“Auditor
General’s 1993 directive to evaluate the effectiveness of gun control programs
is being ignored too.”
Yorkton
– Today,
Garry Breitkreuz, the Official Opposition’s gun control critic, used
information obtained under the authority of the Access
to Information Act
(ATI) to embarrass the Liberals and the Department of Justice yet again. “It’s clear from these documents that the government
doesn’t have a clue what it’s doing. They’re
plowing hundreds of millions of dollars into a program that they don’t know is
effective or not,” said Breitkreuz.
On
April 22, 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chretien was quoted in the National
Post
clearly stating that the goal of the new gun registry is to make “less
guns available.” On August 2, 2001, Breitkreuz filed an ATI request asking for
“the
government’s short-term and long-term projections of the number of guns and
gun owners in Canada.” On
January 9, 2002, the government provided 115 pages of records without any
short-term and long-term projections as requested.
Three pages were not disclosed because they were declared Cabinet
secrets. Breitkreuz has filed a
complaint with the Information Commissioner of Canada.
In
his 1993 report to Parliament, the Auditor General of Canada wrote: As
well, our review of the new [gun
control]
regulations indicated that important data, needed to assess the potential
benefits and future effectiveness of the regulations, were not available at the
time the regulations were drafted. Because of this, we believe it is important that the measures
chosen by the government be evaluated at the earliest opportunity. [Item
27.3
- Page
647]
Despite promises to the contrary, the Department of Justice responses to
several of Breitkreuz’s ATI requests prove that the Liberals have ignored the
Auditor General’s recommendation for the last nine years.
1.
The government has no data on the number of violations of more than
70,000 firearms prohibition orders [Justice
ATI File: A-2001-0299];
2.
The
government has no data on the number of guns confiscated from more than 70,000
persons who are prohibited from owning firearms; or as a result of more than
4,000 refused and revoked firearms licences [Justice
ATI File: A-2001-0251];
3.
The
government has no data on the number of guns confiscated as a result of
government decrees banning hundreds of different types of firearms [Justice
ATI File: A-1999-0252 and RCMP File: 00-07687];
4.
The government has never checked with licenced firearms dealers to see
who purchased these prohibited firearms; and
5.
The
government can’t produce any evidence to show why these guns were so dangerous
that they needed to be banned in the first place [Justice
ATI File: A-1999-0252].
“Even
the 4-year mandatory minimum sentences aren’t working,” said Breitkreuz.
To prove his point, the Saskatchewan MP quoted from the February 13,
2002, edition of The Hamilton Spectator: A
man linked to Montreal street gangs who was arrested with two loaded handguns
after a kidnapping and robbery in Niagara Falls got a 10-month jail sentence
yesterday after throwing himself on the mercy of the court.
[Page A08]
“In
1993, the Department of Justice promised to do ongoing evaluations of their gun
control legislation. The evidence
clearly shows that the department has not kept their promise.
It’s been nine years since the Auditor General of Canada looked at the
effectiveness of our gun laws. In
just the last six years, the Liberals have wasted $700 million trying to
implement their totally ineffective gun registry.
The time has come for the Auditor General to have another look,”
concluded Breitkreuz.
-30-
SUPPORTING
DOCUMENTATION FOR MARCH 12TH RELEASE
By
Garry Breitkreuz, MP – March 8, 2002
PRIME
MINISTER’S STATED OBJECTIVE FOR
THE
GUN REGISTRY: “WITH
LESS GUNS AVAILABLE”
Breitkreuz
ATI Request to Dept. of Justice dated August 2, 2001:
On
Thursday, April 22, 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chretien was quoted in the
National Post: “I’ve
always been committed to gun control," he said.
“Even with gun control we might have some problems, we’ve seen that
here in Ottawa…But at least with less guns available you have less
chance of seeing tragedies like that.”
[Emphasis
added] Given
that the Prime Minister’s publicly stated objective of the government’s gun
control program is to make “less guns available” please provide copies of
records documenting the government’s short-term and long-term projections for
the number of guns and gun owners in Canada.
Breitkreuz
complaint to the Information Commissioner of Canada regarding the Department of
Justice response to Dept. of Justice ATIP File: A-2001-0156/ms:
You will note that the department has not provided any documents with respect
to the “long-term projections of the number of guns and gun owners in
Canada” as we specifically requested. The
Prime Minister of Canada has specifically stated that the goal of the program is
to reduce the number of firearms. It
is inconceivable that the department has not responded to the Prime Minister’s
clearly stated policy objective with documentation showing how his goal will be
achieved and the results expected year-by-year for the next ten or fifteen
years. The Prime Minister would
also expect the department to produce documents showing the correlation between
the projected reduction in the number of firearms and the impact this will have
on firearms crime.
NO
DATA ON VIOLATIONS OF FIREARMS PROHIBITION ORDERS
Breitkreuz
ATI Request to Dept. of Justice dated February 6, 2002:
Justice Department documents show a “cumulative total” of 70,796 persons
prohibited from owning firearms. Please
provide copies of reports showing the number of persons who have violated their
prohibition orders since January 1, 1995, and the punishment imposed for these
violations.
