NEWS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE

May 10, 2000

For Immediate Release

LIBERALS REGISTERING LESS THAN ONE FIREARM PER BUREAUCRAT PER DAY

"RCMP report shows it will take at least 19 years to register the rest of the legally owned guns in Canada. The Minister’s self-imposed deadline is just two and a half years away!"

St. John’s, Nfld – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released results of yet another RCMP Access to Information Request that proves it is impossible for the RCMP to register all the legally owned guns in Canada before the deadline of January 1, 2003. "The RCMP have registered only 377,814 firearms in the first year and a half of the program and 40 percent of those are registered to licenced firearms businesses. They can’t possibly register the remaining 8 to 20 million guns in the country in the time remaining," declared Breitkreuz. "A year ago, the RCMP were registering 557 firearms per working day. Even though production has increased to 1,135 guns per day, they need to be running at 11,832 guns per day to meet the Liberal government’s self-imposed deadline. And, this is giving the benefit of the doubt to the Liberals because we’re using the Justice Department’s ridiculously low estimate of the number of legally owned firearms." (See Summary of RCMP ATI Request 00-ATIP-11619 and Calculations Worksheet attached).

"Every day that the RCMP doesn’t achieve this production of 11,832 guns per day, the number of guns remaining to be registered per day increases because the number of days left gets fewer and fewer as the deadline gets closer and closer. At the current production level of registering 1,135 guns per day (even if the registry worked 365 days a year), it will take more than 19 years to finish the job. The Minister has only two and a half years left," exclaimed Breitkreuz. "The Justice Minister is living in a dream world. Does she really think that it’s still possible to licence a minimum of two million gun owners before the end of this year and register at least eight million guns before the end of year 2002? In the history of government, has any department ever increased their production by more than 1000 per cent?"

Justice Dept. documents obtained from the RCMP by Breitkreuz in response to a previous access request reveals that the government actually planned to have 54 per cent of the legally owned guns registered by March 31, 2000. "The RCMP has registered less than 4.5 percent," revealed Breitkreuz. "That’s an error of more than 4 million guns – a pretty big error even for a bunch of bungling bureaucrats."

"This is the third time I have reported the impossibility of the task ahead of the Liberal government. Using the government’s own numbers, I have demonstrated over and over how the Liberals have broken every promise made to Parliament and the public in relation to the cost and effectiveness of their ill-conceived registration scheme," said Breitkreuz. "Not only does this draconian legislation force law-abiding gun owners to jump through hoops and hurdles needlessly, they also have to pay an extra tax to have the government intrude into their lives. What does it accomplish? Absolutely nothing! Does it reduce crime? Absolutely not! In fact, it does the opposite."

"The Liberals have never been able to explain how placing a piece of paper beside a firearm will stop crime. The registry failed this logic test in 1995 and now it has failed the reality test. It’s time to cut the taxpayer’s losses at $327 million, admit they were wrong, and invest the money where it will do some good - hiring police officers instead of 1,500 paper-pushing bureaucrats! The numbers speak for themselves. They’re not even registering one gun per day per employee. The registration scheme is doomed," concluded Breitkreuz.

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For more information, please call:

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394

e-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca

Summary of RCMP Access to Information Request No. 00-ATIP-11619 Obtained by Garry Breitkreuz, MP (Yorkton-Melville) – May 10,2000 NUMBER OF REGISTRATION CERTIFICATES ISSUED BY RCMP CANADIAN FIREARMS REGISTRY BETWEEN DECEMBER 1, 1998 AND March 31, 2000 NR = Non-Restricted Firearm PF = Prohibited Firearm RF = Restricted Firearm O = Other
FA TYPE	FA CLASS	REGISTRATION BUSINESS	REGISTRATION INDIVIDUAL	TRANSFER	TOTAL
Combination gun	NR	196			196
Combination gun	NR		624		624
Combination gun	NR			408	408
Commercial Version	PF	13			13
Commercial Version	PF		26		26
Commercial Version	PF			32	32
Commercial Version	RF	3			3
Commercial Version	RF			22	22
Handgun	NR	2			2
Handgun	NR		4		4
Handgun	O	1			1
Handgun	PF	7110			7110
Handgun	PF		4581		4581
Handgun	PF			5192	5192
Handgun	RF	18457			18457
Handgun	RF		9911		9911
Handgun	RF			20342	20342
Machine gun	PF	249			249
Machine gun	PF		16		16
Machine gun	PF			38	38
Other	NR	9			9
Other	NR		13		13
Other	NR			5	5
Rifle	NR	101307			101307
Rifle	NR		53892		53892
Rifle	NR			65430	65430
Rifle	O	1			1
Rifle	PF	111			111
Rifle	PF		247		247
Rifle	PF			270	270
Rifle	RF	468			468
Rifle	RF		276		276
Rifle	RF			750	750
Shotgun	NR	21915			21915
Shotgun	NR		38303		38303
Shotgun	NR			26998	26998
Shotgun	PF	11			11
Shotgun	RF	5			5
Shotgun	RF			3	3
Submachine gun	NR		6		6
Submachine gun	PF	390			390
Submachine gun	PF		39		39
Submachine gun	PF			138	138
Total		150248	107938	119628	377814

