O.F.A.H. Press Release
For Immediate Release
December 4, 2002
The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.), Ontario’s largest conservation-based organization, strongly endorses the Auditor General’s scathing report on the national firearms system tabled in the House of Commons yesterday.
“The Auditor General has confirmed the worst fears of taxpayers and law-abiding firearms owners across Canada,” said Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director. “Members of the outdoor community have known for some time that the cost of the national firearms registration system was spiraling out of control, and the Auditor General not only validated these concerns, but confirmed that the Justice Department failed to inform Parliament and the public of huge cost overruns. The system doesn’t work and will end up costing Canadian taxpayers over $1 billion dollars that could have been spent on law enforcement, health care, and other national priorities.”
When the government amended the Firearms Act and introduced the registration system, it claimed that the program would “implement a practical approach to gun safety that works to keep firearms from those who should not have them while encouraging safe and responsible gun use by legitimate firearms owners.” Despite these claims, the system has instead achieved exactly the opposite. It has failed to control the spread of illegal handguns; crimes involving the use of illegal handguns have reportedly increased; hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted; and legal, licensed firearms owners in the agricultural and outdoor community have been threatened with criminal charges. Even the R.C.M.P. has expressed concerns about the accuracy of the system and stated that persons who should not be in the system are and could be denied firearms licenses, while others who should be in the system are not and could be issued licenses and use firearms in the commission of a crime.
“In 1994, the previous Auditor General advised the government not to proceed with a national firearms registration system. Unfortunately the government ignored this advice and created a registration system that will not increase public safety. A registration system for handguns has been in place since 1934, but illegal handguns are still smuggled into Canada, and continue to be available on the streets and are used to commit crimes,” noted Reader.
The O.F.A.H. believes that the government should immediately scrap the system or amend the Firearms Act to classify the failure to have a registration certificate as a misdemeanor, instead of subjecting legal, law-abiding firearms owners to criminal charges.