Federal gun bill proposals could make firearm system even more of a patchwork: expert

OTTAWA — A professor who has closely tracked the history of gun control says the Liberal government’s latest moves could make Canada’s complex firearm classification system even more complicated.

The government is proposing a ban on assault-style firearms that would apply once legislation now before Parliament comes into force.

But the ban would not apply retroactively.

Blake Brown, a historian at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, says that means many currently available firearms won’t be prohibited even though they could meet the definition of an assault-style gun that may be applied down the road.