-- [The Toronto Sun - Thursday May
                                 31, 2001]

PUBLICATION The Toronto Sun
DATE Thursday May 31, 2001
SECTION/CATEGORY Editorial/opinion
PAGE 15
BYLINE Peter Worthington

   HEADLINE: TRIGGER HAPPY; FEDS HAVE LITERALLY JUMPED THE GUN ON
NATIONAL FIREARMS REGISTRY

   Perhaps the biggest boondoggle Canada is inflicting on itself is gun registration and control.
Regardless of what public opinion is manipulated into believing, Bill C-68 - the law that requires every
firearm to be licensed and registered by Jan. 1, 2003 - will cost maybe 10 times its original estimate;
may actually increase rather than reduce crime and violence; will make criminals out of many
otherwise law-abiding citizens.

   C-68 is smoke-and-mirrors legislation - with the federal government so committed it can't back
down and is forced to create or misinterpret statistics in order to save face.

   For example, "officially" there are 2.46 million Canadians who own some seven million firearms -
down from the government's previous estimate of three million gun owners. The real figure is probably
double or triple that, with the total number of firearms closer to 20 million than seven million.

   Seven provinces and the territories oppose C-68 as it applies to hunting rifles and shotguns (but have
no objections to registering handguns and assault weapons). The main warrior against the legislation
has been Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz.

   He's been a champion for common sense. In an open letter, he recently took issue with the
Canadian Police Association (CPA), which seems to mindlessly support government policy and is at
odds with many rank and file cops across the country.

   At a heated meeting a couple of years ago, the CPA backed off a motion to withdraw its support
for gun registration by favouring another motion that made its support "conditional" on several
questions being answered.

   In his letter to the CPA, Breitkreuz notes that "not one of those conditions has been met, yet the
CPA executive voted to support the registry anyway."

   Among the "conditions" the CPA demanded was a review by the auditor general of the firearms
registration system. This has not happened.

   The CPA also wanted the accuracy of information in the firearms data base to be verified - again
something that hasn't happened, even though the registrar of firearms has indicated a possible 90%
error rate in applications. The RCMP has noted a 40%-50% inaccuracy rate.

   "What has been verified," says Breitkreuz, "is registration inaccuracies - even dating back 67 years
to handgun registration."

   The CPA wanted assurances registration could meet legislative time tables, yet more than a million
gun owners and some three million firearms have been left out, says Breitkreuz.

     

Costs concerned the CPA. Instead of a predicted $2.2 million deficit over the first five years of
registration, the total has exceed $310 million. Expenses for the next 10 years are predicted to push $1
billion.

   The CPA's demand for assurances registration won't take officers off the street has been thwarted.
Some 1,800 people are employed in gun registration, at a cost of some $600 million.

   Those opposed to unnecessary waste point out that handgun registration, in effect since 1934, didn't
prevent 46% of firearms murders in 1998 being committed with handguns, and 17% of firearm
murders are committed with guns that are banned.

   More dramatic, Breitkreuz and others point out that 1999 crime statistics show 4.1% of violent
crimes in Canada "involved" firearms, while only 1.4% of violent crimes "used" firearms - most of
which were unregistered, illegal guns used by known criminals, street gangs or repeat offenders.

   Those who favour extreme gun controls tend to label those who don't as the "gun lobby," which is
nonsense. Those who look to emulate firearm confiscation in Britain and Australia rarely mention that
this has coincided with a startling rise in crimes of violence.

   At most, there are 700 murders a year in Canada - a proportion that has been relatively stable since
1900. Curbing crime is always a priority, but registering firearms as a possible first step toward
confiscating them is not the way to do it.

   The way to curb gun violence is mandatory sentences for carrying a gun during a crime, no plea
bargaining for gun offences; consecutive sentences for gun crimes, not concurrent ones, and strict
application of mandatory and minimum sentences for smuggling firearms.

   We have laws in place - use them instead of making innocent gun owners criminals by demanding
their property which is not protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Striker,
You were just saying how great it is to live in Canada.  At least until the U.S. catches up on this kind of crap you can have it.  [:)]