Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.
Yorkton-Melville		 News Release

For Immediate Delivery

April 6, 1999

THE LIBERALS DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO REGISTER ALL THE GUNS

"At this rate, the government can’t even register the new guns coming into the country every year.

It will take until the year 2076 just to register the Justice Minister’s incorrect estimate of 7 million guns."

Yorkton – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released results of an Access to Information Request (see attached) to expose another fatal flaw in the government’s new firearms registry. "In the first three months of operation, they licenced only 14,193 law-abiding gun owners and registered only 20,531 guns," reported Breitkreuz. "The Department of Justice is only processing 360 gun registrations per day. They have to process between 7,000 and 21,000 a day to meet the deadline of January 1, 2003."

Breitkreuz calculated the Canadian Firearms Registry is only licencing 249 responsible gun owners a day and only issuing 360 gun registrations a day (see calculations worksheet attached). "Even based on the government’s ridiculously low estimate of the number of gun owners and guns in Canada they have to process 20 times the number of licences and registrations they are doing now in order to meet the deadlines in the legislation," revealed Breitkreuz. "And this doesn’t include the tens of thousands of new entrants into the hunting and shooting sports and the more than 200,000 new firearms entering the country every year."

"In response to another Access to Information Request, the government even admitted that their methodology for calculating the number of guns and gun owners is flawed," said Breitkreuz. On August 15, 1996, a Research Officer in the Canadian Firearms Centre wrote a memo to his boss with a research paper on the issue: "Estimating the volume on the Canadian Firearms Registration System during the seven year implementation period." He reported: "Based on several polls, including the Angus Reid 1991 survey of 10,000 households, the Department of Justice calculated that approximately 7 million guns are owned by 3 million gun owners in Canada. There is a possibility of error in any sampling survey or collection of surveys, and there is a possibility of under reporting as some survey respondents may choose to conceal the fact that they have firearms." Breitkreuz added, "This confirms what Reform MPs, polling experts and responsible firearm owners have been telling the government since 1994."

"The Minister of Justice misled Parliament about the implementation costs that have more than doubled since 1995. Now we learn that the Minister has known since at least August 1996 that the number of guns and gun owners on which those estimates are based was fatally flawed," stated Breitkreuz. "The Liberal majority on the Justice Committee has repeatedly voted against Reform motions to re-examine the government’s overspending on the new firearms registry. Now that the truth is finally revealed, I respectfully request the Auditor General investigate this public deception and waste and put a stop to this billion dollar boondoggle."

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For more information, please call:

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309
Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394
e-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca

 

RESPONSE TO ACCESS TO INFORMATION REQUEST A98-00258

Received at the office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. March 29, 1999

SECRET

Date: March 8, 1999

Canadian Firearms Centre

Department of Justice (DOJ)

All numbers reflect status to February 23, 1999

Request (a) The total number of firearms currently registered in the new Firearms Registry by type of firearm (i.e. rifles, shotguns, restricted, prohibited), including those in inventories.

DOJ Response: 20,531 total; 33 combination guns, 1,938 handguns, 12,551 rifles, 6,009 shotguns

Request (b) The number of firearms that have been registered by the Canadian Firearms Centre since December 1, 1998, again by type of firearm.

DOJ Response: Same as above

Request (c) The number of firearm owners that have been licenced by the Canadian Firearms Centre since December 1, 1998, including FAC applications which were issued Licences.

DOJ Response: 14,193

Request (d) The number of firearms that have been transferred from one owner to another in private sales since December 1, 1998.

DOJ Response: 1,524 (this includes sales from individuals to businesses and from individuals to individuals)

Request (e) The number of firearms that have transferred from firearms dealers to individual firearm owners since December 1, 1998.

DOJ Response: 4,268 (this includes sales from businesses to individual)

 

 CALCULATIONS WORKSHEET

By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – April 6, 1999

(1) 57 Working days between December 1, 1998 and February 23, 1999

(2) 14,193 Firearms Licences issued in 57 working days = 249 gun owners licenced/day

(3) 20,531 Firearm Registrations issued in 57 working days = 360 guns registered/day

Note: Registration Certificates have not still not been printed for the 18,560 rifles and shotguns registered

(4) 463 working days remaining to issue firearms licences before deadline of January 1, 2001.

(5) 961 working days remaining to issue gun registrations before deadline of January 1, 2003

(6) Number of Responsible Firearm Owners in Canada

(7) Number of Legally-Owned Firearms in Canada

(8) Number of Licences to issue per day before deadline of January 1, 2001

(9) Number of Registrations to issue per day before deadline of January 1, 2003

Important Note: An Access to Information Request revealed that on August 15, 1996 a Research Officer in the Canadian Firearms Centre wrote a memo to his boss with a research paper on the issue: "Estimating the volume on the Canadian Firearms Registration System during the seven year implementation period." He reported: "Based on several polls, including the Angus Reid 1991 survey of 10,000 households, the Department of Justice calculated that approximately 7 million guns are owned by 3 million gun owners in Canada. There is a possibility of error in any sampling survey or collection of surveys, and there is a possibility of under reporting as some survey respondents may choose to conceal the fact that they have firearms." This confirms what Reform MPs, polling experts and responsible firearm owners have been telling the government since 1994.