August 29, 1997
For Immediate Release

"If gun registration reduces crime, why are handgun homicides increasing?"

Yorkton -- Opposition Solicitor General Critic, Garry Breitkreuz, says that a government report released this week in Fredericton to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police does not justify the need for registration of 20 million legally-owned rifles and shotguns in Canada.

"The report was paid for by the Department of Justice and has everything to do with bureaucrats trying to justify their own positions and nothing to do with improving public safety," said Breitkreuz. The report says that a universal firearms registration system is needed because 52% of guns recovered from crime scenes [including suicides] in five cities in 1995 were rifles and shotguns while only 21% were handguns.

However, the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics issued another report which seems to prove gun registration doesn’t work. The Statistics Canada report said in 1995, only 2% of violent crime victims encountered firearms, approximately one-third of homicides involve a firearm [Note: more people are stabbed to death than are shot]. And, since 1991 the use of handguns has increased, accounting for one-half of all firearm homicides. The Justice reports fail to explain why the use of handguns is increasing when all legally-owned handguns have been registered in Canada since 1934. "The answer is simple," explained Breitkreuz. "Criminals don’t register their handguns, nor will they register their rifles and shotguns."

"Independent surveys show police-on-the-street do not support gun registration. They know there are better ways to spend scarce tax dollars to reduce violent crime than wasting hundreds of millions on an ineffective gun registration system. As well, the Justice Ministers in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Yukon and the NWT have all opted out of the administration of the gun registration scheme and are challenging the constitutionality of the law in court."

"All Canadians should be asking the government what they’re doing about the other 98% of the victims of violent crime who don’t encounter firearms," said Breitkreuz. "Last year, Statistics Canada issued another report which showed that the number of police officers on our streets is at the lowest level since 1972. Put the money where it will do the most good - more police on the street will reduce crime, improve public safety and save lives."

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For more information please contact:

The Office of Garry Breitkreuz, M.P.

Yorkton: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa: (613) 992-4394