Originally aired on May 13, 2012.

I am quoted in response to McGuinty’s brinkmanship:

Firearms specialist and criminal lawyer Solomon Friedman said Sunday the Conservative government should take McGuinty up on his offer.

“This is a chance for Parliament to reign in once and for all the chief firearms officer and to limit his discretion by clear legislation,” he said.

Read the original article here.

Watch the video here:

Watch below:

Davis explains that these concerns were raised following a letter circulated by Ontario’s Chief Firearms Officer:

Suspicion the OPP is creating a long-gun registry by another name was stoked by an April 10 letter circulated to all Ontario firearms businesses by Chief Firearms Officer Supt. Chris Wyatt.

In the letter, Wyatt says that according to his interpretation, the new federal legislation that dismantled the gun registry only requires gun vendors to stop collecting some information.

“Bill C-19 does not define record of registration,” Wyatt writes. “The Chief Firearms Officer is taking the interpretation that a record of registration is the registration certificate number or a firearms registration number, only.”

I am quoted in this piece, expressing the view that Ontario seems to be contemplating an end-run around Bill c-19:

Firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman says the letter makes it clear that Ontario police, who opposed the destruction of the gun registry, are skirting the new federal law.

“He’s using the backdoor by using his control over firearms businesses essentially to extort them into complying with a registry that the federal Parliament has rejected,” he said. “If you read between the lines, he says ‘I don’t like the law Parliament passed, and I’m going to subvert it and maintain a provincial registry.’ ”

The approach the OPP is taking, Friedman added, is a sneaky one.

“At least Quebec is honest, and is going through the front door, as it were, and litigated this in court,” he said. “The CFO wants to appear to be complying with federal law, but at the same time maintaining a hidden business registry of firearms.

The Conservative MP who led the fight against the long-gun registry appears to have the backing of the prime minister in shooting down proposed changes to ammunition storage rules that have upset hunters and other firearms users.

He also quotes me:

Firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman said gun owners need clarity because the regulations are unworkable for people who use firearms as tools – or who live far from police and may have to defend themselves against a home invader.

“We’re going to see a whole new set of traps for the unwary, which is really what these regulations will become,” Friedman said. “What this does is it creates a whole new class of paper criminals – people who’ve committed no wrong, who’ve actually not misused their firearm in any way, but simply because they may have transgressed an administrative regulation they face a criminal charge. That’s unacceptable.”