Failed Canada Gun Registration Scheme A Lesson For California

California Rifle and Pistol Association (press release) ^ | 15 May 2002 | staff

[45Auto]

The Toronto Star and the Canadian Press are reporting that hundreds of thousands of gun owners in Canada, possibly at least one third of all Canadian gun owners, have yet to register their firearms under the new Canadian mandatory gun registration scheme. So far, the Star reports that noncompliance has forced the Canadian government to waive registration fees for a period of time, as a form of encouragement. The costs of the program, meanwhile, have spiraled up many times higher than anticipated. The Canadian Firearms Centre is preparing to send out reminder letters to those hundreds of thousands of gun owners who have yet to register their firearms. Guns must be registered by January 1, 2003. Possession of non-registered guns can lead to five years in prison and other charges under the Firearms Act or the Criminal Code.

Pro-gun activists in Canada are hinting that "holdouts" are not likely to comply anytime soon, so the government may be facing the grim prospect of having to arrest, try, convict, and imprison some 667,000 "lawbreakers." As the Press reported: Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz believes the gun registry will have trouble convincing the holdouts. "If they didn't capture these people during their stay-out-of-jail sale, then I don't know how many would still comply with the law," Breitkreuz said.

The law does little to curb gun use by criminals, and criminals are obtaining firearms easily illegally, or in some instances legally. At a recent Hell's Angels trial in Montreal police confirmed that a handgun and three pump action shotguns found in the home of convicted killer Maurice "Mom" Boucher were apparently acquired legally, despite the registration and licensing scheme. Meanwhile, Native Americans in the Northwest Territories run short of regulated ammunition needed for hunting and feeding their families.

"Registration and licensing doesn't work in Canada, and it wouldn't work here," CRPA spokesman Chuck Michel said. "It is a waste of money. Put more police on the streets, then they can go after the people who are really committing the crimes."

In response to criticism, Canadian's gun ban lobby is now hedging on what they had promised that the law would accomplish. Instead of reducing crime, or making people safe, spokesperson Wendy Cukier now claims that "...Strengthening control means reducing the risk that guns will be misused. It doesn't guarantee they won't be misused..." Cukier also noted that, out of the estimated 1.4 million gun owners who have applied for registration, some 4000 have been either denied or have had their permits revoked. That's a whopping 0.3% of all gun owners in Canada, further proving that the vast majority of gun owners tend to be law-abiding.

CRPA's 70,000 members include law enforcement officers, prosecutors, professionals, firearm experts, the general public and loving parents. CRPA instructors have been teaching safe and responsible firearms ownership to those who choose to own a gun for sport or self-defense for over 125 years. CRPA has a variety of effective crime prevention and gun safety programs available. These include information brochures such as CRPA's Know Your California Gun Laws, safety guidelines, civilian gun safety and firearm education classes; the award-winning Eddie Eagle GunSafe program, which teaches kids to stay away from guns (www.eaglepak.org); Project HomeSafe (www.projecthomesafe.org), which distributes free gun safety locks; "Don't Lie for the Other Guy," which enlists firearm dealers to fight illegal gun purchases and "straw purchases" (www.nafr.org); "Refuse To Be A Victim," which teaches a variety of personal safety techniques (www.nrahq.org/safety/rtbav); Operation Ceasefire, a strategic crime fighting alliance between police and gun dealers; and a host of other programs. These efforts have proven successful across the nation, including many cities in California where they are currently used.

[45Auto]

The failure of gun control in general is obvious, but even more obvious is the failure of registration schemes as crime-fighting tools. The Canadian pistol registry has been in effect for over 60 years and the number of crimes solved through use of this information is a staggering ZERO. The only real utlility of gun registries is for confiscation purposes. Period. Just say "NO" to gun registry.

[IronJack]

This technique is commonly known as "massive noncompliance." You see, in order for this country to work, it requires the cooperation of the governed. Since these laws are not requested by the people nor are they done on behalf of the people, the people are not obligated to follow them. Gandhi understood that principal when he said that a few thousand British couldn't control millions of Indians. Similarly, a few hundred BATF thugs can't control millions and millions of American -- or Canadian -- gun owners.

