Myth #1: The gun registry is a valuable tool for the police, and they access it 6,500 times per day. False. The “6,500 hits” figure for the Canadian Firearms Registry On-Line (CFRO) is misleading per the Public Safety Department’s website of May 17, 2006 (Ques. 18).  Whenever police officers access the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) for any reason like a simple address check, an … [Read more...]

by John Thompson, the Mackenzie Institute Download PDF   In one of the many episodes of the popular TV show ‘The Simpsons’, the town of Springfield is menaced by an impending comet strike. Much panic ensues until the event turns out not to have been doomsday after all; whereupon a number of the citizens decide “Let’s burn down the observatory to make sure this never happens again!” In the … [Read more...]

The RCMP's 1994 Annual Firearms Report stated that in 1994 ". . . there are more than 1.2 million restricted weapons registered in Canada. Of these, 950,000 handguns are registered to about 560,000 private individuals." In the 1997 Annual Firearms Report, the RCMP indicated that there were 992,963 restricted firearms registered to private individuals. Another 208,677 restricted firearms were … [Read more...]

Map showing distribution of households with licenced firearms, with totals by type (restricted, non-restricted, etc.). (PDF) 86 kB. Data Source: Ontario CFO, CFC, 2004. … [Read more...]

This paper provides a brief review of a 2003 study by Alpers and Twyford in which they claim that the availability of civilian firearms contributes to criminal violence in the Pacific region. The authors admit that they could not collect any information on illegal or smuggled firearms, but instead they chose to focus on firearms that are legally owned. Despite recognizing that the principal source … [Read more...]

Executive Summary Download the Full Report (PDF) Surveys of the Canadian population suggest that gun ownership ranges between 17 per cent and 34 per cent of all households. It is recognised, however, that telephone surveys of gun ownership are not particularly reliable and that, for a variety of reasons, these surveys measure only the number of people who are willing to admit to gun ownership, … [Read more...]

"Propaganda does not deceive people, it merely helps them to deceive themselves." - Eric Hoffer, US Philosopher, 1955. In the last week of September 2000, the Canadian Firearms Centre mailed to millions of Canadian households a multi-page brochure entitled Important Information for all Canadians about responsible firearm ownership. It is a masterful piece of propaganda created by Liberal … [Read more...]

Executive Summary Much of the impetus behind Canada’s 1995 firearm law was not ‘crime control’ per se, but strategic political concerns contained within a value driven, urban-oriented social reform agenda (MacLellan 1995: 171; Mauser Nov.1997). Despite government and media claims that the Canadian public overwhelmingly supports Canada’s 1995 firearm law (Bill C-68 An Act respecting firearms and … [Read more...]