Canada bans .22 rifle because it looks similar to an AK-47

[iverglas]

6. ah, my little hometown newspaper

Glad to see it featuring so prominently in, er, the international press ... or wherever you dredged that up from. How did it enter your field of vision, just out of interest? Ah ... reddit ...

How would you feel about an actual primary source, one that tells you facts instead of things like

According to the letter, the decision was made because the AP80 is cosmetically similar to the AK-47 rifle.

http://firearmslaw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/AP-80-Revocation-notice.pdf

Well, a secondary-source copy of the original, which I couldn't find at a quick search of the firearms program site. Sorry I can't copy that photocopy here. It states that the item in question is a "variant of the design of the firearm commony known as the AK47 rifle". Now, that comes from the definition of the class of prohibited weapons in the relevant regulations.

This decision was not actually made by "the feds". It was made by a court.

http://canlii.ca/en/on/onca/doc/2011/2011onca696/2011onca696.html

This Order in Council prescribes in its Schedule firearms that are prohibited for the purposes of the Criminal Code. Section 64 of the Schedule prescribes the AK-47 rifle and “any variant or modified version of it”, including the Mitchell AK-22. In other words, the Governor General in Council has declared the AK-22 to be a variant of the AK-47. If, as is clear, the legislative intent is that the AK-22 is a variant of the AK-47, the same must be true of a weapon which is the same as the AK-22, namely the AP80. The correct interpretation of the Order in Council is therefore that the AP80 is a variant of the AK-47. In finding otherwise, the Provincial Court erred in law.

There ya go. Now you have something of actual substance to pick over.