Send in Gun Range Membership Before Purchasing Restricted?

[John T.]

Here was my reply to the CFO when I renewed my licence a couple of years ago: Forgive the missing information, I removed certain details.

Scott


Dan Magotiaux
Chief Firearms Officer
Alberta and the Northwest Territories
11140 – 109 Street
Edmonton Alberta T5J 2T4

RE: Request for Confirmation of Purpose
Licence Application:
Due date: November 2015
(Licence expires )

Sir,

I am in receipt of your recent, somewhat threatening letter, demanding that I confirm that my license application is valid by providing to your office a copy of a current gun club membership.

I have continually held memberships in gun clubs in Ontario and Alberta prior to and since the inception of the Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC) in 1979, holding positions from president to Chief Range Safety Officer as well as chair for various leagues at these gun clubs. Since the passing of bill C-68, I have been “Forced” to prove my continued participation in my hobby and sport every 5 years as my current Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) comes up for renewal. At present I hold memberships at two different gun clubs, namely the Canadian Historical Arms Society (C.H.A.S.) and the Algonquin Shooting Sports Association.

Pursuant to section 67(2), the provincial CFO shall decide if I am using my restricted and or prohibited firearms for the purpose I have indicated on my firearms licence renewal application.

I believe that with some 36 years of club memberships and competitively shooting for at least that long, I have more than proven that I am using my firearms for the purpose I have expressed in my current application. If you have some evidence to suggest otherwise, please provide this evidence to me via return mail so that I may review and correct any incorrect information.

I hereby declare, that once my current membership(s) expire, I will renew at least one of those expiring memberships for 2016 and subsequently for the years remaining on the newly to be issued PAL.


Sincerely,


Scott


As a note, I received my new license in the mail about a week after sending this letter.

There is no provision in the Act demanding membership in a club, you have the right in Canada to associate with whomever you wish, you also have the right to not be forced to associate with anyone! Notice I did 2 things, sent a letter and demanded evidence to be returned via the same method.

Scott

Hats off to you Scott. I also have had restricted for 40 yrs and have contested this as well, only verbally, and never succeeded. I guess written is always best.
My son-in-law just went to register his first restricted (a stripped lower) and when asked for range membership, he argued that it could not be fired without completion, and that upon completion he was required by law to update the registration certificate, and at that time he would provide range membership docs. He was told he still needed one to get approval. A few hours later he recieved an email saying it was approved, without membership!
Maybe some common sense infiltrating the system.

[Marcelt]

Completed a transfer(restricted)last week, the very helpful lady from the firearms office simply asked f I was a member of a range, I replied "yes". No other details asked for.

[ScorpionJ]

Here's my experience:

When I received my RPAL after completing the courses and mailing my forms I went straight to the local range and signed up for membership. Did the club level safety course a week later. Bought two handguns their after completing safety course. 2 weeks later I got a call from the store that my transfers came through and said they're ready for pickup. Never called or received a call from the CFO to let them know my range membership. Have since bought other restricted firearms online and just provided my range name with PAL. I'm thinking they either call the range to confirm membership or the range forwarded my range membership confirmation with my two handgun transfers.

[Paul_T]

My first restricted firearm just got delivered to me on Friday morning. It’s a beautiful M9A3. I’m in Ontario and the store did all the transfer stuff and all I’ve had to do is wait.

Now that I have the pistol am I just supposed to wait for the new RPAL with the 6 allowed travel places or do I need to apply for that?

They will send you the new PAL and Conditions sheet automatically

Also I got a temporary transfer notification with the pistol that says I need to wait for the real registration certificate in a separate envelope.

Correct. Brown envelope with Green insert from Miramichi. They normally take 10-14 days to arrive after the date on the Transfer. Do a Happy Dance when it arrives

I have a membership at Target Sports but haven’t completed the standard club course yet.

I thought I was going to get called by the CFO asking me about the range but maybe I’m supposed to??

Not in Ontario - Membership not required (it was fought by a member here at some point)

[Superfly999]

Great! Thanks Paul

[greywolf67nt]

Send a copy of your membership to CFO_ALBERTA@rcmp-grc.gc.ca (direct AB CFO address not the CFP in Miramichi) with your PAL number and pertinent details right now while you are thinking about it.

[wolf1340]

Just did my first Alberta registered transfer. Dealer asked for name of gun range. Didn’t provide proof. Next day I called CFO figuring they’d want proof. They said transfer was approved, registration in the mail and they could email me the transfer paper. Sweet

[WWW226]

Did not send in my member ship.
Bought my firs restricted on Monday pm and TN received on Tuesday AM.
But I waited 2 month before buying anything.
Not sure if that shows anything.

[bigplinker]

Send your range membership info to the CFO as soon as you can. It will take them a little while to update your RPAL with the new attached 'special conditions'. They will also not approve a transfer to you until you've done this.



You can apply for collector status, but the conditions on your RPAL will not include transport to a range.

Also, feel free to cancel your range membership for the other 4 years of your RPAL term. There's no condition (That I'm aware of) that states that a range membership has to be maintained. Its only purpose (As it isn't actually a legal requirement) is to appease the CFO so they'll issue the special conditions on your RPAL.

From the website(http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/f...ble-eng.html):
'Further, the CFO has the authority under subsection 15(1) of the Shooting Clubs and Shooting Ranges Regulations to request written confirmation from a shooting club or range of "...the participation, if any, of a current or past member...of the shooting club...in target practice or target shooting competitions within the previous five years..." The CFO is able to confirm the purpose for which an individual indicated he or she was acquiring the firearm by looking at an individual's history of ATT issuance over the term of their licence (for target practice) and, if necessary, by reviewing the records kept by a club or range.'

So yeah, not sure about that advice. And I hate this whole burden of proof thing when it comes to fighting the RCMP regarding your obeying the law, versus their interpretation of the law. It

[HadEnuff]

I just renewed and they sent me a follow up letter stating I owned restricted and needed to send in proof of club membership to have my ATT attached to it. I could still own my restricted, but, would need to apply for STATT if I wanted to go to the range if I didn't have current membership. I sent in my membership..... I live in BC.