For those having ethical qualms, think of it this way. The government is breaking the law by trying to deny us a right they never granted in the first place. They are in effect trying to usurp our sovereignty, the basis of our political system. By refusing to cooperate with an illegal act, we in effect become the law enforcers. It is government that is criminal in this case.

[wardaddy]

I agree but in this country breaking federal gun laws carries a minimum 5 years Fed sentence of which one must do 87%. And that is the minimum. It goes up very quickly from there. In Canada, I'll bet it's much less so the downside of getting busted is much less.

[PGalt]

Absolutely! With the RIGHT TO YOUR LIFE, is the necessary corollary RIGHT TO DEFEND YOUR LIFE.

[William Tell]

45Auto said: "The failure of gun control in general is obvious ..."

The purpose of gun control is to demonize gun-owners, raise the cost of gun ownership, restrict the types and sizes of firearms available, and discourage the use of arms by our youth. Gun control has been a tremendous success.

The only thing that will turn this around is if gun-owners begin to vote in great numbers with ballots, with dollars, with feet, and, perhaps eventually, with bullets. Those who seek to disarm me are my enemies and I will treat them as such.

[45Auto]

"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." — Andrew Fletcher 1698

[Landru]

Yea, sure, right.
America's Socialists are looking north to Canada; &, they're saying to themselves, "See, we really oughta forget about this whole gun-grabbing thing & find another cause-celeb."

HA!
Sweet dreams, *baaa-byyy*.

...geehezzzz.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Bang

[dersepp]

I hope our Canadian friends use the same response and reasoning I plan to use if our government comes to my door asking for my weapons:

"Darn it, you know I lost all those firearms in that hunting trip I took a few years ago. Had sooooo much JD I woke up a couple days later naked and a few miles up the canyon from where all my gear was...COMPLETE BLACKOUT!!!"

"You fellers will let me know if any o' my stuff ever turns up, now won't you?"

Memo to self: Practice eight to ten digit coordinate land navigation corrected to true north vs. grid north and burying baseball bat sized objects in 10" composite tubing.

[Eagle Eye]

So when Henry Bowman calls, don't answer.

[RISU]

Either the Government "reports to" the people, or the people to the government.

Private Personal weapon ownership is the bed rock indicator.

[Kermit]

Gun registration has one practical application and only one: Gun confiscation. If Canada gets one-third non-compliance, revolutionary America will get two-thirds non-compliance minimum.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Midnight gardening by any other name...The availability of 10" Diameter PVC Pipe when Australia became a totalitarian state went to ZERO...Must be terrible drainage probs in the outback...

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

Get your food storage ready so you can head for the hills with your guns if the socialists ever decide to try and strip your arms.

[Angelique]

Gun control only gives criminals the edge-up. The countries with gun control bears this out.

[goldstategop]

Just look at the U.K and Australia. There was a thread posted awhile back about a model in the U.K being mugged in London. Which wouldn't have happened had she been allowed to carry a gun in self-defense. To the gun banners the latter is a greater evil than killing a bad person, so its tough luck if an innocent gets raped or murdered as the price for keeping guns off the streets.

[pyx]

Its prety cool watchin' our Canukian neighbors tell their government to, "Stuff it !". They should do it more often.

[A CA Guy]

Registration in name is OK. It will not stop a lot of trouble.
It is not like criminals will register their guns.
There is about as much chance of that as Libertarians giving up the drugs.

[Angelique]

Before I even came on FR, I had the stats for both countries, but eventually took them off my bookmarks. You could not be more right. It is a failed proposition.

Those laws which target responsible gun-owners only enhance the criminal's chances of committing more crimes. It reminds me of the one kid in your class who was acting out, so therefore, the teacher set up all these new rules, rather than to confront the kid with the problem. How strange that we allow this since we are not kids.

[patent]

I agree but in this country breaking federal gun laws carries a minimum 5 years Fed sentence of which one must do 87%. And that is the minimum. It goes up very quickly from there. In Canada, I'll bet it's much less so the downside of getting busted is much less.

Give us liberty or give us no more than 3 years in the pen?

patent