THIS MESSAGE SENT AND/OR Cc'ed TO:
Paul Martin, Finance Minister
Canadian Firearms@CFC 10/01/98 09:17 AM Bulletin No. 23
Registration and the Firearms Identification Number
You will receive a Registration Certificate for each firearm you register. Each Registration Certificate will have a unique number. This will be the Firearms Identification Number (FIN) issued by the Registrar, head of the Canadian Firearms Registry. The FIN is the file number you will use for all contact with the office of the Registrar. If your firearm has no serial number, or if the serial number, combined with other features of the firearm, is not enough to tell it apart from all other firearms, you will have to put the FIN on your firearm. The Registrar will tell you if the FIN must be placed on your firearm.
The FIN will be required on nearly all firearms, as few of them have a well-documented system of Serial numbers that is KNOWN and PROVABLE. Many manufacturers -- especially manufacturers of military firearms for export -- duplicate Serial numbers with monotonous regularity. Others recycle the numbers -- as Iver Johnson did, numbering 9,000,000 revolvers with a machine capable of only 99,999 numbers before starting to recycle. Others, particularly Eastern manufacturers, use digits and/or letters that the registration system cannot handle (Cyrillic letters, for example).
Attaching the FIN to Your Firearm You will have to put the FIN on your firearm only if the firearm has no serial number or the serial number is not unique.
There is no way to tell whether or not a particular Serial number is UNIQUE. The word "unique" designates an absolute -- That is, it is guaranteed that there is NO other firearm of that type with that Serial number. That is a standard that is clearly unreachable. The Serial number is an indicator, but it can never be certified as "unique" because there is always at least the problem of fraud in the factory producing one or more firearms with duplicated Serial numbers.
If you have to put the FIN on your firearm, you have a choice of how you apply it in three situations: 1) if you own your firearm on December 1, 1998; 2) if your firearm was manufactured before December 1 and imported into Canada on or after December 1, 1998; or, 3) if you, as a licensed business, specially import the firearm for a short time only (such as a film company making a movie in Canada). In these cases, you may attach a FIN using a special sticker provided by the Registrar or, you may permanently engrave or stamp the FIN on your firearm.
The above is a very muddled paragraph, which I split into two parts. The above section apparently identifies the three classes of firearms which can be identified by the use of a permanent "sticky." It offers the OPTION of stamping of engraving the FIN on the "frame or receiver" of the firearm.
With all other firearms needing unique identification, you must permanently engrave or stamp the FIN. In most cases, the FIN must be easy to read and on a visible part of the frame or receiver (see next CFC Bulletin for further details). You will have 30 days from the issue date on the Registration Certificate to attach the special sticker to your firearm. You will have 90 days from the issue date on the Registration Certificate to permanently engrave or stamp the FIN on your firearm.
This second half of the paragraph (above) requires engraving or stamping of the FIN on all other classes of firearms, such as all firearms manufactured after 01 Dec 98.
For more information, or for a copy of the Firearms Act, its regulations and other CFC publications, contact us at:
1-800-731-4000 (Toll Free) Web site: http://www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca/ E-mail: canadian.firearms@justice.x400.gc.ca
Fortunately, all of this is apparently NULL AND VOID. No such requirements may be demanded by the CFC or CFR/FRAS unless they are: 1. required by the legislation (C-68's Firearms Act or Criminal Code), or 2. the subject of an Order in Council authorized to be made by the legislation. The legislation apparently says nothing whatever about where or how the Serial number must be on the firearm, and does not mention the Firearms Identification Number concept at all; therefore, the above requirements are apparently null and void as far as the legislation is concerned. The legislation does not authorize the making of any regulation regarding markings on firearms, and therefore the above rules apparently cannot be created by Order in Council. Once again, this is apparently a defective attempt to amend defective legislation by false pretences, and an attempt by the CFC and CFR/FRAS to legislate -- but legislation is beyond their power, so this entire set of requirements is apparently null and void. A copy of this is being sent to the CFC and to CFR/FRAS. CFC and CFR/FRAS, this is a demand for an explanation as to why this apparently illegal and misleading information was published and distributed. Please reply to the Canadian Firearms Digest with all possible speed, and either explain why you think you had the authority to publish it -- or publish a retraction. Dave Tomlinson, NFA -- CLOG: all Conservative or Liberal Ottawa Governments ------------------------------ Jean-Francois Avon, B.Sc. Physics, Montreal, Canada DePompadour, Société d'Importation Ltée Limoges fine porcelain and french crystal JFA Technologies, R&D physicists & engineers Instrumentation & control, LabView programming PGP keys: http://bs.mit.edu:8001/pks-toplev.html PGP ID:C58ADD0D:529645E8205A8A5E F87CC86FAEFEF891 PGP ID:5B51964D:152ACCBCD4A481B0 254011193237822C