PUBLICATION: Edmonton
Journal
DATE: 2001.11.09
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Opinion
COLUMN: Lorne
Gunter
BYLINE: Lorne
Gunter
SOURCE: The
Edmonton Journal
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Gun registry system a sham: Money needed for real
security being wasted on this fruitless exercise
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"The
Canadian Firearms Program began actual implementation in December of 1998. Since
that time it has proven to be of significant public benefit," or so claims
the Department of Justice's performance report for the year ending March 31,
2001, tabled Thursday in the House of Commons.
The
report then offers an explanation of just how the national gun registry and
licensing program is producing these sanguine results on behalf of Canadians:
"The Canadian Firearms Program is achieving its public safety objectives by
keeping firearms from those who should not have them. Over 3,000 licences have
been refused or revoked by public safety officials."
That's
typical of Liberals, confusing activity with achievement. The number of firearms
murders has gone up by over 20 per cent since their registry opened. Yet merely
because the registry has rejected 3,000 of more than two million applicants (a
mere 0.15 per cent), the whole scheme is pronounced a roaring success.
In
truth, even this rejection rate isn't much of an accomplishment. While the
government likes to boast it has refused and revoked vastly more licences since
the program began than were rejected and revoked in the years before, this is a
slight of hand. The volume of applications has been upwards of 10 times higher,
too.
A
corresponding increase in the number of refusals and revocations is to be
expected. Indeed, the refusal/revocation rate before the Liberals' firearms
scheme commenced was typically 0.09 per cent a year, now it is 0.15, a little
bit more than a 50 per cent increase (hardly the 2,700 per cent the Liberals
claim), and a lot of that is due, no doubt, to the vast increase in clerical
errors caused by the convoluted new licence application.
The
Firearms Program has done nothing to keep guns out of the hands of those intent
to do harm with them. The proof lies in Statistics Canada's homicide statistics
for 2000, which came out last week.
The
Liberals may be keeping guns out of the hands of cranky hunters who refuse to
answer all the intrusive questions on the licence application, or divorcing men
whose vindictive wives file malicious complaints against them in hope the
government will help hurt their former husbands by confiscating their firearms,
at least temporarily.
But
the Liberals are doing nothing to prevent those who wish to murder, rob or wound
from obtaining guns.
Fortunately,
there were just 542 homicides in Canada in 2000. That's up slightly over 1999,
when 536 murders were committed. But the population rose slightly, too. So the
increase in overall murders is neutral.
Murders
with firearms, though, have risen each year since the implementation of the
Liberals' firearms program. Indeed, they've risen 21 per cent in just the two
years since the Liberals' licensing and registration schemes went into effect.
And since, during that same period, the population has risen only 1.7 per cent,
there has been a net rise in gun murders of nearly one-fifth since 1998.
Statistically,
that's a significant increase, though the numeric increase has not been huge.
Canada still has very few gun murders -- just 183 in 2000, up from 151 in 1998.
It remains far more likely that Canadians will die by drowning or car accident
or household fall than firearms murder. But imagine the handsprings the
Liberals' would be performing if there had been a 20 per cent decrease since
their registry opened. Instead, there is no fanfare, no coverage at all of the
statistics. It is dishonest to insist the firearms program has provided a
"significant public benefit" if, during its lifetime, murders
committed with guns have gone up nearly 20 per cent, in real terms.
Garry
Breitkreuz, the Alliance MP from Saskatchewan's Yorkton-Melville, points out
another glaring fact in the StatsCan numbers: Exactly two-thirds of firearms
murders committed in Canada are committed with handguns (58 per cent of the
total), which have been subject to registration for 67 years, or sawed-off
shotguns and automatic firearms, which were illegal to own even before the
registry. Only one-third of firearms murders are committed with shotguns and
hunting rifles.
And
it's not as though the handguns used in murders are registered handguns, either.
StatsCan admits the vast majority were never registered.
The
Liberals have spent $685 million since 1995, and have 1,800 employees working to
license Canadian firearms owners and guns that pose little if any threat to
Canadians. And there's a good chance those totals are low. The total spent is
probably nearer $900 million and other gun-control employees are likely buried
in various government departments so the astonishing total is not obvious to
voters and taxpayers. The registry is a sham, especially at a time when more
money is needed to fight real threats to our security.