Canadian Firearms Registry

The Canadian gun registry is a government-run registry of all legally-owned guns in Canada. It was introduced by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and implemented by successive Justice Ministers Allan Rock and Anne McLellan. It requires every firearm in Canada to be registered or rendered in an unusable state. This was an effort to reduce crime by making every gun traceable. This should not be construed as suggesting that registration of a firearm is free. Any person wishing to obtain a firearm must first acquire a Possession and Acquisition Licence or PAL. The PAL carries a fee of $60 for non-restricted, $80 for restricted, and is renewable every five years. Expiry dates are set on the holder's birthday following the fifth anniversary of the initial issue of the licence. In one year, 69 people in Toronto were murdered with firearms, none of these criminal cases could be solved or helped in any way by the gun registry, proving the gun registry to be, as Rex Murphy stated "useless"

The current Conservative government has introduced legislation to repeal the requirement to register non-restricted firearms (Bill C-21). C-21 received first reading in the House of Commons on June 19, 2006, but has not been passed by Parliament. In addition, regulatory changes made in May 2006 provide a one-year amnesty for rifle and shotgun owners facing prosecution for failing to register their firearms. This amnesty was extended for an additional year in April 2007 and is currently in force until May 16, 2008.

Early history

Canada had a gun registry earlier during World War II, when all people were compelled to register their firearms out of fear of enemy subversion. This registry was discontinued after the war; however, all handguns have been subject to registration since 1934. In addition, fully automatic firearms have been prohibited since 1977. In the mid-1990s, short-barrelled handguns and those firing .25 ACP and .32 ACP ammunition, with the exception of certain guns typically used in shooting competitions, were added to the list of prohibited firearms.

Initial opposition

Opposition to the registry, particularly outside of Canada's major cities, was immediate. It was argued that the registry would not make Canadians safer and that it was only a step on the way to the confiscation of all guns in Canada. Small scale confiscations of some firearms after the registry took effect and Prime Minister Paul Martin's 2006 election promise of a national ban on handguns seems to have confirmed this fear. The provincial governments of Ontario and Alberta also attacked the bill arguing it exceeded the federal government's mandate, however the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the registry in Reference re Firearms Act.

The Conservative Party of Canada claims to remain committed to scrapping the registry. They claim that if the same amount of money was invested in expanding the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) force instead of requiring gun registration, far more lives would be saved. The Canadian Press reported that a committee made up of then–Justice Minister Vic Toews, Public Security Minister Stockwell Day, and Tory backbencher Garry Breitkreuz has been formed to work out how to scrap the long gun registry and reinvest the money in RCMP officers. At this time it seems that no such committee was ever formed and Breitkreuz had never met with Toews on the matter. However, Breitkreuz was consulted about changes the Conservatives introduced on May 17, 2006.

Cost overruns

The registry again became a political issue in the early 2000s when massive cost overruns were reported. The project which was meant to cost approximately $119 million ended up costing over a billion dollars to implement. Documents obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation now estimate the program cost at $2 billion.

In December 2002, the Auditor-General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, reported that the project was running vastly above initial cost estimates. The report shows that the implementation of the firearms registry program by the Department of Justice has had significant strategic and management problems throughout. Taxpayers were originally expected to pay only $2 million of the budget while registration fees would cover the rest. In 1995, the Department of Justice reported to Parliament that the system would cost $119 million to implement, and that the income generated from licensing fees would be $117 million. This gives a net cost of $2 million. At the time of the 2002 audit, the revised estimates from the Department of Justice were that the cost of the program would be more than $1 billion by 2004/05 and that the income from licence fees in the same period would be $140 million.

The Auditor General's report found other significant problems with the way the project had been handled. These included significant questions around the financial management of the project. In particular, the report stated that estimated project costs often excluded project costs incurred by other agencies, such as the RCMP and provincial governments, giving a false impression of real cost. Problems were likewise reported with how funds were requested from Parliament, with 70% of funds requested through "supplementary estimates," a method intended for unanticipated expenditures and requiring only a one-line statement to Parliament on the purpose of the request. In comparison, only 10% of funds for all other programs in the department were requested in this way over the same period.

• Auditor General's 2002 report

The causes of the cost overruns have been blamed on the inexperience of the Justice Department in managing a project of such scale. Especially crucial was that the scope of the project was in continuous flux requiring continuous changes to the basic set-up of the registry. This excuse, however, does not explain the extreme lengths the government went to in order to mislead Parliament about the cost and hide the actual amounts of money being spent.

Corruption charges

In January 2006, the RCMP were asked to probe a Liberal Party consultant over a $380,000 contract: Kim Doran was awarded to lobby the federal government for funds for the ailing firearms registry. The five-month contract was awarded by the Justice Department to Doran in March 2003 to lobby the federal Solicitor General, Treasury Board and Privy Council, according to a detailed lobbyist report. At the time, Doran was representing the Coalition for Gun Control. The group, which receives both government and private funding, claims to represent anti-firearm groups and municipalities. It is a strong supporter of the gun registry.

Tony Bernardo, director of the 12,000-member Canadian Shooting Sports Association, opined that the gun registry program funds would be better used for Canadian law and justice purposes. He said his Canadian organization, should also 'get government funding for a consultant to lobby on behalf of law abiding gun owners'. The group asked the RCMP to probe into the matter. "Isn't it inappropriate for the Federal Government to hire a private lobbyist with taxpayers' dollars to lobby itself?" the organization complained to the RCMP. "Isn't it inappropriate for an employee of the Liberal Party to profit from funds granted by the government of Canada?" Doran is listed as Vice-President of Federal Affairs for the Liberals' Ontario Women's Commission and was the party's Deputy National Director of Organization and Policy.

