OTTAWA - Almost three weeks after Public Safety Minister Vic Toews threatened to bring down the hammer to end so-called backdoor long-gun registries, he has yet to pull the trigger on any action.

"We will act in due course," said Toews on Monday.

In a May 8 letter to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, Toews threatened to bring down legislation or regulation to stop provincial chief firearms officers (CFOs) from demanding gun shops register the sale of unrestricted rifles and shotguns in paper ledgers.

Two days later, Paulson wrote to CFOs to tell them "Parliament has sought to eliminate any form of a long-gun registry."

Critics say the ledgers force hunters, farmers, and others to disclose the same information they had to provide under the now abolished federal long-gun registry.

But the practice has continued in most provinces, with only New Brunswick falling into line.

The RCMP has not said whether it views paper ledgers as a "form of long-gun registry."