NEWS RELEASE

LIBERAL HANDGUN BAN A SICK JOKE ON ALL VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME

“The Liberals let violent crime spin out of control for 12 years. Now, they propose another phoney firearms law
that will do nothing to keep criminals from getting handguns.”

Yorkton – Today, Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville, came out with both barrels blazing at Paul Martin’s hypocritical handgun ban announcement in a gang-ravaged Toronto neighbourhood this week. “Why all the media hype when the Liberals announce that they’re going to enforce the law? Criminal possession of a handgun has been illegal for more than 70 years,” chided Breitkreuz. “The Liberals have done little or nothing to go after street gangs, drug pushers or to plug the gaping holes in our borders for the last 12 years. Suddenly, during an election they start sounding tough on crime by announcing a phoney handgun ban.”

There were 622 murder victims in 2004. Seventy-two percent of these murderers used something other than a firearm. Statistics Canada also reported an increase in almost all categories of family homicides. Seventy percent of the accused murderers had a prior conviction for a violent offence: 8 for homicide,” exclaimed Breitkreuz. “Canadians should be asking the Liberals: Why are convicted murderers being let out on our streets to kill again instead of in prison where they belong?”

“One of my constituents put it better than I ever could: This announcement is an insult to the families of those taken from them by violence. This ban would have done nothing to save them from their loss, and yet it's being sold to them as a legitimate response to their grief. How utterly opportunistic. How unspeakably shameful.”

“Paul Martin has presided over the public purse for all of the last twelve years, ignoring the realities of violent crime, pouring $2 billion dollars into another phoney firearms law called the gun registry and starving law enforcement in the process,” protested Breitkreuz. “The Prime Minister makes it sound like news when he proposes to hire 250 RCMP officers when the real news is that his misguided sense of justice has led to a current shortage of 1,059 Mounties, and we’re falling behind at the rate of 200 officers a year,” reported Breitkreuz. This Liberal announcement should have been made five years ago. Saskatchewan needs more than 40 RCMP officers right now.”

Our police officers have been losing the fight against violent crime for the last 43 years. It comes as no surprise to anyone that the Liberals have been in power for all but nine of those years. The number of Criminal Code incidents per police officer has more than doubled since 1962. Canada’s violent crime rate has more than quadrupled over the same period. Now, violent crime is higher in Canada than in the United States, but somehow that fact escapes the Liberals’ election ads. Canadians were four times safer when John Diefenbaker was in power than we are now. As a society, we shouldn’t have to accept living in fear of being victimized. We just have to elect a government that puts public safety priorities ahead of political priorities,” concluded Breitkreuz.

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www.reelectgarrybreitkreuz.com