PUBLICATION:          The Province

DATE:                         2004.12.09

EDITION:                    Final

SECTION:                  Editorial

PAGE:                         A20

SOURCE:                   The Province

ILLUSTRATION:        Photo: (A person shooting a gun)

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There's better uses for our money, Paul Martin

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It's a $1 billion taxpayer-funded snafu, courtesy of the federal government -- but the good news is there's still time to cut our losses and scrap the ineffective National Firearms Program which became law in 1995.

Frankly, if the evidence showed that the registry licensing gun owners and cataloguing every firearm led to a reduction or elimination in the number of crimes involving firearms, we might look upon this extravagant exercise differently.

But study after study has failed to buoy claims that forcing people to enlist their rifles, handguns and other weapons saves lives and leads to fewer gun-related crimes.

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Gary Breitkreuz summed it up best: "It is totally focused on tracking millions of law-abiding gun owners instead of individuals who have proven themselves to be too dangerous to have guns."

It's not too late to cut our loses. While you are reading this, the Liberal minority government is likely debating a private member's bill that, if passed, would effectively shut down the computerized registry. Liberal MP Roger Gallaway has strayed from party favour with his bid to block a $97-million support payment to the program. Gallaway is a realist; where once he supported the registry, he does so no longer -- for one undeniable reason; its costs far exceed its benefits.

About those costs; originally estimated to run about $2 million, the price tag to get the program operating yearly has multiplied to $1 billion.

Imagine the crime prevention programs, security strategies and law-enforcement expertise a purse that size could buy. Al Koenig, who runs the Calgary Police Association did just that recently: "The amount of money . . . could have put 5,000 officers on the streets across Canada ," he said.

There's better uses for our money, Paul Martin.

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