Yorkton – "Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville and Official Opposition Firearms Critic, flooded another compartment in Liberal government’s Titanic gun registry. "I used to think the officials in the Department of Justice were to blame for gross fiscal mismanagement and bureaucratic bungling. But now I read that in March of 1994, his own bureaucrats warned the Justice Minister in writing of all the problems he could expect if he proceeded with his ill-conceived gun control proposals," revealed Breitkreuz.

1. Advice to the Minister: "Costs to the federal and provincial governments would be substantial. Specific costs cannot be calculated." Breitkreuz commented, "Documented costs of the gun registry now exceed $300 million - 3.5 times the original estimate of $85 million."
2. Advice to the Minister: "While some costs could be recovered from firearm owners in the form of licencing fees, recovery of indirect costs, such as the time of police officers and support staff, telecommunications and data processing resources and similar expenses would be more problematic." Breitkreuz commented, "In the first six months of operation the department collected only $2.9 million in user fees – about 1% of expenses."
3. Advice to the Minister: "There will be strong opposition from firearm owners and interest groups, who fear universal registration is the first step towards confiscation or prohibition." Breitkreuz commented, "The Minister’s 1994 gun control proposals created a "gun lobby" in Canada for the first time. Firearm owners’ fears were proven correct when the Liberal government rammed Bill C-68 through Parliament banning 553,000 handguns that had been previously registered by responsible firearm owners."
4. Advice to Minister: "Further changes may overwhelm police training and communications resources and provoke opposition among the rank-and-file." Breitkreuz commented, "Every survey ever taken of front-line police officers shows the vast majority are opposed to universal gun registration."
5. Advice to the Minister: "Changes of this nature involve major program and resource concerns for the RCMP and provincial agencies." Breitkreuz commented, "In 1991/92, the RCMP employed approximately 30 staff and spent about $2.5 million on the handgun registration system. In 1999, the RCMP employed 391 and spent more than $22 million on the Liberal’s useless gun registry."
6. Advice to Minister: "There are real questions about the extent to which these proposals would improve public safety and whether the high costs could be justified." Breitkreuz commented, "The logic of registering guns has been flawed from the beginning. Placing a piece of paper beside a firearm will never stop a person from using it to commit a violent act and criminals will never register their guns, so what’s the point?"

e-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca