Interesting how attitudes change over time. Way back when a FAC was supposed to last for life. Now most people are completely on board with showing a PAL to buy ammo. Only 10 years since we had the amnesty and 22? Years since the liberals brought in the damn rifle registry and the PAL system. I actually got my PAL because my father still had my 22 from when I was a kid as well as a shotgun he bought for going on horseback trips but hadn't bothered to convert his FAC to a PAL. So, I got mine as the fact that he could face jail time for failing to do paperwork troubled me.
We've all gotten used to it, but I'm pretty skeptical it keeps firearms or ammo out of the wrong hands. Now these guys definitely should have been following the rules, but they could have done anything from intentionally trafficking to criminal elements to making a habit of not checking PAL's when farmer Bob came to buy a box of ammunition.
Plays the same in the media and according to the law as far as I can tell, but a big $
:/(& difference between the two. In my mind, one is careless and one is criminal. Wonder which one this will turn out to be.
I remember buying 22 shells at the local hardware store as a 10 year old and rifle racks (and rifles) in the back windows of lots of pickups. Don't remember anyone shooting up parliament hill or shooting it out with the Mounties back then though. It's almost as if violent crime is related to social and economic factors more than regulations that only affect the law abiding (and place them in legal jeopardy). Can't say I feel any safer these days either. YMMV.