Scrapping the requirement to register rifles and shotguns could fuel illegal firearms trafficking across the Canadian border, an internal federal memo warns.It says the move would weaken import controls by eliminating a requirement for border officials to verify firearms coming into the country.
“Such a loophole could facilitate unregistered prohibited and restricted firearm trafficking into and through Canada,” says the declassified memo, originally marked secret.
The memo was released under the Access to Information Act to the National Firearms Association and posted along with hundreds of other pages on the organization's website.
It was prepared by Mark Potter, a senior Public Safety Department official, for an assistant deputy minister as Parliament was debating a private member's bill to kill the registry. That bill was narrowly defeated in the House of Commons last year.