FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 5, 2003
With the news that the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia have joined Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in refusing to prosecute people who have not registered their rifles and shotguns by July 1, 2003 as required by the federal government’s beleaguered firearms registry, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, (O.F.A.H.), are once again calling on the federal government to scrap the registry for long guns.
“We are completely mystified as to why, with all of the opposition across the country to this ill-fated registry, that the federal government continues to defend and pour hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars into a system that has been so soundly condemned and is so badly flawed,” said Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director.
In addition to the five provinces who have said they will not prosecute legal, law abiding firearms owners, eight provinces and three territories are already on record against the registry for long guns; the Federal Auditor General has verified that the government has spent $1 billion on a system that was only supposed to cost $2 million; the government’s own consultant has reported that the system will cost at least another $541 million before it is fully operational, to say nothing of the ongoing costs to operate it after that time; the Canadian Taxpayers Federation believes that the cost to taxpayers will be at least $2 billion; numerous police chiefs and rank and file officers across the country have indicated their opposition to the both the registry and the waste of funds that could otherwise be spent on law enforcement and several public opinion polls have shown that a majority of the public is not in favor of continued spending on the registry in lieu of funding other national priorities.
“The O.F.A.H. continues to support firearms licensing and is strongly supportive of increased penalties for the illegal use of firearms, but cannot and will not support a registry for long guns that targets the wrong people,” noted Reader.