NEWS RELEASE
June
10, 2003
For Immediate Release
NOW PROOF THAT LIBERALS BOTCHED FIREARMS LICENCING TOO
“Government
documents prove the Justice Minister’s promises to Parliament have been
broken.”
Ottawa
– Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and
Property Rights, released a trail of documents obtained over the last two years
that the Liberals botched the firearm licencing program and compromised their
public safety assurances in the process. “The
documents I have obtained through hundreds of Access to Information Act
requests prove that they didn’t do the reference and background checks that
they said they did,” stated Breitkreuz. “They
were so focused on the most useless part of the program – gun registration –
that they forgot to do job-one properly. Now
we know why the firearm licence refusal and revocation rate was more than twice
as good under the old FAC [Firearm Acquisition Certificate] program as it is
under their new licencing scheme. Who
knows how many Marc Lepines have slipped through such a slipshod firearm
licencing system?”
The
Justice Department documents released by Breitkreuz reveal (documentation
attached):
1. January 9, 2001
“Risk to public safety is mitigated through licencing – It is not
a registration issue.”
2. July 11, 2002
Possession and Acquisition Licences issued without a firearms safety
course = 15, 381.
3. April 12, 2003
Possession Only Licences issued without a firearms safety course = 1,305,841.
4. May 28, 2002
Question Period Briefing Note prepared for the Justice Minister states: "Reference
and
background checks are done on each Possession and Acquisition Licence
(PAL) applicant."
June 3, 2003 –
Solicitor
General's response to Q-227 - "There are no statistics available on how
many of the two references
per PAL application were actually called."
5. April 12, 2003
Number of Possession Only Licences (POLs) issued without any requirement
to provide
references = 1,305,841.
6. March 2002
Firearm Licence and Refusal Rates under the old FAC program
administered = 0.76%.
7. March 2003
Firearm Licence and Refusal Rates under new and improved
firearm licencing system = 0.27%.
8. June 3, 2003
No statistics available on reasons for the refusal and revocation of
firearm licences.
9. March 11, 2002
Gun registry has lost the addresses of tens of thousands of licenced
firearm owners.
10.
January
16, 2003
Number of gun owners who didn’t obtain a firearms licence = 541,000.
11.
May 7,
2003
No tracking of addresses or “inspections” of persons who are
prohibited from owning firearms or have had their firearm licences refused and
revoked.
“In the last two months, I have received dozens of letters and e-mails documenting hundreds of cases where PAL applicants never had their references checked and individuals who provided references for PAL applicants who were never called. What’s the point of asking applicants to supply two references if the government isn’t even going to take the time to call them? What other lies did the bureaucrats tell the Minister?” asked Breitkreuz. “The Privacy Commissioner should find this very interesting considering the government’s insistence that all the private and personal questions on the firearm licence applications are essential for conducting effective background checks.”
“Their own
documents show that the billion dollars they’ve wasted couldn’t possibly
keep guns out of the hands of persons that shouldn’t have them - as four
Ministers have promised. How many
promises and how many billions more have to be wasted before voters tell the
Liberals they’ve had enough?”
-30-
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
1.
January 9, 2001 - “Risk to public safety is mitigated
through licencing – It is not a registration issue.”
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/PublicSafetyDocument-Jan92001.pdf
2.
July 11, 2002 – Possession and Acquisition Licences
issued without a firearms safety course = 15, 381.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/moremistakes.htm
3.
April 12, 2003 – Possession Only Licences issued without
a firearms safety course = 1,305,841.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsLicencesbyProv-2003-04-12.xls
4.
May 28, 2002 - Question Period Briefing Note prepared for
the Justice Minister states: "Reference and background checks are done
on each Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) applicant."
June 3, 2003 - Solicitor General's response to Q-227 - "There
are no statistics available on how many of the two references per PAL
application were actually called."
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/questions/june-3-2003written.htm
5.
April 12, 2003 – Number of Possession Only Licences (POLs)
issued without any requirement to provide references = 1,305,841.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsLicencesbyProv-2003-04-12.xls
6.
March 2002 - Firearm Licence and Refusal Rates under the
old FAC program administered = 0.76%
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/licenserefusal.htm
7.
March 2003 - Firearm Licence and Refusal Rates under new
and improved firearm licencing system = 0.27%.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/licenserefusal.htm
8.
June 3, 2003 - No statistics available on reasons for the
refusal and revocation of firearm licences.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/orderpapermay-02-2003.htm
9.
March 11, 2002 – Gun registry has lost the addresses of
tens of thousands of licenced firearm owners.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/registrationmailings.htm
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/firearmscentrelosesguns.htm
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/lostowners.htm
10.
January 16, 2003 – Number of gun owners who didn’t
obtain a firearms licence = 541,000.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article56.htm
11.
May 7, 2003 - No tracking of addresses or “inspections”
of persons who are prohibited from owning firearms or have had their firearm
licences refused and revoked.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/questions/may-7-2003written.htm