Alberta's chief firearms officer calls for moratorium on new gun regulations

Alberta’s opposition to new federal firearm regulations continues.

The new rules were announced on May 11, and are to be implemented today (May 18).

They require sellers of non-restricted firearms to pass the sale through the registrar of firearms, to keep records for the sale for 20 years.

Alberta’s chief firearms officer Teri Bryant has penned a letter to the Minister of Public Safety, Marco Mendicino, to express “grave concern.”

One of those concerns is the week of preparation vendors had to prepare for the new rules, which Bryant calls an “inadequate lead time given the scope of these changes and their profound impact on law-abiding firearms owners and businesses.”

The Alberta provincial government had previously voiced concerns over the possible return of a federal long-gun registry, which is reiterated in the letter.

Bryant calls on the minister to announce a moratorium on the new regulations for at least a year in order to facilitate either consultation or scrapping the entire project.

The full letter can be seen here.