NOTE:
Versions of this article were also published in the following newspapers:
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The Kingston Whig-Standard "Federal gun registry shot full of holes"
-
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix "Gun serial numbers not recorded in
registry"
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The Calgary Herald "Details lacking on 780,000 registered guns
-
The Edmonton Journal "Gun registry firing blanks"
-
The National Post "'Idiotic' gun registry lacks serial numbers"
-
The Sault Star "Gun registry lacks serial numbers"
PUBLICATION:
The Ottawa Citizen
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
BYLINE:
Tim Naumetz
SOURCE:
The Ottawa Citizen
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Vital
gun data omitted by federal registry: Critics say serial numbers missing from
700,000 registered firearms
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Vital
serial numbers have not been recorded for more than 700,000 firearms registered
under the federal government's Firearms Act, internal documents reveal.
To make up for the missing information, the Canadian Firearms Centre is
mailing the gun owners numbered stickers, or "stickies" as the gun
owners call them, to put on their rifles and shotguns.
Critics
of the federal gun registry say the lack of serial numbers for at least 728,046
firearms, out of 4.4 million guns registered so far, destroys the integrity of
the system, threatens public safety and could make it impossible for police to
trace stolen guns or guns used in crime.
Canadian
Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz and his top assistant shadowing the new gun
licensing and registration system, former RCMP officer Dennis Young, obtained
figures on missing data under the Access to Information Act.
While
the missing serial numbers may be the most crucial missing data, the amount of
other information gun owners simply did not include on the registration forms
they submitted to the Firearms Centre is staggering. On Aug. 29, the day the Justice Department replied to the
information request from Mr. Breitkreuz and Mr. Young, the space in which gun
owners were to describe the barrel length for their weapons was blank for 2.4
million firearms.
The
space for designating the make of the gun was blank on 1,172 forms. For 69,900
guns, the make was described as "unknown." The type of gun was missing
on 1,318 forms and described as unknown on 2,006 forms. The action mode of the
gun, whether bolt, semi-automatic or lever action or pump loading, was missing
in 2,545 cases and unknown in 3,817 cases.
Serial
numbers were missing on 727,258 registration forms and described as unknown in
another 788. The government's
decision to register guns with missing serial numbers shows it is desperate to
register as many firearms as possible by the registration deadline of Jan. 1,
2003, Mr. Young said yesterday. He
said the RCMP has informed the Justice Department it would take 8.8 years to
properly register all rifles and shotguns with individual verification of each
weapon.
Dave
Tomlinson, past president of the National Firearms Association, said the
stickers will be useless as a way of tracking firearms because they can be
removed easily. "This is an
idiotic system," said Mr. Tomlinson, adding the stickers have no chance of
surviving the average 50-year lifespan of rifles and shotguns. If thieves take
off the stickers, it will be impossible for police to link stolen rifles or
shotguns to their owners or even prove they are stolen, he added.
The
Canadian Firearms Centre defended the decision to send gun owners stick-on
numbers, saying the procedure uniquely identifies every firearm that has no
serial number recorded with the registry. Each sticker is recorded on the file
of the individual gun owner, the centre says.
With
just over 90 days to the deadline for registration, about 600,000 gun owners who
have been issued possession or acquisition licences have not registered their
firearms.