Handgun owners in both New Brunswick and Ontario are being told to carry written invites with them when they drive with their firearms to shooting ranges.

The tighter gun rules in both provinces took effect Jan. 1.

It directs target shooters and instructors to get the paper permission slips if they ever visit a range where they don't have a membership.

"Can we imagine when we have 200 or 300 target competitors coming to a range that they must all get separate letters of invitation?" lawyer Ed Burlew told QMI Agency.

Burlew is the lead lawyer with the Canadian Shooting Sports Association fighting the new rule in court against Ontario's chief firearms officer Chris Wyatt.

"The CFO believes he's the PMO, because really, this isn't necessary," he said.

Restricted firearm owners in Canada need Authorizations to Transport (ATT) documentation to move pistols from their homes to shooting ranges. It's in addition to keeping the gun unloaded, with trigger locks and placed in locked boxes in their vehicles. The need for an invitation was printed on new ATTs sent to gun owners earlier this month.

Burlew says the new changes in Ontario also direct every person who goes to a range to use a handgun to submit their names, addresses, phone numbers, and birthdates to a file where it will be kept for years.

Sources say the move did not come from the federal government which is so far refusing to comment on the case as it is before the courts.