Swiss Arms and Cz858 Amnesty Detailed

As part of the ongoing reclassification reaction, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney had mentioned a 5 year amnesty during question period. He promised that no charges would be laid against law abiding gun owners, and that action would be taken to make sure this could not happen again.

Documentation is finally circulating, and the amnesty is officially in-effect. I am attaching the details here:

Swiss Arms and Cz858 Amnesty.pdf

You’ll notice that this amnesty covers all Swiss Arms FRTs and a wide range of Cz858 FRTs.

However, the conditions of the amnesty involve ownership, transport to a museum, and transport to police for surrendering. There are no conditions to address actual field use, or sale between owners.

It seems that these rifles have become safe-queens by decree. In the 90s and early 2000s “amnesty” meant that owners would not be prosecuted for possessing their prohibited guns, but did not allow them to be shot or sold like the other classes. More often than not it meant the guns had to be turned in for destruction, or in some cases that the owners would be grandfathered in to a prohibited license.

While initial off-the-record rumours suggested that the amnesty would allow these rifles to be used and sold like non-restricted firearms while the Government and the RCMP got things straightened out, this current document effectively puts that to rest.

I would encourage any current owners to download and print that document for the time being and keep it with your rifle. Keep in mind that this document is not the final solution, but only a stop-gap. Hopefully it will be followed through with real reforms, and a reversal of the RCMP’s decision.