LETTER
TO THE EDITORS OF 46 NEWSPAPERS IN CANADA Toronto's mayor, Toronto-area Liberal politicians and even the Prime Minister himself are blaming the U.S. for inner city gun violence. Some are even contemplating suing American gun manufacturers over it. My how far we've come from the days when these same people boasted how peaceful our streets were compared to the "evil" U.S. But it would appear to hinge on how you want to look at crime statistics and what you feel are the best ways to deal with crime. In July of 1997, RCMP Commissioner J.P. Murray felt compelled to write Deputy Justice Minister George Thomson to voice his concerns over the Justice Department's misuse of RCMP data to understate the use of handguns in crime. These same stats were used in a Health Canada article by Coalition for Gun Control president, Wendy Cukier and in her letter to the Ottawa Citizen on December 2nd, 1998 and were also used by various members of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police - all for the purpose of justifying the registration of long guns. But when confronted about a growing number of street shootings in cities like Toronto, various claims were made as to how the registry would help control smuggled firearms. Justice Minister Allan Rock November 1997; "We have taken strong measures to deter the smuggling and illegal movement of firearms, and all of this while respecting the legitimate interests of law-abiding firearms owners who use their guns for hunting, sport shooting or collecting." Jean Valin Justice Dept. spokesman boasted on June 15, 1998 that; "Gun registration will also reduce smuggling at our borders. Newly manufactured inventory will be automatically registered. Any firearm imported into Canada for sale will be traceable throughout its history. Illegal shipments will be easier to stop and customs officers will be able to identify shipments against the database." Justice Minister Martin Cauchon also boasted (ironically on April 1st, 2003) that; "The firearms program keeps guns out of the hands of those who should not have them, helps ensure that those who do have them are responsible and accountable for their use, and provides police with valuable investigative tools to prevent crime and cut down on gun smuggling." Allan Rock sent a Q&A to Liberal MP's with sound bites to defend the registry. Among them, a point that; "The police report that criminals get their firearms on the "underground market", which is fed by smuggled and stolen firearms. Registration will help eliminate those two sources of supply and will help track the point at which firearms enter the "illegal market". Justice Minister Anne McLellan in a news conference on Sept. 21, 1998 with the Coalition for Gun Control at an anti-C68 rally; "The registry will also help fight gun smuggling and trafficking; a concern not unique to Canada but one that is subject to much discussion at the United Nations and of growing concern to the international community. Firearms are not only a commodity for smugglers. Smuggled firearms also support other criminal areas such as the drugs? trade and robbery. By 2003, any gun that does not appear in the registry will likely mean that it is illegal and an investigation will be launched." Repeated questions by opposition critic, Garry Breitkreuz about how the registry would accomplish this were unanswered and met with references to polls indicating how Canadians supported the registry. It was beginning to look better to defend the registry by blaming legal gun owners for crime, as has also been done by several politicians in Toronto's papers recently. In 1999, Coalition president Wendy Cukier trivialized the street crime problem in an article by Carl Amabili in a Montreal paper; "...Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control thinks cross-border gunrunning isn't the real problem. "In big cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, where there is a big drug trade, you have more smuggled guns. But just think of murder cases in the Montreal area: lots of recovered guns were legally owned. This whole myth that it's the illegal guns and the dirty criminals that kill people is wrong." When studies by Toronto's police showed this not to be the case, Cukier observed in a Jan. 27, 2004 Toronto Star article; "According to Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, half of the handguns recovered by police and 75 per cent associated with homicides in Toronto are smuggled in from the U. S.- sometimes, it would appear, by mail." The pro-C68 crowd was back in gear, claiming that registration would help stop smuggling. Winnipeg Police Chief David Cassels, Edmonton Journal 1999; "However, the fact remains that most criminals get their guns from so-called 'law-abiding' gun owners and that without mechanisms to track firearms, we have no way of controlling the illegal gun trade or enforcing existing safe storage laws." Chiefs of Police president Edgar MacLeod wrote in a Globe & Mail letter, Jan 15, 2004; "The registry can help deal with the problem of smuggled guns. In May, 2000, the registry triggered an investigation of a large, sophisticated trafficking ring, resulting in seizure of 23,000 firearms and their components destined for illegal markets." This seizure related to World War II long rifle parts destined for a custom rebuilder of vintage rifles in Texas to be sold to collectors in the U.S. Although the Justice department knew this, it didn't stop them from misinforming the public about the "effectiveness" of their program. Anne McLellan pounced on the opportunity to misrepresent this event on May 10, 2000; "As you may have heard last week, the Miramichi Firearms Centre played a pivotal role in uncovering what is believed to be one of the largest firearms smuggling rings in North America. Likely destined for the black market, nearly 23,000 firearms and their component parts were seized. This is a concrete example of what this system can contribute in our fight against crime and the illegal gun trade." Justice spokesperson Maryantonett Flumian spoke to the Canadian Police Association on August 30th, 2000; "For example, last May the registry played a pivotal role in uncovering what is believed to be one of the largest and most sophisticated firearms smuggling rings in North America. In April, police seized 1,009 weapons and 20,779 receivers after an employee at Miramichi was suspicious of a transaction." To this date, there has been no documented case of an M1 Garand rifle ever being used in a crime in Canada. Despite the fact that U.S. laws have gotten so strict that Canadians can't even buy ammunition in the U.S., Liberal politicians desperate to divert attention from their gun control failure are now fixing to sue U.S. gun manufacturers for guns brought illegally into Canada and used by criminals who illegally acquire them to commit illegal acts. The fact that this illogical scheme has been shot down repeatedly by U.S. courts means that our government is willing to waste even more of our money on a doomed PR stunt that is plainly intended to save face. Former Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino once said that "...a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives." No wonder he wasn't popular with politicians. ==================== Barry Glasgow |