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

For Immediate Delivery

April 15, 1999

BREITKREUZ EXPOSES EIGHT MORE "ISOLATED CASES" BY FIREARMS CENTRE

"Many gun owners won’t notice there’s a problem until they’re arrested for not having a valid licence."

Ottawa – Last night in the House of Commons, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, caused the Parliamentary Secretary to stumble at the start of his prepared script. "When I questioned the Minister of Justice on March 17th, I asked her how would she like it if her picture showed up on someone else’s firearms licence?" explained Breitkreuz. "But when I followed up the question last night in Adjournment Proceedings, I exposed two huge blunders by the Canadian Firearms Centre. The Parliamentary Secretary was already committed with the Justice Department’s spin that this was just an ‘isolated case’ and looked pretty foolish in light of the evidence of the two cases I had just presented in the House."

"Actually, there are many cases," said Breitkreuz. "In addition to the cases of Mr. Soltis and Mr. Moss, there are two other gun registry-blunder victims: one, the chap who received a firearms licence with Mr. Soltis’ picture on it; and the other, Mr. Moss who didn’t get the firearms licence he applied for. "When Mr. Moss returned the other William Moss’ licence to the Ontario Provincial Police they told him they had five similar cases. Just this morning, Mr. Soltis informed me that the individual who received the firearms licence with Soltis’ picture had turned the licence into the Abbotsford police." Breitkreuz tallied, "So now that’s a total of nine ‘isolated cases’."

Breitkreuz explained that these are not frivolous complaints, "A firearms licence is a primary piece of identification. Have you ever heard of a passport, social insurance card, health card or drivers licence being issued with someone else’s picture on it or sent to the wrong person at the wrong address? Just think of the possible abuses that could occur. And yet, the Minister seems unconcerned or unaware of the consequences that these colossal errors, made by her department, could have."

"Individuals who receive faulty licences will be stopped by the police. If they are in the possession of a firearm, the accuracy of their government-issued licence is the only thing that will keep them out of jail. If even one law-abiding firearm owner is harassed by the police because of bureaucratic incompetence, it will be inexcusable. The key question remains: how many other mistakes like these have been made by the Department of Justice? Do we have to wait until each and every individual holder of a faulty licence complains about the breach of privacy?" asked Breitkreuz.

He continued, "Many gun owners won’t notice there’s a problem until a police officer points out the error and arrests them. They will likely be held until the police are sure it’s actually the person who is authorized to own the firearm in their possession. How does the Minister propose to find all the mistakes that have been made by her department? Will she stop the issuing of licences until her departmental officials get their act together?" Breitkreuz concluded, "While police are burning up valuable resources and tax dollars sorting out these bureaucratic blunders, the criminals are laughing all the way to their next job."

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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