CALCULATIONS WORKSHEET

By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – May 10, 2000

(1) 333 Working days between December 1, 1998 and March 31, 2000

Dec 1/98 to Nov 30, 1999 = 249 working days

December 1999 20 working days

January 2000 20 working days

February 2000 21 working days

March 2000 23 working days

(2) 377,814 Firearm Registrations issued in 333 working days = 1,135 guns registered/day

Note #1: Total includes 150,248 firearms registered to dealers, 107,938 to individuals and 119,628 transfers

(3) 685 working days remaining to issue gun registrations before deadline of Jan 1, 2003

187 working days left in 2000

249 working days in 2001

249 working days in 2002

Note: PricewaterhouseCoopers used 201 working days/year in a Secret report for Dept. of Justice titled "Review of CPS Capabilities vs Service Level Expectations – Final Report – Nov 30/98"

(4) Number of legally owned guns to register before deadline of January 1, 2003 based on RCMP/Dept. of Justice Estimates: 8,482,396 total number of firearms minus 377,814 firearms already registered = 8,104,582 legally owned firearms left to register.

Source: Dept. of Justice Memorandum: "Starting Point Volumes and Intake Estimates" dated Sept 24, 1998. Memo obtained from RCMP as part of their submission to Treasury Board. Memo obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Note: The RCMP claim to have 1.2 million restricted firearms (i.e. handguns) registered in the old firearms registry but these firearms must be re-registered in the new system before the January 1, 2003 deadline.

(5) The RCMP estimated that 4,580,494 (54%) of the legally owned firearms in Canada would be registered by March 31, 2000.

Planned production for first 1.5 years (54%): 4,580,494 guns ¸ 333 working days = 13,755 guns registered/day

Actual production for first 1.5 years (4.5%): 377,814 guns ¸ 333 working days = 1,135 guns registered/day

(6) Number of Registrations to issue per day before deadline of January 1, 2003 based on RCMP and Department of Justice estimates: (8,482,396 – 377,814 = 8,104,582) ¸ 685 working days remaining = 11,832 firearms to register per day

Important Note: An Access to Information Request revealed that on August 15, 1996 a Research Officer in the Canadian Firearms Centre wrote a memo to his superiors on the issue: "Estimating the volume on the Canadian Firearms Registration System during the seven year implementation period." He reported: "Based on several polls, including the Angus Reid 1991 survey of 10,000 households, the Department of Justice calculated that approximately 7 million guns are owned by 3 million gun owners in Canada. There is a possibility of error in any sampling survey or collection of surveys, and there is a possibility of under reporting as some survey respondents may choose to conceal the fact that they have firearms." This confirms what Reform MPs, polling experts and responsible firearm owners have been telling the government since 1994.

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(7) The Canadian Firearms Registry is operated by the RCMP and released production totals from the date the registry commenced operation on December 1, 1998 to March 31, 2000. This is the third time we have obtained registry production totals from the RCMP:

- As of Feb 23/99 – 20,531 Total – 1,938 handguns - 18,560 rifles and shotguns – 33 others

- As of May 24/99 – 65,825 Total – 10,741 handguns – 54,882 rifles and shotguns – 202 others

- As of Mar 31/00 377,814 Total - 65,600 handguns - 309,987 rifles and shotguns - 2,227 others

Note: Mar 31^st total includes 150,248 firearms registered to dealers, 107,938 to individuals and 119,628 transfers

(8) After releasing the truth the PR-types in the Dept. of Justice always claim that production has improved dramatically recently and there is nothing to worry about. So let’s look at the most recent improvement and see whether the claims of the Minister’s minions hold any water.

The RCMP production numbers as of March 31, 2000 (in Item #7 above) show that for the period between May 24, 1999 and March 31, 2000 the RCMP have registered 311,989 firearms in 217 working days. That’s a production rate of 1,437 firearms per day for this most recent period. Even with this recent improvement it will take 5,640 working days to register the remaining 8,104,582 legally owned guns. That’s more than 22 years based on 249 working days per year or 15 years working 365 days a year.

(9) The Firearms Act came into force on December 1, 1998 and the government had 1,018 working days to register the 8,482,396 legally owned firearms the RCMP and the Dept. of Justice estimated are in Canada. At that point, the RCMP had to register about 8,000 guns per day to register all these guns before January 1, 2003. Because the RCMP have never achieved anywhere near this level of production, they now have to register 11,832 guns per day to meet the Liberal’s self-imposed deadline.

(10) On April 17, 2000 I issued a news release documenting the fact that the Liberal firearm registration scheme was now employing 1,438.5 employees plus 40.5 vacant positions, plus an unknown number of part-time positions (all paid for with federal tax dollars). So 1,438.5 employees are only capable of registering 1,135 guns per day – THAT’S LESS THAN ONE GUN REGISTERED PER DAY, PER EMPLOYEE!