NEWS RELEASE
October
21, 2003
For
Immediate Release
LIBRARY REPORT EXPOSES MORE MISSING MILLIONS IN GUN REGISTRY COSTS
“Liberals
still refuse to provide cost information that the Auditor General requested in
her report.”
Ottawa
– Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and
Property Rights, released yet another Library of Parliament report documenting
more millions is gun registry costs that the government has refused to provide
to the Auditor General and to Parliament. “Last
December, the Auditor General’s scathing report on the billion-dollar gun
registry exposed the fact that the Liberal government had failed to calculate
enforcement costs and compliance costs for their much-maligned firearms
program,” stated Breitkreuz.
This
is the third report on these ‘major additional costs’ completed
by the Economics Division of the Parliamentary Research Branch.
In March, a Library of Parliament report revealed that prosecution of
just 10% of the non-compliant gun owners could cost as much as a billion dollars
(See Note #1 below). In June,
Library researchers revealed that compliance costs for licensing gun owners was
between a quarter of a billion dollars and $420 million (See Note #2 below).
The
25-page report released by Breitkreuz today (See Note #3) estimates the
compliance costs for registering and transferring firearms over and above the
fees charged by the government. The
Library report reveals that the compliance costs for a gun owner to register one
gun can cost as little as $17 or as much as $42.
Using this new data and the government’s
own estimates with respect to the number of guns registered (See Note #4 below),
Breitkreuz calculated the following:
COMPLIANCE
COSTS FOR GUNS ALREADY REGISTERED
= $117 MILLION to $343 MILLION
COMPLIANCE
COSTS TO “VERIFY” 5.1 MILLION UNVERIFIED GUNS
= $107 MILLION to $300 MILLION
COMPLIANCE
COSTS FOR GUNS STILL TO BE REGISTERED
= $ 29 MILLION to $
76 MILLION
ANNUAL
COMPLIANCE COSTS FOR LICENCING AND REGISTRATION
= $ 77 MILLION to $142
MILLION
Both
the Library’s report and Breitkreuz had some words of caution with respect to
the government’s estimates about the total number of guns in Canada.
“The Liberals maintain that there are only 7.9 million guns in Canada
when their own 1976 estimates and firearms import and export records clearly
indicate that there are closer to 16.5 million guns in Canada,” reported
Breitkreuz. Even the Library
addressed this issue in their report citing another study that stated: “At
present, approximately five million Canadians continue to own between 11 million
and 13 million firearms.” Breitkreuz observed, “Compliance costs
alone to register all the unregistered guns in Canada could cost gun owners as
much as $420 million. The
government’s sky-high registration processing costs would add another $160
million to the current billion-dollar price tag.”
The
Library’s report uncovered more than just compliance costs.
For example, a government evaluation that reported firearm license
error rates of 60% and registration error rates of 95%.
“Most of these errors are still part of the registration system and
must be corrected,” said Breitkreuz. “How
much more is that going to cost taxpayers?
How can such an error-riddled system be of any value to police?”
“It’s
disgusting when Parliamentarians have to get researchers in the Library of
Parliament to do the work that the government was told to do by the Auditor
General. (See Note #12 below). The
Solicitor General and his three predecessors should be ashamed of their failure
to fully implement all the Auditor General’s recommendations and for
continuing to keep Parliament in the dark.
Paul Martin was Finance Minister when the secret cost-benefit analysis
was done on the gun registry. Did
he hide this from the public because these hundreds of millions were documented
in that report?” wondered Breitkreuz.
-30-
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
NOTE
#1: March 24, 2003 - News Release - ENFORCING THE FIREARMS
ACT COULD EASILY COST ANOTHER BILLION DOLLARS!
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns81.htm
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/march20,2003.doc
NOTE #2: June 30, 2003 – News Release – COMPLIANCE COSTS REPORT
PROVES GUN REGISTRY PRICE TAG UP AT LEAST ANOTHER QUARTER BILLION
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns88.htm
NOTE #3 – October 10, 2003 - COMPLIANCE COSTS OF FIREARMS REGISTRATION:
PRELIMINARY INDIVIDUAL ESTIMATES – Library of Parliament, Parliamentary
Research Branch, Economics Division
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/LibraryPaper-ComplianceCosts-Registration.doc
NOTE #4 – October 20, 2003 – CALCULATIONS OF REGISTRATION COMPLIANCE COSTS
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/ComplianceCosts-Registration-2003-10-15.xls
NOTE #5: July 5, 2003 - NUMBER OF GUNS REGISTERED = 6,482,845.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsRegistered-2003-07-05.xls
NOTE #6: July 5, 2003 - NUMBER OF GUNS RE-REGISTERED = 482,139
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsRegistered-2003-07-05.xls
NOTE #7: May 26, 2003 - NUMBER OF FIREARMS TRANSFERED
TO INDIVIDUALS = 422,821.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsTransfers-2003-05-26.xls
NOTE
#8: September 9, 2003 - NUMBER OF GUNS STILL TO BE
RE-REGISTERED = 520,392
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article162.htm
NOTE #9: Dec 2, 2002 - NUMBER OF GUNS REGISTERED BY FOREIGN VISITORS = 247,159.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns76.htm
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl51.htm
NOTE
#10: September 9, 2003 - NUMBER OF UNVERIFIED
FIREARMS IN REGISTRY = 5,100,000.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article152.htm
NOTE
#11: November 9, 2000 – ANNUAL LICENCING &
REGISTRATION VOLUMES
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article163.htm
NOTE
#12: May 26, 2003 -- Easter admits government
"does not monitor" major additional gun registry costs as recommended
in Auditor General's report
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/questions/may-26-2003written.htm
NOTE
#13: April 12, 2003 - NUMBER OF VALID FIREARMS
LICENSES ISSUED = 1,930,844.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/FirearmsLicencesbyProv-2003-04-12.xls
NOTE
#14: December 13, 2001 - NUMBER OF GUNS IN CANADA
= 16,500,000.
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl50.htm