'It's a paperweight now': Why the Mounties' ban of popular rifle led to so much pushback

When it comes to Canada's often tense debate around gun laws, most Canadians likely will not have heard of an RCMP database called the Firearms Reference Table, or FRT.

But to people like Melody Philistin, unexpected updates to this database have a personal impact. 

"Yeah. It really sucks," she said.

Philistin is a competitive shooter who recently represented Canada at an international event in the Czech Republic. 

After one of her firearms was banned last year, she trained for the competition using the Sterling Arms R9 MK1, a semi-automatic nine-millimetre rifle.

"We were using those religiously to practice," she said.

Earlier this month, Philistin learned that the rifle had been classified in the FRT as prohibited. Prohibited firearms cannot be legally used, sold, imported, or transferred to another individual.

"It's just a paperweight now. It just sits there," she said.

"There's nothing we can do. What sucks is that [the R9 MK1] was kind of the last hope for [pistol-calibre carbine shooting] in Canada."

The decision blindsided J.R. Cox, the head of the Calgary-based firearms company Sterling Arms International, forcing his company into what he described as "crisis mode." He had to lay off five of his seven employees and had already shipped R9 MK1 units to dealers when the prohibition hit.

So what is the FRT, and why are both gun manufacturers and gun control advocates pushing for the rules to change?

The FRT is a database used by the RCMP to help classify firearms. That classification determines whether a gun is non-restricted, restricted or prohibited.

Technically, the FRT isn't a legal instrument, but instead just an internal RCMP tool based on definitions set out in the Criminal Code and Firearms Act. But in practice?

"It's both the law and not the law," said A.J. Somerset, the author of Arms: The Culture and Credo of the Gun.