The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation is not happy with the 11th-hour amendments that the Liberals introduced to Bill C-21, expanding the definition of a prohibited firearm.

The amendment effectively bans millions of hunting and sporting rifles, in addition to the models already included in the proposed legislation.

Changes were proposed to expand the definition of a prohibited firearm to include semi-automatic rifles and shotguns “designed to accept a detachable cartridge magazine with a capacity greater than five cartridges of the type for which the firearm was originally designed”.

"The promise had been made many times by our federal government that the new firearm legislations that were being proposed or considered at that time were not going to affect rank-and-file hunters, land owners, that might have firearms for predator control and that sort of thing. Obviously, that promise somewhat got lost in translation somewhere and the latest list, certainly the list that was added after the fact has many firearms listed on there that are commonly used by the hunting community and certainly by the ranching and farming community," said Darrell Crabbe, executive director of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation.

Last week the Government of Saskatchewan introduced the Saskatchewan Firearms Act, to protect the rights of lawful firearms owners.

"We very much appreciate the position taken by the Saskatchewan government towards having sensible firearm legislation put into place that will certainly strive to protect and provide safety for Saskatchewan's residents. At the same time, we have to be reasonable in the fact that everybody that has a Possession and Acquisition License for firearms is being vetted every day. If anything does occur, the people's license to have firearms is revoked...This new legislation that's being put forward, it certainly might be able to help lend some assistance to the firearm community. The pendulum has swung very far the other way and we need some sensible legislation put into place."

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation says there are approximately 115,000 licensed firearms owners in Saskatchewan - 75,000 of whom may be penalized, and criminalized with this updated bill.