CCFR Radio – Ep 158: City News Runs Full Auto Mag Dump, Letter from Police, Buyback Update

For the latest information on what's been happening at the CCFR, check out our most recent Podcast with host Rod Giltaca.

In this episode: X/Twitter account upstages Liberal government research. More info on Sidney Island deer cull. More LE officers write the CCFR, update on the buyback program.

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Audio-only Link: https://podcast.ccfr.ca/episodes/episode-158

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The 2024 CCFR AGM returns to Calgary, Alberta on May 25th!

Watch: Rod Shares Predictions for Trudeau's Gun 'Buyback,' & More on The Andrew Lawton Show

Rod Giltaca speaks with True North's Andrew Lawton about the status of the federal governments gun 'buyback,' better known as Trudeau's gun confiscation scheme, if he thinks firearm retailers will participate, obvious provincial jurisdiction issues in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the strange judiciary decisions seen lately, and if the next election will allow a future government to easily overturn what the Liberals have put in place against gun owners.

Should Ontarians with a history of violence be allowed a gun licence?

If someone is in a bar fight at 18, should that prevent them from getting a gun licence decades later?

What if the violence in their past was against a spouse? And what if it was more recent?

The Trillium spoke with politicians and gun-control advocates about the discretion police have in Ontario to grant gun licences, prompted by government records we obtained about the decision to grant a licence to Jeremy Pearson, who killed his ex-girlfriend and then himself in 2013.

Their views were mixed, but they all called on the provincial government to stop blocking the release of information on gun licences that could help shed light on how the process works, and why it sometimes fails.

The government was forced to release records to The Trillium under a freedom-of-information (FOI) request after an order by the Information and Privacy Commissioner this past fall.

They showed that, despite a criminal record stemming from a kidnapping, he was issued a gun licence in 2005. In 2009, his licence was renewed even though he was facing a new charge after he was accused of stealing jewellery from someone he was privately buying firearms from, a later coroner’s investigation said.

The Trillium has since filed FOI requests for the firearms licence files for four further people, involved in similar, but more recent cases: all are dead, all killed others, and all are believed to have been issued gun licences, based on publicly available information about them.

The province is fighting the request. The opposition politicians and gun control advocates we spoke with called on the province to release the records to shed light on the licensing process.

NDP MPP John Vanthof, who hails from the rural riding of Timiskaming-Cochrane, said he wants to see a system that is "as strong as possible" so licensed gun owners like himself can continue to own and use firearms.

The MPP said while there's a "very fine line" between using information to safeguard people and "voyeurism," he disagrees with blocking access to information entirely.

"Given the cases that we've seen, I'm concerned that the government isn't more forthcoming with the information," said Vanthof. "If someone who has a history of violence, someone who in the one case is just coming off probation from a violent act, there is a big question mark whether or not that person should be able to purchase a firearm and the fact that that person was able to shows that there might be a flaw or there is a flaw in the system and the only way you can figure out how to improve the flaw is ... to be open and transparent of what happened."

Liberal MPP Karen McCrimmon, the MPP for Kanata—Carleton who is a licensed gun owner, said information about these cases is important as it shows "sometimes people who do own firearms legally do bad things with them," countering the narrative from the pro-gun lobby.

McCrimmon said cases like Pearson's have brought into question whether the amount of discretion the provincial chief firearms officer (CFO) — who oversees the gun control system in Ontario and can grant, revoke or refuse a gun licence — and individual police officers have is appropriate.

An OPP officer approved Pearson's licence application in February 2005 after interviewing him. This followed the end of his probation in May of the previous year and a fight he was involved in outside a bar in August 2004.

An in-person interview is not required for all licence approvals.

"I have a very strong commitment to the idea that ... it's a privilege to own a firearm and that the standards that one would need to be given that privilege should be as high as possible," said McCrimmon, adding that she thinks any history of violence, or threat of violence, should be a red flag. "Some people do need a firearm, that's how they feed their family, I get it, out in rural areas and out in the wilderness, but for the rest of us, you don't need a firearm."

McCrimmon said the first response to a licensing application in instances that involve a history of violence should be "no."

"I think that should never be allowed on the first go," she said, though she added that there should be a legislated appeal process, which could be done by the province.

"You'll have to pay the money to appeal it, it'll have to be full disclosure, and then it'll have to be more than one person saying, 'yes, this is acceptable,'" she said.

McCrimmon acknowledged that a system which falls under shared jurisdiction can be challenging to manoeuvre, but she thinks the province can "designate the amount of discretion that the CFOs have."

The CFO did not respond to a request for an interview before publication.

