Head of Quebec mosque calls for tougher measures for provincial gun-control registry

The head of the Quebec City mosque attacked by a gunman two years ago this month is calling on the Quebec government to strengthen the rules governing its new long-gun registry.

Boufeldja Benabdallah, the co-founder of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec, sent a letter to Premier François Legault signalling the mosque's support of the registry — but calling for tougher verification measures for people with a history of mental illness.

"We know there is opposition from those who own firearms and don't want to register them," Benabdallah told Radio-Canada. "We reached out to the premier to make sure he doesn't give in to that pressure."

Although it's faced some opposition from the National Firearms Association, the provincial registry goes into effect on Jan. 29, the second anniversary of the shooting.

 Alexandre Bissonnette, who shot and killed six people at the mosque and wounded five others in the attack, awaits sentencing next month after pleading guilty last March to six counts of first-degree murder and six counts of attempted murder.

The provincial government vowed to create its own long-gun registry after Stephen Harper's Conservative government dismantled the federal registry in 2012.

Quebec's gun control legislation, Bill 64, was adopted by the National Assembly in June 2016 with all-party support.

Bissonnette's mental health history

Bissonnette had a history of mental illness, which he apparently did not report on his gun licence application form.

Benabdallah says he believes that if police had been alerted to Bissonnette's mental illness, they could have made a preventative seizure of his weapons.

"We need to improve background checks," Benabdallah said. "Does the person have a history of unstable behaviour? Of violence? Are they depressive very often? Those would be criteria to prevent people's access to arms."

He said the mosque supports the registration of all firearms, and he hopes to see the "definitive enforcement" of the Firearms Registration Act, starting on Jan. 29.