As the deadline approaches for the registration of all firearms including long guns used by legal, licensed and law-abiding residents across Canada, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, (O.F.A.H.), is urging the Federal government to scrap the national firearms registry.
“The government initially estimated that the cost of a national registry would be $85 million dollars and would enhance public safety. Instead, the cost of the system is now in the hundreds of millions of dollars and climbing, money that could have been used by law enforcement to stop the flow of illegal firearms, mostly handguns, that continue to enter Canada from the United States. Bill C-68 and the national firearms registry has failed to address the real problem,” said Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director.
The O.F.A.H. continues to hold discussions with the Federal government on this issue, and is urging the government to abolish the requirement for the registration of long guns, including rifles and shotguns which are used in rural areas to control predation on crops and livestock and for hunting and recreation. Failing that, the O.F.A.H. is demanding that the government extend the registration deadline for a minimum of two years while discussions around the legislation continue.
Early estimates indicate that several million firearms will not be registered before the December 31, 2002 deadline. This is due in part to backlogs in the system and the fact that many firearms owners do not understand the legislation and what is required of them. Anyone who has not been successful in registering their firearms by the deadline will immediately be guilty of a criminal offense.
“The Federal government will be making criminals out of licensed, regulated firearms owners, while hundreds of people across the country fall victim to illegal firearms, mostly handguns, that are smuggled into Canada. Despite the government’s claims, Bill C-68 and the national firearms registry have failed to stop the importation of illegal firearms or the killing on the streets of urban centres across Canada. In fact, handguns have had to be registered since 1934, but that hasn’t stopped illegal handguns from being used in nearly two-thirds of the homicides in Canada each year,” noted Reader.
Police officers across the country have been quoted publicly as saying that the system doesn’t work, and the Canadian Criminal Intelligence Service has admitted that smuggling has boomed since 1998, partly in response to the registry system. The Ontario Minister of Public Safety and Security recently stated that the system targets the wrong people and fails to address the problem. Members of Parliament, some of whom originally supported the legislation, say it doesn’t work and hundreds of thousands of law-abiding firearms owners across Canada know it doesn’t work. Even some gun control advocates have acknowledged that the flow of illegal firearms coming into Canada from the United States is a major problem that continues to take a heavy toll on the streets of cities across the country despite the existence of the registry system.
Contacts:
| Greg Farrant Government Relations Manager (705) 748-6324 | Mike Reader Executive Director (705) 748-6324 |