Given the RCMP's obsession with mag sizes and interchanging mags from one platform to another, his caution seems quite understandable, and not at all "tinfoil".
As for a "main political party" getting into gun legislation, you may not have considered the consequence of NOT getting into that minefield: a total lack of support at the polls. I believe the CPC is facing this decision: let's hope they decide, for once in their life, to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do.
At best, the CPC can be described as "gun neutral". They cannot realistically make the claim they're "gun friendly", because they are not. They tolerate gun ownership and gun owners because of our votes/donations, but I don't believe they've ever intended to act in the way we've repeatedly told they must act if they want our support. Certainly the Harper gov't never intended to follow through on his promise- the one that got so many gun owners involved with the party in the first place.
So for me, the election of Scheer to the leadership position represents another opportunity for the CPC to get it right, but my bottom line is this:
If the CPC fails to massively and substantially reform the Firearms Act once in a majority position, then they will have proven, conclusively, that they never gave a damn about us, and were in fact, liars from the get-go.
They'll be dead to me forever.