada -- suggesting that more than five million
are prepared to flout the new law.
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- Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control,
claims the National Firearms Association figure is grossly exaggerated
-- although she admits that the number of gun-owners in the country of
30 million is unknown.
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- The Justice Department, while claiming the registry shows
every sign of being a success, has extended by six months the deadline
for gun-owners to possess a license -- to June 30 -- on the condition that
they mailed in their request for a license by the end of this year.
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- Some resort operators, who make big bucks from Americans
travelling north to hunt, say they fear chaos and a loss of trade with
the new law.
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- One of them, Gary Sundmark, who operates the Crystal
Harbour Resort in North Ontario, said he has many US clients who come to
Canada just for the deer-hunting.
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- Sundmark is worried that many of his customers will not
be aware of the new law which stipulates that all foreigners bringing in
weapons or planning to use weapons while in Canada must buy a 50 dollar
(33 US) license when they arrive in the country.
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- "I don't think people are aware of the change in
the rules yet," said Sundmark.
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- "We're full for next year's season already, but
once they find out, I think there are going to be a whole lot of cancellations."
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- Tourists or Canadian residents will be required under
the new law to show their license before they can buy ammunition or spare
parts for their weapons, prompting speculation that many Canadians will
simply cross the border to buy their supplies in the United States.
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