Yorkton-Melville
|
Garry Breitkreuz, M.P. Yorkton-Melville |
News Release |
For Immediate Delivery
June 15, 1999
PRODUCTION UP BUT GUN REGISTRATION DEADLINES STILL IMPOSSIBLE TO MEET
"It will still take between 50 and 150 years to register all the legally-owned firearms in Canada."
Yorkton – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released results of yet another Access to Information Request, proving once again, that the Liberal’s much politicized gun registry is doomed to fail. "As of May 24, 1999, the Canadian Firearms Registry registered only 65,825 firearms and two-thirds of these were in dealer inventories. So in 118 working days, the government has registered only 557 firearms per day," reported Breitkreuz. "That’s better than the 360 per day they were doing in February, but far lower than the 4,000 firearms per day that was estimated in a secret report prepared for the government on November 30, 1998 by PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is also far, far lower than the 7,500 per day they need to register, if they still plan to register all the legally-owned guns (the government says there are) in Canada by the deadline of January 1, 2003."
Breitkreuz obtained this new information about the number of firearms registered since December 1, 1998 from the RCMP in response to an Access to Information Request. (See summary of ATI request results attached).
"I’m even giving the government the benefit of the doubt in these calculations," said Breitkreuz. "I used their low-ball estimate of 7 million firearms in Canada. Most reputable sources estimate the number of firearms in Canada at closer to 21 million. I also used 249 working days in a year, while the secret report prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers calculated there were only 201 working days per year at the Central Processing Site in Miramichi." (See Calculations Worksheet attached)
"Even based on the government’s ridiculously low estimate of the number of guns in Canada, they have to process thirteen times the number of gun registrations per day than 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. "The gun registry is dying the death of a thousand bureaucrats."
"Everyday it seems I read a news report of a criminal using a handgun in the commission of a crime. Registration of handguns has been in place since 1934 but the government can’t produce a shred of evidence it has helped prevent or even solved one crime. I suggest it’s time for the government to cut its losses at $300 million and start reinvesting this money on something that will really help police improve public safety," concluded Breitkreuz.
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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
RCMP Access to Information Request No. 99-ATIP-14271 Obtained by Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville) NUMBER OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY RCMP CANADIAN FIREARMS REGISTRY BETWEEN DECEMBER 1, 1998 AND MAY 24, 1999 NR = Non-Restricted Firearm PF = Prohibited Firearm RF = Restricted Firearm O = Other |
|||||
FA TYPE |
FA CLASS |
REGISTRATION BUSINESS |
REGISTRATION INDIVIDUAL |
TRANSFER |
TOTAL |
| Combination gun | NR | 54 |
54 |
||
| Combination gun | NR | 30 |
30 |
||
| Combination gun | NR | 42 |
42 |
||
| Commercial Version | PF | 2 |
2 |
||
| Commercial Version | PF | 2 |
2 |
||
| Commercial Version | RF | 3 |
3 |
||
| Commercial Version | RF | 3 |
3 |
||
| Handgun | NR | 1 |
1 |
||
| Handgun | PF | 3142 |
3142 |
||
| Handgun | PF | 16 |
16 |
||
| Handgun | PF | 157 |
157 |
||
| Handgun | RF | 4991 |
4991 |
||
| Handgun | RF | 90 |
90 |
||
| Handgun | RF | 2344 |
2344 |
||
| Machine gun | PF | 1 |
1 |
||
| Machine gun | PF | 3 |
3 |
||
| Other | NR | 6 |
6 |
||
| Rifle | NR | 25074 |
25074 |
||
| Rifle | NR | 4235 |
4235 |
||
| Rifle | NR | 8140 |
8140 |
||
| Rifle | O | 3 |
3 |
||
| Rifle | O | 2 |
2 |
||
| Rifle | PF | 7 |
7 |
||
| Rifle | PF | 5 |
5 |
||
| Rifle | RF | 203 |
203 |
||
| Rifle | RF | 105 |
105 |
||
| Shotgun | NR | 11118 |
11118 |
||
| Shotgun | NR | 3154 |
3154 |
||
| Shotgun | NR | 2833 |
2833 |
||
| Shotgun | PF | 1 |
1 |
||
| Shotgun | RF | 1 |
1 |
||
| Shotgun | RF | 1 |
1 |
||
| Submachine gun | PF | 55 |
55 |
||
| Submachine gun | PF | 1 |
1 |
||
| Total | 44662 | 7525 | 13638 | 65825 | |
CALCULATIONS WORKSHEET
By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – June 15, 1999
(1) 118 Working days between December 1, 1998 and May 24, 1999
(2) 65,825 Firearm Registrations issued in 118 working days = 557 guns registered/day
Note #1: Total includes 44,662 firearms registered to dealers, 7,525 to individuals and 13,638 transfers
Note #2: Registration Certificates have still not been printed for all the rifles and shotguns registered to date
(3) A secret PricewaterhouseCoopers report prepared for the Dept. of Justice estimated
504,238 guns would be registered in first 6 months – that’s over 4,000 guns per day.
Note: "Review of CPS Capabilities vs Service Level Expectations – Final Report – Nov 30/98"
(4) 924 working days remaining to issue gun registrations before deadline of Jan 1, 2003
Note: PricewaterhouseCoopers used 201 working days/year in a Secret report for Dept. of Justice titled "Review
of CPS Capabilities vs Service Level Expectations – Final Report – Nov 30/98"
(5) Number of Legally-Owned Firearms in Canada between 7 and 21 million
(6) 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 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.
(7) Firearms Registry production totals as of February 23, 1999 and as of May 24, 1999
- Feb 23/99 – 20,531 total – 1,938 handguns - 12,551 rifles - 6,009 shotguns – 33 other
- May 24/99 – 65,825 total – 10,741 handguns – 37,774 rifles – 17, 108 shotguns – 202 other
Note: Total includes 44,662 firearms registered to dealers, 7,525 to individuals and 13,638 transfers