FIREARMS FACTS UPDATE
CANADA
FIREARMS CENTRE HAS
NO RECORDS ON TRACING OF FIREARMS
INFORMATION COMMISSIONER CONFIRMS
SO HOW DO THEY COME UP WITH 6,000 TRACES?
MAY 30, 2005
– BREITKREUZ’S ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT REQUEST TO THE CANADA
FIREARMS CENTRE
Please provide, from the most current records available, copies of
the directives, procedures, policies, costs and benefits with respect
to tracing of firearms.
June 15, 2005 – “NO RECORDS” SAYS CANADA FIREARMS CENTRE
JUNE 23,
2005 – BREITKREUZ’S LETTER OF COMPLAINT TO THE INFORMATION
COMMISSIONER
Please
find attached copies of our original ATI request dated May 30, 2005 and
the Canada firearms Centre’s non-response dated June 15, 2005. Tracing
firearms is one of the government’s most often stated benefits of
the firearms program. Here are a few examples:
| •
The Hon. Roy Cullen, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public
Safety and Emergency Preparedness sent an e-mail to all Members of
Parliament on December 6, 2004 stating: “Moreover, about 6,000
firearms have been traced in gun-crime and firearm-trafficking cases
within Canada and internationally.” • William V. Baker, Commissioner of Firearms, testified before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on October 23, 2003 that the gun registry provides “a tool for police to trace firearms”, that “it does help police solve crimes and we do have incidents of this by being able to trace the origin of the firearm recovered from a crime scene”, and that police are “…using that information to help them, but it can help enforce a court order.” • In response to Order Paper Question Q-149 on June 3, 2002, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon stated: “With the registration provisions coming into effect on January 1, 2003, accountability will be further enhanced with tracing of legal firearms back to their legitimate owner.” • In response to Order Paper Question Q-14 on March 22, 2004, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety Anne McLellan stated: “The national firearms tracing unit assists investigators in identifying owners of firearms and provides further information to police agencies regarding unregistered firearms such as: point of origin, name of retailer, name of purchaser.” |
It is inconceivable that they do not have “directives, procedures, policies, costs and benefits with respect to tracing firearms.” How else could they justify spending such huge amounts to establish the gun registry and the millions more it costs to maintain it year after year?
FEBRUARY 20, 2006 – EXCERPT INFORMATION COMMISSIONER’S LETTER
Although no relevant information was located, the investigation has satisfied me that the department conducted a through search for records.
NOVEMBER 3, 2005 – GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO ORDER PAPER QUESTION Q-177 - NUMBER OF FIREARMS TRACES LINKING CRIME SCENES TO THE ACCUSED? UNKNOWN!!! http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/inthehouse/Motions/05_nov3.htm
MAY 10, 2005 - THE ACCESS TO INFORMATION ACT DANCE: HIDING THE TRUTH ABOUT FIREARMS TRACES http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/issues/guninfo/newguninfo/firearmsfactsupdate_2005_05_10.doc