CAUCHON NIXES GENERAL AMNESTY AND DEFIES PM’S OBJECTIVE FOR GUN REGISTRY
“More
than a million gun owners don’t have licences and millions and millions of
guns still aren’t registered.”
Ottawa
– Despite
overwhelming evidence that the Liberal’s billion-dollar gun registry has
failed, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon still refuses to issue a general amnesty
that would allow more than a million gun owners to comply without fear of
prosecution says Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and
Property Rights. The Saskatchewan MP released a package of documents today
including a copy of a letter he received from the Justice Minister that stated:
“As outlined in my previous correspondence, the Government has no plans to
introduce a general amnesty.”
Breitkreuz
has been pressing the Justice Minister since February of this year to issue a
general amnesty just like the Liberals did in 1978 and the Conservatives did in
1992 when major gun control legislation was passed by Parliament.
“While my party is still completely committed to getting rid of this
totally useless gun registry, I am very concerned that the Justice Minister
seems so intent on criminalizing so many citizens for no other reason that they
don’t have a few pieces of paper from the government,” said Breitkreuz.
“It’s no wonder eight provinces and territories have opted out of the
entire program.”
On
April 22, 1999, Prime Minister Jean Chretien was quoted in the National Post
that the goal of the government’s gun control program was to make “less
guns available”. Breitkreuz
claims that Cauchon’s refusal to issue a general amnesty is just driving the
guns underground thereby making them more available to real criminals.
One of the documents released shows the Justice Minister’s own
handpicked User Group on Firearms agrees with Breitkreuz’s assessment.
“No legal means exist whereby these firearms may be registered to
qualified owners. The registration
of these firearms is essential since many of them continue to out of the system
since many years, or are being transferred to unqualified persons outside the
firearms community,” states User Group Recommendation to the Minister
#2000-04.
On
November 21, 2001, the Justice Department’s website estimated there were 3.3
million gun owners in Canada. As of
October 5, 2002, the Justice Department’s website claimed to have issued
firearms licences to just 1.9 million gun owners – leaving 1.4 million gun
owners without a licence,” reported Breitkreuz.
“Other government documents show that more than 300,000 owners of
registered, restricted and prohibited firearms have failed to obtain licences
necessary to own the firearms already registered to them.”
Since 1995, the government has repeatedly refused to resolve the conflict
between a comprehensive 1974 Statistics Canada survey and the government’s own
import and export records that show there are now more than 16 million guns in
Canada – not the 7.9 million the Justice Department currently claims.
The Justice Department’s website states as of October 5, 2002, there
have been only 4.5 million guns registered.
Government documents show the cost of the registry will soon reach one
billion dollars.
“So
many lives could have been saved with this money,” said Breitkreuz.
“The evidence is crystal clear. Three
Justice Minister’s have failed to keep their promises to Parliament on the gun
registry. The only thing they seem to be sticking to is their
completely arbitrary deadline that is simply a political priority and has
absolutely nothing to do with public safety.
They could restore a lot of goodwill if they just issued an amnesty until
they get this mess sorted out. There’s
no need for millions of good Canadians to live in fear of prosecution while the
Liberals main goal seems to be avoiding another political embarrassment,”
concluded Breitkreuz.
-30-