Go Canada!
===============================

Canada: 1.6 million guns elude registry (REALLLY?)

NUMBER OF GUNS IN CANADA = 16.5 Million
Documented as of: December 13, 2001
Click Here for more information:

http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl50.htm

1976 LIBERAL ESTIMATE OF THE NUMBER OF GUNS IN CANADA = 10.5 Million
Documented as of: March 19, 1976
Click Here for more information:
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/firearms_facts_feb27-03.htm

NUMBER OF GUNS REGISTERED = 6,019,925
Documented as of: April 15, 2003
Click Here for more information:

http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/FirearmsRegistered-2003-04-15.xl
s

————–

PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: TUE JUL.01,2003
PAGE: A1 (ILLUS)
BYLINE: DANIEL LEBLANC
CLASS: National News
EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ON

————————————————————————–
1.6 million guns elude registry

————————————————————————-

The grace period to register rifles and other long firearms ended
yesterday with about 1.6 million shotguns and rifles — about one of every
five such weapons in the country — still outside of the national database.
But the federal government is not rushing to track down and charge people
with unregistered long weapons.

Despite being past the deadline, Canadians will not face punishment if they
contact the Canadian Firearms Centre to register a weapon in the coming
weeks.

They run the risk of a fine or jail term only if they are caught by police
with an unregistered weapon.

Over all, about 6.3 million firearms are registered with the Canadian
Firearms Centre, short of the government’s estimate of 7.9 million long
firearms in Canada.

In addition, Ottawa estimates there are 2.3 million firearms owners in
Canada, of which about 200,000 have not signed up for a licence.

Critics of the registry say the law will make criminals out of otherwise
law-abiding gun owners.

Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz said the huge number of unregistered
weapons and unlicensed gun owners is a sign of the system’s failure. He
urged Ottawa to scrap the costly registry, which requires all gun owners
to get a licence and register their firearms.
“[This] creates a whole new class of paper criminals in this country,” he
said.

Mr. Breitkreuz said he is not reassured by Ottawa’s promise that no one will
be prosecuted simply for the late registration of a firearm.

“This verbal amnesty makes a mockery of the Criminal Code,” he said.

David Austin of the Canadian Firearms Centre said Canadians will not be
punished for the late registration of a firearm, but that they are taking a
risk in waiting too long.

“In terms of an individual who is outside the system, we’d recommend that
they immediately apply,” he said.

There was a last-minute surge of people registering long firearms
yesterday. The influx of electronic registrations even slowed down the
Canadian Firearms Centre’s Web site.

The registry was initially estimated by the Liberal government in 1995 to
cost $2-million, after licensing fees were collected, but is now pegged to
cost $1-billion by 2005. The Canadian Alliance said the money should have
been used to increase the number of police officers in the country.

The deadline for gun owners to register their long firearms had been
extended from Jan. 1.

(Handgun registration has been mandatory since 1934, and regulations were
tightened in 1977 to restrict handgun possession and prohibit automatic and
other heavy weapons and such items as silencers.

The pressure group Coalition for Gun Control estimates there are about one
million handguns in Canada.)
The law allows police to charge first-time offenders, who have not
registered long guns under the Firearms Act, and penalties could result in
a $2,000 fine or six months in jail. Or police may lay Criminal Code weapons
charges of illegal possession, which carry tougher penalties of up to 10
years in jail.
However, it is not clear who will face prosecution for failing to
register. British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and
Manitoba have announced that they will not prosecute people who fail to
register rifles or shotguns.

Korean War veteran Oscar Lacombe, 74, of Edmonton, tried to get charged for
failing to register his weapon, but police decided to use the Criminal
Code rather than the Firearms Act.

The former sergeant-at-arms of the Alberta Legislature carried his
unregistered .22-calibre rifle to the legislature in January, pleading with
police to arrest him.

He wanted to challenge the Firearms Act to the Supreme Court of Canada.