Dept.
of Justice Response (ATIP File: A-2001-0299/mb) dated February 28, 2002: I
must advise you that a search of the records under the control of the Department
of Justice has revealed none on this subject.
The Canadian Firearms Program does not have any reports about the number
of violations of prohibition orders and punishments imposed.
NO
DATA ON NUMBER OF GUNS CONFISCATED AS A RESULT OF
Breitkreuz
ATI Request to Dept. of Justice dated December 17, 2001:
The Justice Minister’s news release dated December 5, 2001, stated:
“Since December 1, 1998, over 4,000 firearms licences have been refused or
revoked by public safety authorities.” Since
December 1, 1998, please provide copies of records and reports that show the
number and types of firearms that have been confiscated as a result of firearms
licences that have been refused and revoked and as a result of court ordered
firearms prohibitions.
Dept.
of Justice Response (ATIP File: A-2001-0251/mb) dated January 29, 2002:
I must advise you that a search of the records under the control of the
Department of Justice has revealed none on this subject.
The Canadian Firearms Centre informs us that the Canadian Firearms
Registry does not keep statistics on the confiscation of firearms.
-2-
NO
DATA ON THE NUMBER OF GUNS CONFISCATED AS A RESULT OF
BANNING
HUNDREDS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF FIREARMS
Breitkreuz
ATI Request to Dept. of Justice dated February 14, 2000:
Please
provide copies of all reports, briefing notes, records and correspondence which
document: (1) The factors considered and the reasons why the government
prohibited the Feather Model AT-9 semi-auto carbine (i.e. number of crimes
committed with this firearm, etc); (2) The decision-making process involved in
issuing the prohibition order; (3) The cost of processing, passing, implementing
and maintaining this prohibition order;, and (4) The results achieved by the
prohibition of this firearm (i.e. the number of firearms turned in to police,
the number of firearms confiscated, compensation paid to owners, number of
firearms destroyed, the reduction of crime, etc, etc.
Dept.
of Justice Response (ATIP
File: A—1999-0252/rr) dated April 14, 2000:
Please
note that the department does not collect all of the information which you have
requested. In part one of your
request, you asked for the number of crimes committed with this particular
weapon. The department does not
keep statistics of that nature. Part
three of your request was for the cost of processing, passing, implementing and
maintaining this prohibition order; again, the department does not capture
information related to this aspect of your request.
Finally, in part four of your request, you asked for the results achieved
from the prohibition of this firearm, citing specifically the number of firearms
turned in, the number confiscated, compensation paid, the number of firearms
destroyed and the reduction of crime. No
compensation was paid, as the Order-in-Council prohibiting this firearm did not
offer compensation, as you will see from the enclosed records.
In respect to statistics, statistics on reduction of crimes associated
with this weapon are not kept. Statistics
on the number of Feather Model AT-9’s turned in, confiscated or destroyed may
be available from the RCMP Register.
Breitkreuz
ATI Request to the RCMP dated February 14, 2000:
Please
provide copies of all records and information available on the Feather Model
AT-9 that was prohibited under Prohibited Weapons Order No. 11. Information requested includes: the total number of crimes
committed with this firearm, the total number imported into Canada, the total
number registered in the Canadian Firearms Registry, the total number turned in
to police, the total number destroyed by police, the total number exported out
of Canada, the cost to the RCMP to implement and maintain this prohibition
order.
RCMP
Response (RCMP File: 00ATIP-07687)
dated March 10, 2000: Based
on the information provided, a search for records was conducted in Ottawa
(Ontario). Please be advised that
we were unable to locate any information relating to your request.
NOTE:
The RCMP never contacted licenced firearms dealers to determine how many
Feather Model AT-9s they imported into Canada, how many they sold or to request
the names of the persons they sold the newly banned firearms to.
On May 15, 2000, one firearms dealer provided the following documentation
on the Feather AT-9 for his store: “imported
75, returned 7, sold 68.” He
still has the names and addresses on file of every customer who purchased the
now prohibited Feather AT-9.
DEPARTMENT
OF JUSTICE 1993 PROMISES TO THE AUDITOR GENERAL
Recommendations
27.50
The Department of Justice should undertake a rigorous evaluation of the
gun control program.
Department’s
response:
The
current gun control initiative made only limited use of the 1983 evaluation.
More reliance was placed on the statistics available since the seventies
on homicides, suicides, accidental deaths, and robberies.
In any event, the legislation and regulations were driven by clear public
interest considerations, which need to be acted upon despite the absence of
precise data. The Department
monitors the gun control program on an ongoing basis.
In order to supplement this, the department always intended to undertake
an evaluation of this initiative. Evaluation
plans have been under development for some time but any new evaluable issues
raised by the Auditor General and not included in our plans will be added.
[Page 654]