Currently, the federal Firearms Act notes under section 5 on eligibility that the CFO "shall have regard to whether the person" has been convicted or discharged of "an offence in the commission of which violence against another person was used, threatened or attempted" or criminal harassment among other offences, has a history of violence or has been treated for mental illness in an institutional setting "and whether or not the person was confined to such a hospital, institute or clinic, that was associated with violence or threatened or attempted violence."

A spokesperson for the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) outlined the general licensing process, noting there are more than 30 eligibility criteria built into the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS) and that licence applications are "approved through an automated process" if an individual meets all the criteria.

Ongoing eligibility for these individuals is reviewed if someone contacts the CFO with a concern about a licence holder or a "trigger mechanism" through law enforcement, the OPP stated.

The applications of those who don't meet one of the eligibility criteria would then be sent to the CFO "for an investigative review."

"In determining the eligibility of an applicant, the Firearms Officer is governed by the principles laid out in section 5 of the (Firearms Act)," the OPP said, adding that before July 2021 and passage of the federal government's Bill C-71," eligibility consideration was required and limited to the previous five years."

"Prior to July 2021, a history of violence outside of the previous five years was not captured and therefore would not automatically trigger a 'flag,'" the OPP noted.

Vanthof said it's hard to say whether or not police officers have too much discretion when it comes to approving gun licences.

In the Pearson case, "something went wrong," he said, noting the details aren't known in the other four cases so it's difficult to give "a blanket yes or no."

Retired OPP staff sergeant Doug Carlson, who ran northwestern Ontario’s gun control system for about years, described his approach to licensing as "aggressive," saying he would revoke or refuse licences for around 100 people each year.

For example, Carlson said he would revoke a person's licence for a few years if they made threats during a nasty separation, even if there was no conviction.

Generally, he said he thinks the "system works quite well."

This article brings up some interesting questions but the views shared within it are not necessarily representative of the CCFR's position.

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Chatham-area man pleads to trafficking gun in grisly 2021 Walpole Island slaying

Another person arrested after a Windsor man was shot, dismembered and burned on Walpole Island in 2021 has pleaded guilty to a charge – trafficking firearms – linked to a year-long police probe that spread across Southwestern Ontario and swept up eight suspects.

The suspects were arrested – six of them for first-degree murder – during a lengthy OPP investigation after the remains of Oyebode Oyenuga, a 25-year-old Windsor man, were discovered on the First Nation between Sarnia and Chatham on March 17, 2021.

Drew Bliss, 36, of Chatham-Kent was first of the eight to be arrested, although it wasn’t clear at the time. His arrest on Aug. 5, 2021, featuring a long list of gun- and drug-related offences, appeared at the time to be a separate case.

But more than two months later police announced they had also charged Bliss with trafficking a firearm in the Oyenuga homicide investigation. Bliss, released on bail In March 2022, recently pleaded guilty to the charge and will be sentenced in early April.

An agreed statement of facts wasn’t read at the time as the lawyers asked the judge to move that to his sentencing hearing. David Rows, Lambton’s former Crown attorney who is still prosecuting the case, explained to Justice Paul Kowalyshyn he was still sorting out with Bliss’ lawyer, Gregory McGivern, what facts will be included.

“The basic parameters are understood by all parties,” he said.

But the court heard the charge Bliss, 38, pleaded guilty to was linked to a Springfield XD-9 handgun he illegally transferred at some point – it didn’t say to whom – between Jan. 1 and Feb. 3, 2021

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Police have identified the victim of a fatal shooting in a parking lot of a mall in Abbotsford, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) says.

The Abbotsford Police Department was called to the northeast underground parking lot of the Sevenoaks Shopping Centre on South Fraser Way just before 6 p.m. Saturday. There, officers found a 25-year-old man dead inside a vehicle.

Police say early indications suggest the incident was targeted. The victim has been identified as Abbotsford resident, Amritpal Saran. His name has been released in the hopes it can help the investigation, police explain.

Shortly after the shooting, IHIT says police were told of a vehicle fire on Townshipline Road, near McMath Street. IHIT and forensic experts with AbbyPD are investigating to see whether this is connected with the shooting.

“This was a careless shooting, showing no concern for public safety,” said IHIT’s Sgt. Timothy Pierotti. “We are looking to speak with witnesses who were at either the mall parking lot where the shooting occurred, or scene of the vehicle arson.”

The Abbotsford Police Major Crime Unit is transferring the investigation, which is in the preliminary stages, to IHIT.

Police identify 20-year-old man who died in shooting on Montreal's South Shore

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