NEWS RELEASE

November 22, 1995                                                                                                   For Immediate Release

Passage of Anti-Gun Bill Proves the Need for an Elected Senate

"This law will never be fully implemented because a Reform Government will repeal it."

Ottawa - Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, was deeply disappointed this evening when he watched the non-elected Senators pass Bill C-68 without amendment. "I have spent over a year and a half providing evidence that proves gun control doesn't work. The Justice Minister has spent the last year and half and has not produced a shred evidence that gun registration will improve public safety, reduce violent crime or save lives," said Breitkreuz. "I have been reporting facts and Rock has been running on pure emotion and anti-gun rhetoric."

"Senators are unaccountable and until they're elected they'll do whatever the party bosses tell them even if it means voting for a bill the public and the police know won't work. Can't the Liberals and Conservatives get it? People want their Parliamentarians, both Senators and Members of the House of Commons, to be accountable to them. This just goes to show that if we don't change the system we won't change much else in this country," commented Breitkreuz. "This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Senators have to be elected."

"Just because the Senate passed this bill does not change the facts that gun control is a huge waste of taxpayers' money and will not reduce the criminal use of firearms. We would have rather seen this bill die in the Senate because it's such a bad law. Bill C-68 will destroy the public's trust in the criminal justice system. The majority of the public no longer support the bill, police on the street know it won't work and don't support it, and four provinces and two territories representing over 65% of the population don't support it. Political opposition is now building in British Columbia with the Liberal Leader of the Opposition opposed to gun registration as is the NDP Minister of Health. Police cannot enforce a law that faces such overwhelming opposition," declared Breitkreuz.

Breitkreuz concluded with this message of hope for the five to eight million law-abiding, responsible gun owners and the millions of citizens who respect each other's rights to private property, life, liberty and security of the person. "Let's not give up. The Liberals won the battle but we are going to win the war."

"REGISTER LATE - REFORM WILL REPEAL BILL C-68"

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For more information please call:
Yorkton: (306) 782-3309
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