| PUBLICATION:
The Calgary Sun DATE: 2005.10.10 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 7 ILLUSTRATION: photo of VIC TOEWS BYLINE: SARAH KENNEDY, CALGARY SUN WORD COUNT: 210
GUN REGISTRY CASH 'BETTER SPENT' HIRING MORE COPS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Canada's gun registry is a complete failure and the money would be better spent on hiring more police officers, says the government's justice critic. Manitoba MP Vic Toews said the gun registry hasn't been successful in lowering the crime and murder rates in the country. "Crime in Canada is not going down and in fact, in the last 10 years there has been a steady increase," he said. "The murder rate would be higher, too, if it weren't for timely medical intervention." Toews said since the registry came into place, few people have gone to jail for possessing an unregistered firearm. "The issue isn't registration," said Toews, who was in Calgary Saturday for a town-hall meeting on city crime. "The issue should be that we catch these guys who are using guns and put them in jail for longer periods of time." The meeting was organized by MP Lee Richardson. Government figures estimate the cost of the controversial registry at $1 billion. Opposition members have pegged the cost closer to $2 billion. Toews said the registry should be scraped and the money channeled into police resources. In a September Calgary Sun online poll, readers were asked if they thought the federal gun registry was a good idea. Out of 939 respondents, 7% said yes and 93% said no. Calgary resident Vern Doten, 78, said he is sick of hearing about shootings happening in the city. He agrees with Toews the registry isn't working and said it's up to the courts to take a harsher stance. "I feel as far as the courts are concerned, when an illegal, unregistered gun is found in a vehicle, there should be a way to prosecute," he said. Out of the estimated 7.9 million guns believed to be in Canada, there are still 900,000 that have not been registered. TEN YEARS AND $2 BILLION
LATER: NUMBER OF GUNS UNREGISTERED 18% OF 311,388 REGISTERED
HANDGUN OWNERS WITH A VALID FIREARMS LICENCE STATISTICS CANADA TABLE:
VIOLENT CRIME RATE MORE THAN 4 TIMES GREATER THAN IN 1962! STATISTICS CANADA TABLE:
VIOLENT CRIME INVOLVING FIREARMS, 2001-2003 WHAT THE LIBERALS CAN’T
OR WON’T TELL YOU ABOUT THEIR $2 BILLION FIREARMS PROGRAM TEN YEARS OF GUN REGISTRY
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