NEWS RELEASE

December 9, 2002                                                                                                          For Immediate Release

GUN REGISTRY SHOULD PASS THE AUDITOR GENERAL’S PUBLIC SAFETY TEST

“Last week proved that people trust the Auditor General to report the truth – not the Liberal government.”

Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights, reintroduced his Firearms Law Sunset Act for the fourth time.  “We believe in gun control, but the programs have to actually reduce the criminal use of firearms.  They must also be cost-effective and work better than other program alternatives,” stated Breitkreuz. 

“Last week proved once again that the people can no longer trust the Department of Justice to tell them the truth about any of their programs -- especially the cost and effectiveness of their gun registry,” said Breitkreuz.  “Fortunately, there is an officer of Parliament the people do trust and that’s the Auditor General of Canada.  Mrs. Sheila Fraser and her staff have the expertise to take all the emotion out of the argument about whether gun registration works and replace it with evidence and facts about what works and what doesn’t.  This is what my Private Members’ Bill would accomplish.”

Here’s what Garry said in the House of Commons today when he introduced his bill:

Mr. Speaker, today I am re-introducing this bill for the fourth time.  I would like to thank the Member for Peace George-Peace River  for seconding my Firearms Law Sunset Act. Never in the history of ill-conceived gun control laws has the need for this legislation been more obvious. 

Mr. Speaker, the Firearms Law Sunset Act guarantees that scarce tax dollars will only be spent on gun control measures that actually improve public safety. My sunset law would require the automatic repeal of any gun control measure five years after it is implemented unless it can pass a public safety test administered by the Auditor General for Canada that proves the measure is cost-effective and achieving it’s stated objective.  I believe all laws we pass in this House must be cost-effective at achieving the stated goal.  Sunset provisions are the only way of guaranteeing this.

Maybe we can’t repeal Bill C-68 right now.  But by passing this bill, we can make sure that all the ineffective measures Bill C-68 imposes on Canadians and the billions more that it will waste in the future are re-directed to fighting real crime and curtailing the activities of street gangs, organized crime and terrorists.

“Last week the Liberal government’s credibility took an awful hit but it’s just the start.  Not only did they mislead Parliament and the public about the cost of the gun registry, they have also misled Parliament about the number of guns and gun owners in Canada, the number of firearms involved in crime, and the number of lives saved by their gun registry", observed Breitkreuz.  “We’ll keep digging up the evidence to expose their billion-dollar boondoggle.  One day, in the not too distant future, I hope the Auditor General will validate all the evidence we’ve amassed with respect to the ineffectiveness of the gun registry just like she did on costs last week.  Then these billions can go for programs that have been proven to control crime,” concluded Breitkreuz.

-30-