By Dan Gauthier - Tuesday May 23, 2006

Not surprisingly, Dryden gunsmith Bruce Montague fully supports the Conservative government's changes to the federal firearms registry, but he is still uncertain how it will affect his pending charges for violating the Firearms Act.

Montague said Friday he does not yet know if the changes announced to the registry last week -- which include introducing a one-year amnesty for unlicensed owners of non-restricted firearms -- will have any effect on his case.

"I'm not exactly sure how the law works in that area," said Montague. Montague's lawyer Calvin Martin, from Toronto, said he too is unsure what these changes will mean and has since e-mailed the firearms centre in Ottawa to clarify what this may or not mean for his client.

The issue, said Martin, is whether the amnesty will apply to those who have never had a firearms licence, or if it will apply only to those who have let their possession licence lapse or expire.

If the amnesty does apply to Montague, Martin said it would affect a "big chunk" of his charges, in particular any offences dealing with non-restricted firearms.

"But I don't know if they are going to do that," said Martin.

Montague is facing 53 criminal charges for a variety of weapons-related offences including the unauthorized possession and careless storage of non-restricted firearms, explosives and some restricted firearms. He was arrested by the Ontario Provincial Police on Sept. 11, 2004 at a Dryden gun show.

His wife Donna is facing three charges: the unauthorized possession of a firearm and two counts of careless storage of a firearm.

Montague claims these charges, laid under the federal Firearms Act, are unconstitutional and filed a constitutional challenge with Ontario Superior Court on April 30. He has vowed to take his fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Regardless of what effects these recent changes to the firearms registry have on his case, Montague sees it as a positive sign from the new federal government for his plight.

"It shows that our government is siding with me, at least as far as the gun registry is concerned," said Montague. "So that's a step in the right direction."

Montague said it will be interesting to see if the Conservatives follow through with their election promise to repeal the firearms registry altogether. However, he said he is almost hoping they don't, at least until his constitutional challenge of the Firearms Act is heard.

He explained that his challenge seeks to have the courts ­ likely the Supreme Court of Canada ­ "strike" the law from the books for good.

"That will prevent any further governments from trying the same thing," said Montague.

He predicted if any of the other politically parties gain power in the next federal election, there is a "very strong possibility" the firearm registry would be re-introduced.

Montague said, at the very least, these changes will give his case some needed publicity and he hopes the public realizes just why he opposes the Firearms Act.

He said the ease in which the federal government can change possessing unregistered firearms a criminal act to not being a criminal act ­ with a mere "stroke of a pen" ­ should shed some light on what he feels is an unjust law for Canadians.

"I'm not actually getting off of any criminal activity in the way people would think of a criminal activity," said Montague, noting that no one was hurt and there were no victims in his 'crime'.

"They're all paperwork charges."

In any event, Montague's lawyer said a trial will be going forward on all, or some, of his charges. In particular, the charges for possessing restricted firearms and explosives will go to court.

A final pretrial hearing for Montague's case is set for June in a Thunder Bay court. A trial by jury has been tentatively scheduled to begin Sept. 25 in Kenora Superior Court.

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