NEWS RELEASE

May 3, 2004                                                                                                       For Immediate Release

AFTER NEARLY TEN YEARS, 59 SECTIONS OF GUN REGISTRY LAW STILL NOT IN FORCE

“The deception continues.  No wonder they still won’t tell us how much the gun registry will cost!”

Ottawa – Garry Breitkreuz, Deputy House Leader and Official Opposition Justice Critic for Firearms, released a Library of Parliament report (below) showing that 59 sections of the Firearms Act plus the Regulations to implement them are still not in force.  “In 1995, the Liberals were in such a hurry to get their new gun laws implemented they used time-allocation twice to shut down debate.  More than nine years and more than a billion dollars later 59 sections of the law are not still not in force,” reported Breitkreuz.  “This is just more proof that the Liberals deceived Parliament and Canadian taxpayers in 1995, and they’re still doing it 2004.”

Breitkreuz asked for the lawyers in the Library to provide the report after receiving a ‘no records’ response to one of his more than 460 Access to Information Act (ATI) requests.  “The excuse the Canada Firearms Centre used for not providing the number of guns registered by the police and the military was that Sections 8 to 10 and 10 to 16 of the Public Agents Regulations would not come into force until January 1, 2005.  A further check with the Parliamentary researchers revealed that the implementation of these regulations had been delayed five times since they were first approved by Parliament in March of 1998,” revealed Breitkreuz. 

“Police and military guns are already entered in government computers so these should be the easiest guns to include in the new gun registry.  Criminals steal guns from the police and the military too.  The Liberals’ billion-dollar plus gun registry can trace the guns stolen from individuals who have registered their guns but not guns stolen from the police and the military.  It doesn’t make any sense,” declared Breitkreuz.  In September 2003, the RCMP issued a report showing that 18 handguns and two shotguns had been stolen from or lost by the RCMP, and the whereabouts of another 88 firearms in their inventory were unknown.

The response to Breitkreuz’s ATI request by the Canada Firearms Centre also stated: “The Department of National Defence is exempt from registering firearms under the Firearms Act.”  In January of 2002, the RCMP revealed that the Department of Defence had reported 409 lost and stolen guns including: 218 Lee Enfield Rifles, 17 Browning 9mm pistols, an FN Browning .50 calibre Heavy Machine Gun, an AK47, an FN Browning Canadian C9 Service Light Machine Gun 5.56mm, a Colt AR15A2 .223 calibre and many more. 

“Before spending more than a billion dollars on a gun registry for law-abiding citizens, maybe they should have cleaned up their own act first.  No wonder the Liberals have refused to answer our question about how much it is going to cost to fully implement the gun registry – 24 times!” concluded Breitkreuz.

Library Report - Firearms Act & Regulations: Coming Into Force Information - April 22, 2004

http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/April222004-FirearmsAct&Regulations.doc

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