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Posted on 10/28/2005 12:12:48 AM PDT by cowboyway
OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Paul Martin incorrectly blamed the United States for gun crime in Canada by using an unsubstantiated figure to assert that 50 per cent of this country's gun crimes involve smuggled firearms, U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins said yesterday.
Mr. Wilkins said that Canadian officials admitted in meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week "that that figure was just grabbed out of thin air." He insisted the Canadian government should focus on joint efforts to combat gun-running rather than pointing fingers.
The figure, which others have used previously, is not based on any statistical study that could be traced by The Globe and Mail, and police forces and other authorities said yesterday it is not verifiable.
"I know that figure of 50 per cent has been bandied about, but no one can substantiate that figure," said Staff Sergeant Paul Marsh, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The U.S. ambassador said in an interview that Canada is unfairly blaming the United States for half its gun crime.
"I think they're incorrect," Mr. Wilkins said in an interview. "I just think it's easy when things go wrong to blame us, and I think that that's being done unfairly, quite frankly. I think we ought to emphasize that we're working together to solve the problem.
"I think the figure that's been bandied about of 50 per cent has not been substantiated."
Mr. Wilkins told CTV's Canada AM that the Canadians admitted the figure has no basis. Mr. Wilkins declined to tell The Globe whether the Prime Minister conceded the figure was not substantiated.
He listed U.S. efforts to stop gun smuggling to Canada, including joint Canada-U.S. police teams, more than 40 joint investigations, access to U.S. electronic gun-tracing systems, and training for Canadian forces.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Melanie Gruer, said that Mr. Martin had difficulty recalling the source of the figure in the meetings, but did not say it was unsubstantiated.
In a press conference on Monday, Mr. Martin said that the United States had to shoulder responsibility for gun smuggling into Canada.
"But when we hear, for example, the police association, the chiefs of police, say that as many as 50 per cent of crimes committed using guns, they are guns that come from the United States, largely illegally, it's clear we have to work together," Mr. Martin said.
Many police experts say a substantial number of guns from the United States are used in crimes, but many cannot be traced. Weapons are often stolen or smuggled, but the RCMP, Justice Canada, and Statistics Canada's Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics said they have no figures for their origins.
Spokesmen for the Canadian Professional Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the statistic did not come from them.
Ms. Gruer said yesterday that the source was Toronto Police Chief William Blair and Toronto Mayor David Miller. A spokesman for Mr. Miller said that the information came from the Toronto Police Service, and Chief Blair.
"It was said by the chief, but to be frank with you, we're not sure it's a Toronto statistic," said Staff Inspector Bruce Crawford, who oversees the force's gangs and guns task force.
Aside from the differences of opinion over what constitutes a "crime gun," serial numbers are usually rubbed out on guns seized, making them untraceable, he said.
He said from the handguns they have traced, the 50 figure seems believable for Toronto, but he has no idea whether that would apply to areas where rifles and shotguns are more frequently used.
Staff Insp. Crawford said most of the guns smuggled from the United States come in cars a few at a time over land borders. Most are smuggled by Canadians, perhaps with U.S. accomplices, he said.
"The Liberals are not the only political party in Canada that wants to interfere in US domestic gun law. On June 4, 2004, Jack Layton, the leader of Canada's far-Left New Democratic Party, made the following remarkable statement at a political gathering in Winnipeg:
"We're proposing going across the border to the US and actively engaging in lobbying to have gun-control laws in the US strengthened."
"As a side note, both Al Gore and John Kerry have spoken highly of C-68. Gore went so far as to visit Canada during the 2000 campaign to study C-68 in order to propose and implement a similar system in the US. Thank your lucky stars that Bush won."
Canada has proven the old axiom "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."
Canada: Leading the World in Being Just North of the United States.
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Leading the world in self destructive stupidity more like.
"Made up statistics alert by the gun grabbers...."
Things are so much easier when you go with imaginary numbers.
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