NEWS RELEASE

 

April 3, 2001                                                                                                 For Immediate Release

 

MORE THAN ONE MILLION GUN OWNERS WITHOUT A FIREARMS LICENCE

“Compliance rates show the gun registry has been a phenomenal failure in every province and territory.”

 Ottawa – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, released an analysis of the government’s own data that proves the gun registry is not the ‘phenomenal success’ claimed by Justice Minister Anne McLellan.  “According to information provided to me by the Dept. of Justice, more than a million firearm owners failed to apply for a firearms licence before the January 1st deadline,” revealed Breitkreuz.  “Thirty-seven percent of existing firearm owners in Canada have not even applied for a licence.”  This despite the fact that the maximum penalty for knowingly being in unauthorized possession of a firearm is 10 years in jail.  “The Liberals have used the Criminal Code as a big stick when instead they should have worked in full cooperation with the firearms community and the provinces to implement their program.”

 Armed with responses to his Access to Information requests and correspondence from the Dept. of Justice, Breitkreuz exposed the extent of the gun registry’s failure.  Compliance rates by province ranged from highs of 87%, 78% and 75% in the provinces of Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, to a low of 40%, 49% and 57% in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba respectively.  The largest number of non-compliant firearm owners are in Ontario with 287,020; Alberta with 251,043; Quebec with 183,032; and British Columbia with 168,890.  “The actual compliance rates are a lot worse than I am reporting here because the true number of firearms owners in Canada is much higher than the government has ever been willing to admit.  All we’re arguing about now is the extent of the failure,” stated Breitkreuz. 

“The Liberals ignored all the common sense advice they received in 1995 concerning Bill C-68 and look at the jam they’re in now.  You can’t treat millions of good citizens like common criminal suspects simply because they own a firearm and not expect this type of backlash.  The government makes the dubious claim that the gun registry will somehow be useful to police.  But how is a registry with at least a million gun owners missing from it going to be of any benefit?” asked Breitkreuz.  “No wonder the vast majority of front-line police officers are so opposed to the gun registry.”  Breitkreuz also pointed to the recent amendments to the firearms legislation in Bill C-15 as more evidence that Bill C-68 was a failure.  “On September 22, 1998, Anne McLellan made this statement about Bill C-68, ‘The debate is over!’  If the debate was over two and a half years ago, why did she introduce 22 pages of amendments to it?” 

“Unless the Justice Minister passes an amnesty, these million or so non-compliant gun owners have no way of obtaining a licence without committing a Criminal Code offence.  They are in a ‘Catch-22’ situation,” said Breitkreuz.  “They are already in unauthorized possession of a firearm.  Now, if they obtain a firearms licence and then register their guns, as the law requires, they will be providing the government with all the evidence they need to prove they were in illegal possession of their firearms.  They can’t give their guns away because it is a criminal offence to transfer an unregistered firearm and they can’t register their firearm because they don’t have a licence.  The Minister claims she wants these people to apply for a firearms licence but instead of providing them with an amnesty, she leaves any future prosecution for their offences at the discretion of the local police forces,” explained Breitkreuz.  “It’s no wonder these non-compliant gun owners aren’t persuaded to come forward by the Minister’s half-hearted assurances.”

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Table Attached: Firearms Licence Compliance Rates & Unlicenced Gun Owners, By Province

 

Note: Source documents available on request


 

 

 

 

Firearms Licence Compliance Rates & Unlicenced Gun Owners, By Province

 

 

    by Garry Breitkreuz, MP - March 30, 2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROVINCE

VALID FAC's

    POLs/PALs

TOTAL LICENCES ISSUED

TOTAL # OF GUN OWNERS

TOTAL # OF UNLICENCED GUN OWNERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newfoundland

          6,494

           73,020

            79,514

          91,150

87%

              11,636

Nova Scotia

          3,398

           88,850

            92,248

         122,983

75%

              30,735

P.E.I.

            424

             8,160

              8,584

          12,652

68%

                4,068

New Brunswick

          3,241

           94,868

            98,109

         126,393

78%

              28,284

Quebec

        35,208

         470,348

          505,556

         688,588

73%

             183,032

Ontario

      115,079

         446,439

          561,518

         848,538

66%

             287,020

Manitoba

          8,783

           72,740

            81,523

         141,876

57%

              60,353

Saskatchewan

        12,795

           73,211

            86,006

         174,127

49%

              88,121

Alberta

        19,944

         146,529

          166,473

         417,516

40%

             251,043

British Columbia

        22,205

         184,632

          206,837

         375,727

55%

             168,890

Yukon

          1,052

             3,638

              4,690

          11,187

42%

                6,497

NWT & Nunavut

          2,882

             9,213

            12,095

          22,719

53%

              10,624

National Jurisdic.

           --

             8,273

              8,273

              --

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CANADA TOTAL

      231,505

      1,679,921

        1,911,426

      3,033,456

63%

          1,122,030

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note #1: Number of Valid Firearms Acquisition Certificates (FACs) as of 8 Mar 01

 

 

               Source: Canadian Firearms Centre e-mail dated: March 27, 2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note #2: Number of Poss. Only Lic. (POLs) & Poss. Acquisition Lic. (PALs) as of 8 Jan 01

               Source: Access to Information - Dept. of Justice file: A-2000-0208 - Feb 28, 2001

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note #3: Number of Gun Owners by Province as of 23 May 98 - Average Number of Owners

               Source: Dept. of Justice Memorandum dated 24 Sept 98

 

 

               Subject: Starting Point Volumes and Intake Estimates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note #4: Licences under "National Jurisdiction" not available by province