“The
firearms licencing incentive failed big-time and so will so-called ‘free’
gun registrations.”
Ottawa
– Today, Garry
Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, fired another salvo at the sinking Liberal
gun registration scheme. “The
Justice Minister’s early licencing incentive program failed and so will this
one. More than a million firearm
owners failed to buy a firearms licence (300,000 by Justice Department
estimates),” said Breitkreuz. “Hundreds
of thousands of gun owners are already breaking the law and could go to jail for
up to ten years if caught. What
kind of ‘incentive’ program does Anne McLellan have in mind that will convince these
hundreds of thousands of civil disobedient gun owners to register the millions
of guns they own? Police on the
street know that a gun registry is useless, especially one that is missing
hundreds of thousands of gun owners and millions of firearms.”
“The only
people this incentive program will appeal to are the two million gun owners that
have already received a firearms licence. Rather
than repeating her past failures, the Justice Minister should face reality,
repeal Bill C-68 and replace it with legislation that has the full support of
responsible firearm owners and full cooperation of all the provinces and
territories. Failing that she
should declare an amnesty and extend the deadline for licencing to coincide with
the registration deadline of January 1, 2003, as her own User Group on Firearms
told her in 1999,” recommended Breitkreuz.
“Many, many
gun owners have told me that they do not intend to register all their firearms,
hoping that the government will eventually come to their senses. Responsible firearm owners know most of the guns the
government confiscates, without compensation I might add, are the ones
registered by law abiding gun owners (just ask the owners of 553,000 registered
handguns that the Liberals banned for no good reason with the passage of Bill
C-68). Many simply don’t trust
the Liberals and are not willing to put all their long guns at similar risk,”
predicted Breitkreuz.
“The Liberals
promise the registration of guns is ‘free’ but is anything the government
does really free?” asked Breitkreuz. “Remember,
just two years ago the Minister of Justice also promised that ‘user
fees would cover the entire cost of the program’.
She can’t keep both promises. What’s
free now may cost us all a lot more later.”
“Waiting a
year to register and paying $18 is a small price to pay to send a clear signal
to the Liberals that we despise their useless gun registration scheme. Laying a piece of paper beside a firearm doesn’t prevent it
from being used illegally and it doesn’t keep firearms out of the hands of
violent criminals. So what good is
it?” asked Breitkreuz. “The
police already know where all the licenced gun owners live.
Registration is just plain harassment of law abiding citizens and diverts
resources the police really need.”
“In April,
the government employed 1800 and had wasted more than half a billion dollars on
a gun registry that was only supposed to cost $85 million to implement,”
reported Breitkreuz. Yesterday, the
government published an Order in Council implementing their ‘free’
gun registration program. The
Canada Gazette stated that the Minister of Justice avoided bringing the matter
before Parliament because the fee reduction was ‘so
urgent’.
“The only reason it is ‘so
urgent’ is so the Minister can meet an arbitrarily established deadline.
January 1, 2003 is a political deadline – not a public safety deadline.
Almost everyone in Canada now knows that the gun registry has nothing to
do with public safety.”
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