FIREARMS FACTS - UPDATE

AFTER 67 YEARS OF OPERATION,

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOESN’T KNOW

ABOUT THE HANDGUN REGISTRATION SYSTEM

By Garry Breitkreuz, MP – November 7, 2001

On three occasions in the last six years, the government has admitted the total failure of the 67-year-old handgun registration system in the House.

1. The Justice Minister’s response to Order Paper Question Q-138 on May 5, 1995 the government admitted specifically that:

• They did not know how many “found, recovered or seized restricted weapons were traced to their registered owners;”
• They did not know how many “registered owners of restricted weapons have been charged with a firearms related offence as a result of the restricted weapon being traced to them through the registration system;”
• They did not know how many “restricted weapon registrations were revoked as a consequence of the registered owner being convicted of a criminal offence involving violence towards another person;”
• They did not know how many “restricted weapon registrations have been revoked as a consequence of the attempted suicide by the registered owner or by another occupant of the household where the restricted weapon is stored;” and
• They did not know how many “restricted weapons have been used by the registered owner or other occupant of the household in homicides, suicides, and other firearms related crimes.”

GOVERNMENT EXCUSE #1: “No national data are available…”

2. The Solicitor General’s response to Order Paper Question Q-1 on May 8, 1996 the government admitted specifically that:

• They did not know “how many crimes, in total, have been solved using the RCMP's restricted weapon registration system;” and
• They did not know “how many of these crimes have been solved by tracing the firearm back to the registered owner.”

GOVERNMENT EXCUSE #2: “The statistics requested…are not kept at this time and are therefore not available.”

3. The Solicitor General’s response to Order Paper Question Q-84 on March 1, 1999 the government admitted specifically that:

• They did not know how many ”non-restricted” firearms had been used in criminal incidents over the last twenty years.
• They did not know how many ”restricted-registered” firearms had been used in criminal incidents over the last twenty years.
• They did not know how many ”restricted-unregistered” firearms had been used in criminal incidents over the last twenty years.
• They did not know how many ”prohibited firearms” firearms had been used in criminal incidents over the last twenty years.

GOVERNMENT EXCUSE #3: “The RCMP does not collect statistics in this format…”

THIS MUST BE WHY A JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT DATED JANUARY 9, 2001 STATES: “Risk to public safety is mitigated through licencing – it is not a registration issue.”

SOURCE: Firearms Registration, Canadian Firearms Centre, Page 13 obtained through an Access to Information Act request – Department of Justice File: A-2001-0156.