“Compliance rates show the gun registry has been
a phenomenal failure in every province and territory.”
Ottawa – Today,
Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released an analysis of the
government’s own data that proves the gun registry is not the ‘phenomenal
success’ claimed by Justice Minister
Anne McLellan. “According to
information provided to me by the Dept. of Justice, more than a million firearm
owners failed to apply for a firearms licence before the January 1st
deadline,” revealed Breitkreuz. “Thirty-seven
percent of existing firearm owners in Canada have not even applied for a licence.”
This despite the fact that the maximum penalty for knowingly being in
unauthorized possession of a firearm is 10 years in jail.
“The Liberals have used the Criminal Code as a big stick when instead they should have worked in full cooperation
with the firearms community and the provinces to implement their program.”
Armed with responses to his
Access to Information requests and correspondence from the Dept. of Justice,
Breitkreuz exposed the extent of the gun registry’s failure.
Compliance rates by province ranged from highs of 87%, 78% and 75% in the
provinces of Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to a low of 40%, 49%
and 57% in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba respectively.
The largest number of non-compliant firearm owners are in Ontario with
287,020; Alberta with 251,043; Quebec with 183,032; and British Columbia with
168,890. “The actual
compliance rates are a lot worse than I am reporting here because the true
number of firearms owners in Canada is much higher than the government has ever
been willing to admit. All we’re
arguing about now is the extent of the failure,” stated Breitkreuz.
“The Liberals ignored all
the common sense advice they received in 1995 concerning Bill C-68 and look at
the jam they’re in now. You
can’t treat millions of good citizens like common criminal suspects simply
because they own a firearm and not expect this type of backlash. The government makes the dubious claim that the gun registry
will somehow be useful to police. But
how is a registry with at least a million gun owners missing from it going to be
of any benefit?” asked Breitkreuz. “No
wonder the vast majority of front-line police officers are so opposed to the gun
registry.” Breitkreuz also
pointed to the recent amendments to the firearms legislation in Bill C-15 as
more evidence that Bill C-68 was a failure.
“On September 22, 1998, Anne McLellan made this statement about Bill
C-68, ‘The debate is over!’
If the debate was over two and a half years ago, why did she introduce 22
pages of amendments to it?”
“Unless the Justice
Minister passes an amnesty, these million or so non-compliant gun owners have no
way of obtaining a licence without committing a Criminal
Code offence. They
are in a ‘Catch-22’ situation,” said Breitkreuz.
“They are already in unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Now, if they obtain a firearms licence and then register their guns, as
the law requires, they will be providing the government with all the evidence
they need to prove they were in illegal possession of their firearms.
They can’t give their guns away because it is a criminal offence to
transfer an unregistered firearm and they can’t register their firearm because
they don’t have a licence. The
Minister claims she wants these people to apply for a firearms licence but
instead of providing them with an amnesty, she leaves any future prosecution for
their offences at the discretion of the local police forces,” explained
Breitkreuz. “It’s no wonder
these non-compliant gun owners aren’t persuaded to come forward by the
Minister’s half-hearted assurances.”
-30-
Table Attached:
Firearms Licence Compliance Rates & Unlicenced Gun Owners, By Province
Note: Source documents available on request
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Firearms
Licence Compliance Rates & Unlicenced Gun Owners, By Province |
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by Garry Breitkreuz, MP - March 30, 2001 |
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PROVINCE |
VALID
FAC's |
POLs/PALs |
TOTAL LICENCES ISSUED |
TOTAL # OF GUN OWNERS |
TOTAL # OF UNLICENCED GUN OWNERS |
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Newfoundland |
6,494 |
73,020 |
79,514 |
91,150 |
87% |
11,636 |
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Nova
Scotia |
3,398 |
88,850 |
92,248 |
122,983 |
75% |
30,735 |
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P.E.I. |
424 |
8,160 |
8,584 |
12,652 |
68% |
4,068 |
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New
Brunswick |
3,241 |
94,868 |
98,109 |
126,393 |
78% |
28,284 |
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Quebec |
35,208 |
470,348 |
505,556 |
688,588 |
73% |
183,032 |
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Ontario |
115,079 |
446,439 |
561,518 |
848,538 |
66% |
287,020 |
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Manitoba |
8,783 |
72,740 |
81,523 |
141,876 |
57% |
60,353 |
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Saskatchewan |
12,795 |
73,211 |
86,006 |
174,127 |
49% |
88,121 |
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Alberta |
19,944 |
146,529 |
166,473 |
417,516 |
40% |
251,043 |
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British
Columbia |
22,205 |
184,632 |
206,837 |
375,727 |
55% |
168,890 |
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Yukon |
1,052 |
3,638 |
4,690 |
11,187 |
42% |
6,497 |
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NWT
& Nunavut |
2,882 |
9,213 |
12,095 |
22,719 |
53% |
10,624 |
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National
Jurisdic. |
-- |
8,273 |
8,273 |
-- |
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CANADA
TOTAL |
231,505 |
1,679,921 |
1,911,426 |
3,033,456 |
63% |
1,122,030 |
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Note
#1:
Number of Valid Firearms Acquisition Certificates (FACs) as of 8 Mar 01 |
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Source: Canadian Firearms Centre e-mail dated: March 27, 2001 |
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Note
#2:
Number of Poss. Only Lic. (POLs) & Poss. Acquisition Lic. (PALs) as of
8 Jan 01 |
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Source: Access to Information - Dept. of Justice file: A-2000-0208
- Feb 28, 2001 |
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Note
#3:
Number of Gun Owners by Province as of 23 May 98 - Average Number of
Owners |
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Source: Dept. of Justice Memorandum dated 24 Sept 98 |
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Subject: Starting Point Volumes and Intake Estimates |
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Note
#4:
Licences under "National Jurisdiction" not available by province |
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