NEWS RELEASE

December 14, 2000

For Immediate Release

LIBERALS VASTLY UNDER-ESTIMATING NUMBER OF GUN OWNERS IN CANADA

"Even using the Firearms Centre’s fabricated numbers means there will be between 400 and 600 thousand ‘Made-in-Ottawa’ criminals on New Years Day simply because they haven’t done the Liberal paperwork."

 

Ottawa – "The Liberals have been misleading the media and the public on the firearms issue since 1994," said Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville. "Now, they magically made a million gun owners disappear to make it appear as if their soon-to-be billion dollar gun registration scheme is actually working." Breitkreuz was referring to news reports quoting senior officials in the Canadian Firearms Centre that there were only 2.2 million gun owners in Canada – not 3 million as they have been claiming since 1994. "Even 3 million was a ridiculously low estimate. The true number is likely a lot closer to seven million than three. It’s a shame that the Canadian people can’t trust the Justice Department to report statistics honestly. It’s sad when good tax money is wasted by so-called public servants whose full time job is to play Liberal politics."

Using the Access to Information Act, here’s what Breitkreuz has been able to uncover:
  1. "Caution: Some CPFOs [Chief Provincial Firearm Officers] believe there are 5,000,000 non FAC [Firearms Acquisition Certificate] firearm owners in Canada." Source: Dept. of Justice Access Request: A-1999-0082 – Final response dated August 29, 2000.
  2. "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." [emphasis added] Source: Dept. of Justice Access Request A98-00226 dated March 13, 1999.
  3. "No surveys have directly assessed the number of individual gun owners. However, census data indicate an average of 2.7 members per household, and with the knowledge that roughly 86% of gun owners are male over the age of 18 (Angus Reid, 1991), it is estimated that there is an average of 1.22 gun owners per gun-owning households. Hence, there are 3.2 million (1.22 x 2.6 million) gun owners across Canada (rounded to 3 million)." Source: Dept. of Justice Access Request A-1999-0082 – Partial response dated April 14, 2000.
  4. "New Estimated Number of [Gun] Owners – High End = 3,825,795. New Estimated Number of [Gun] Owners – Low End = 2,241,057. Average [Number of Gun] Owners = 3,033,426." Source: RCMP Access Request 00ATIP-11619 dated April 26, 2000.
  5. The 1997 Sports Participation Survey by the Canadian Sporting Goods Association found a total of 1,742,000 people participated in hunting with a shotgun or rifle "at least once" in 1997. This number of hunters is comprised of 12.7% of men (1,514,000) plus 1.8% of women (228,000). Additionally, according to this survey, 938,000 participated in "Shooting" sports "at least once" in 1997. This Shooting sports figure is comprised of 6.3% of men (752,000) plus 1.5% of women (186,000).

"I have issued more than 150 news releases opposing the gun registry since March of 1994. Despite this amount of publicity in my own constituency, I was absolutely flabbergasted during the election by how many firearm owners were unaware that they needed a federal firearms licence by the end of the year. The Liberals have made a huge mistake and an amnesty is the only solution. Unfortunately, they will realize it only when the police start arresting thousands of innocent citizens," said Breitkreuz. "The Liberals, aided and abetted by the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, are violating the fourth principle of policing and are doing so at their peril. In 1822, Sir Robert Peel wrote: "To recognize always that the extent to which the cooperation of the public can be secured diminishes, proportionately, the necessity of the use of physical force and compulsion for achieving police objectives."

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WHY POLLS CAN’T ACCURATELY IDENTIFY THE NUMBER OF GUN OWNERS

By Gary A. Mauser, Ph.D., Simon Fraser University and

H. Taylor Buckner, PH.D., Concordia University (retired)

From Chapter 9 – Firearm Ownership, Canadian Attitudes Toward Gun Control: The Real Story

January 1997 – A Mackenzie Institute Occasional Paper - (416) 214-1388
  1. Neither the survey interviewer nor the respondent may know whether something is a firearm.

    2. [i.e. according the legal definition in the Criminal Code]

  2. A respondent may not think of the old shotgun or unregistered pistol in the attic when the interviewer asks – or even know it is there.
  3. They may be totally uninterested in firearms; they are a hobby of another member of the family.
  4. They may fear that telling an unknown telephone interviewer is an invitation to a burglary.
  5. They may feel that it is nobody’s business to know that they have guns.
  6. They may fear that their ownership may become known to the police and they will be forced to register.
  7. They may be uncertain of the legal status of their firearms – as most Canadians currently are.
  8. They may not know exactly how many guns or what types are in the household.
  9. The guns in the house may be stolen, and thus unlikely to be mentioned.
  10. The respondent may disagree with gun ownership, and not mention guns in the house that belong to someone else.
  11. Under-reporting of firearms ownership has been noted numerous times in the survey research literature (Erskine 1972; Kennett 1975; Stinchcombe 1980; Kleck 1991).

 

 

For more information, please call:

Yorkton Office: (306) 782-3309

Ottawa Office: (613) 992-4394

E-mail: breitg0@parl.gc.ca

Web Site: www.garry-breitkreuz.com