Use of the registry

Despite the questions of corruption, problems, erroneous data, and inefficiency, police departments commonly use it to allow police officers to check if a residence or property might contain a registered firearm before responding to a call. However, gun registry checks are automatic with other searches for information on unrelated matters, and often quoted number of checks done does not reflect the true utility of the registry or what value line police officers place in the registry. Furthermore, the registry is certainly not definitive as to whether or not an individual or a residence has firearms; criminals have shown a universal refusal to register their illegal firearms.

The gun registry has received support from the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs. Chief Jack Ewatski, president of the CACP, and Chief Armand LaBarge, president of the Ontario Association of Police Chiefs, stated that police officers across the country search the registry about 5,000 times per day, and have used the registry to get guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. The police chiefs noted that investigators have used the registry when applying for search warrants and wiretaps. Ewatski said that "If the registry is shut down or even if the long-gun registry is shut down, they’re [front-line police officers] going to lose an important database of information and that would be very unfortunate." )

Individual police chiefs, however, have condemned the registry. Former RCMP Commissioner Norm Inkster stated in the National Post on 14 December 2004 that "the registry does little or nothing to help police link actual crimes to actual guns". Former Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino pointed out the registry hasn't helped Toronto police solve a single homicide and "has been of precious little help". Retired Assistant Commissioner Robert Head - a life member of the CACP - called the gun registry "the greatest waste of law enforcement funds that has ever been inflicted on the Canadian taxpayer". Borden-Carlton Police Chief Jamie Fox called the registry "...a massive waste of tax dollars that could have been spent on health care and other pressing social needs." London Police Chief Brian Collins said "It's such a disaster."

Police associations have also condemned the firearms registry. Sgt. Peter Ratcliff, as president of the Edmonton Police Association, described it as "... fraught with problems. It's taken too long, it's cost too much money, it's full of errors." The president of the Alberta Federation of Police Officers, Peter Kawalilak, said "It's a bad law, I'll say that right now." The President of the Calgary Police Association said the program has had no effect on crime and "Despite the money spent, it should be scrapped." Winnipeg Police Association president Loren Schinkel said the registry has done little to curb crime.

Gun registry affect on public safety

The Auditor General's report also found that there is a lack of evidence to support the effectiveness of the gun registry, or to prove that it is meeting its stated goal of improving public safety. The report states:

The performance report focuses on activities such as issuing licenses and registering firearms. The Centre does not show how these activities help minimize risks to public safety with evidence-based outcomes such as reduced deaths, injuries and threats from firearms.

O.P.P. Commissioner Julian Fantino is opposed to the gun registry, stating in a press release:

We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives."

Gary Mauser, a member of the Fraser Institute and professor at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, has stated:

The handguns being misused are illegal. Nobody thinks banning guns will stop violent crime, and there is no empirical support for gun controls working.

Despite these opinions, a new report shows that gun deaths in Canada have dropped from 1400 in 1990 to 792 this year. The report didn't prove cause and effect, but the gun registry may have contributed to this 44% decrease in gun-related mortality.

Alleged mis-use of the registry

Recently, several gun collectors have had their collections stolen, including antique pistols and rifles. Some are suggesting that the gun registry (both long gun and hand gun registries) have been hacked and are now serving as a "hit list", giving criminals a road map to all the guns in Canada. Advocates of the registry are saying that street gangs are not computer-savvy enough to hack the registry, yet they have not addressed the possibility that organized crime may be involved in these recent robberies.

On a less serious note, some "gun" owners have been registering their nail guns, staple guns, glue guns, hair dryers as a protest to the Registry, as the government has to process each application, regardless of the type of gun. Some people went as far as registering their children's cap guns.

Security

John Hicks, an Orillia-area computer consultant, and webmaster for the Canada Firearms Centre, has said that anyone with a home computer could have easily accessed names, addresses and detailed shopping lists (including make, model and serial number) of registered guns belonging to licensed firearms owners. Hicks told the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) that "During my tenure as the CFC webmaster I duly informed management that the website that interfaced to the firearms registry was flawed. It took some $15 million to develop and I broke it inside of about 30 minutes."

Hicks says that the CFC's former system allowed hackers to find vulnerable user accounts and fool the system into thinking that the hacker was the actual licensed gun owner. Mr. Hicks said he repeatedly warned CFC management to properly protect gun owners' personal information before he filed an official complaint with the Privacy Commissioner. Hicks says that the Privacy Commissioner responded that they would investigate further should anyone complain that they were targeted due to information gleaned from the CFRS database.

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters questioned the security of the gun registry after a home invasion that seemed to target a licensed gun collector. The OFAH argues that, in the wrong hands, a database detailing the whereabouts of every legally-owned firearm in Canada is a potential shopping list for criminals.

Role in American gun politics

The National Rifle Association and other guns rights groups in the United States have used the Canadian registry as an example of the potential failure such a system would be if implemented in the United States which has far more firearms in private circulation than Canada.

The Violence Policy Center has also argued against such a system being implemented in the United States as well on the grounds that it would not reduce gun violence in America.

See also

• Gun politics in Canada
• Possession and Acquisition Licence
• Dominion of Canada Rifle Association

External links

• Coalition for Gun Control
• Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association advocacy group against the Firearms Act
• National Firearms Association in Edmonton
• Canada Firearms Centre: On-Line Services (including registration)
• Canada Firearms Centre: FAQ
• JJHicks.com Security Advisory: Predictability and Vulnerability in the Canadian Firearms Centre's On-Line Services Web Site (www.cfc-ccaf.gc.ca)