Ottawa - Today, Garry Breitkreuz, Member of Parliament for Yorkton-Melville and Official Opposition Critic on Firearms Issues, exposed yesterday's huge firearms bust as a failure for the Liberal gun registration scheme - not the success Justice Minister Anne McLellan claims. "Why did the government have to wait for a gun dealer to register these WW II rifles when Section 42 of the Firearms Act states clearly that Canada Customs was supposed to notify the RCMP 'without delay'?" asked Breitkreuz. "The red flags went up yesterday when I heard that these rifles and receivers had been legally imported into Canada - not smuggled into Canada. A RCMP response to a recent Access to Information request provided me with the answer. Justice Minister Anne McLellan has refused to bring Section 42 of the Firearms Act into full force and effect. Everyone should be asking her why."

On February 8, 2000, Breitkreuz asked the RCMP for the "number of newly imported firearms that have entered Canada legally (declared and processed by Customs) since December 1, 1998 and the number of these legally imported firearms that have been registered in the Canadian Firearms Registry." The RCMP responded on April 7th stating: The Canadian Firearms Registry has not been advised by Canada Customs of all the newly imported firearms. Paragraph 42 of the Firearms Act states that "A Customs Officer shall inform the Register [sic] without delay of the exportation or importation of a firearm by an individual." However, the "Order fixing October 1, 1998 as the date of coming into Force of certain sections of the Act," SI/98-93 30 September, 1998 has deferred paragraphs 35 to 42 of the Firearms Act. Breitkreuz commented, "The Minister of Justice issued this order to delay implementation of these sections of the Firearms Act. If registration is so important in the fight against gun smugglers, why is the Minister allowing hundreds of thousands of firearms to enter Canada legally without advising the RCMP's Registrar of Firearms? McLellan is grasping at straws for anything that will make the Liberal's prohibitively-expensive, highly-ineffective, error-riddled, backlog-plagued gun registry look good."

How many unregistered firearm imports are we talking about? According to research documents obtained by Breitkreuz in February from the Dept. of Justice: "The annual number of non-military firearms imported ranged from 285,000 in 1988 to about 370,000 in both 1992 and 1993."

"Armed robbers, street gangs and home invaders aren't using WW II army rifles in their attacks on innocent citizens - they're using handguns," said Breitkreuz. "The government has been registering handguns since 1934. If registration was a solution to gun smuggling, there wouldn't be any handguns getting into criminal hands. The police are complaining about smuggled handguns - not 50-year old army rifles. Are collector items really contributing to the violent crime problem in Canada or the U.S.? This particular bust sounds more and more like someone trying to make a buck selling old firearms - not selling guns to the criminal elements in our society."

Breitkreuz did admit one mistake though. "I've always said, 'Criminals won't register their guns'. Well, I guess this case proves I should have said, 'Smart criminals won't register their guns.' I'm left with a couple of important questions for the Minister of Justice. How did this gun bust reduce firearms crime in Canada or the United States? How many more gun smugglers would the police have caught if the government had spent the $327 million hiring police officers and conducting real investigations instead of wasting it all on the Liberal gun registration scheme?"

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Garry Breitkreuz Web Site: www.garry-breitkreuz.com

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394

e-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca