Save the gun registry - fight Bill C-391
Ducharme presents to house committee in support of long gun registry
Patty Ducharme made a presentation on behalf of PSAC to the parliamentary committee on public safety May 25, in support of the long gun registry, and against the bill - C-391 - that would dismantle it.
May 25, 2010
Submission by the Public Service Alliance of Canada to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security regarding Bill C-391 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry)
The PSAC would like to thank the members of this Committee for the opportunity to present our concerns with Bill C-391. PSAC is one of Canada’s largest unions, representing 172,000 workers from coast to coast to coast including the women and men who work in the federal Firearms Registry in New Brunswick. Our members have first hand knowledge of the importance of registering and monitoring the possession of firearms.
December 6, 1989 was one of the worst incidents of mass murder in Canadian history. A young man roamed through the buildings of l’École Polytechnique entering classrooms and separating the men from the women. In the end, 14 young women were dead. The families of the victims and women’s groups across the country cried out for a law to monitor and control the use of firearms. Canada’s Firearms Act, adopted in 1995, is a monument to the memory of the victims who were killed on December 6th.
Bill C-391 would repeal the requirement to obtain a registration certificate for firearms that are neither prohibited nor restricted. In other words, it would eliminate the registration requirement for shotguns and riffles. It would also mandate the destruction of the nearly 8 million records in the federal gun registry. In effect, Bill C-391 would repeal the registration for hunting guns, including the Ruger Mini 14 that was used by Marc Lépine on December 6, 1989. Hunting guns are the weapons most often used to kill women, children and police officers in this country.
It is sadly ironic that 20 years after the Montreal Massacre, we need to expend precious time and energy to defend a gun registry that has proven its importance and its success.
Long gun registration is a necessary tool in the fight against violence against women
Gun violence is one very dangerous component of the issue of violence against women. An Ontario study on risk factors for spousal homicide found that possession or access to a firearm was the fourth most serious risk after separation, depression and a history of domestic violence.
The risk to women has been acknowledged internationally and not only by UN agencies concerned with women’s welfare. In 1998, the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice called on states to “recognize the relevance of firearm regulation in addressing violence against women”.
More women are killed by intimate partners than by strangers; 65 per cent of women are murdered by intimate partners compared to 15 per cent of men. Most are killed in their homes. In 1991, before the first restrictions were introduced, one third of women who were murdered were killed with guns and of the guns used, 88 per cent were long guns.
We need to keep the gun registry because it has saved lives, and saved many women’s lives. Indeed, domestic homicides with firearms, suicide with firearms and robberies with firearms have declined dramatically since the gun registry was created. The number of murders of women with guns has fallen from 85 in 1991 to 24 in 2005. The gun registry has been an important tool in tackling domestic violence. Police use the registry as a crucial resource, including when intervening in cases of wife assault.
Long gun registration helps ensure public health and safety
The registration of long guns and rifles has had a demonstrated impact in the reduction of homicides and the prevention of gun- related violence. It is a policy that has in fact played an important role in the prevention of violence and it has measurably improved the health and safety of the Canadian population.
Both the 1991 and the 1995 legislation focused on strengthening controls on rifles and shotguns. In 1991, more than 1,400 Canadians were killed with guns; today it is less than 800. The firearm homicide rate is down by 40 per cent while the homicide rate without guns is only down by 28 per cent.
The rate of homicides with rifles and shotguns and the rate of women murdered with guns have plummeted. More specifically, the rate of homicides with rifles and shotguns has decreased by 70 per cent since 1991.
On April 28, 2010, a Coalition of twenty-eight medical, nursing, allied health and suicide prevention organizations, including the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, the Canadian Pediatric Society, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, issued a joint statement calling for the maintenance of the long gun registry. They said:
“As health professionals, we know the importance of investing in prevention, whether in road safety or prevention of infectious diseases. We cannot easily measure prevention, but we can certainly measure the effects of ignoring it. Six different coroner’s inquests recommended the licensing of gun owners and registration of all firearms. Indeed, our daily practice informs us of the very real risks associated with firearms and of the value of a strong gun control law. That is why we must speak out against Bill C-391, the private member’s bill currently before the House of Commons which aims to abolish the long gun registry.”
At the press conference that was convened to publicize this collective statement, Dr. Alan Drummond from the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and an assistant coroner in Perth, Ontario, said:
“As a rural emergency physician and coroner, I can safely say that I've never seen a handgun injury. I have however seen my share of injuries and deaths inflicted by rifles and shotguns. I have felt the pain of investigating a double murder-suicide as a result of escalating domestic violence. Suicide, contrary to public opinion, is often an impulsive gesture. Keeping guns away from depressed people is essential. In the assaults and murders I have seen that have involved guns, the perpetrators acted on impulse and the unsafely stored long gun was readily available. Gun-related injury is not just a Toronto problem that involves gangs. It has occurred in my small idyllic rural community and involved people that would otherwise seem quite normal. Registration of firearms is important to ensure accountability and compliance with safe storage.”
We urge this Committee to listen to the voices of the professionals who have first hand experience of gun violence and its impacts on the lives of Canadians. And we support the call issued by Linda Silas, President of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions when she said:
“We are calling on our Members of Parliament to put public safety over politics and defeat Bill C-391 which will repeal the registration of rifles and shotguns.”
The experience of PSAC members
More than 22,000 firearms licenses have been refused or revoked by Chief Firearms Officers for public safety reasons between
December 1, 1998 and April 2008. Reasons include a history of violence, mental illness, the applicant is a potential risk to himself, herself or others, unsafe firearm use and storage, drug offences and providing false information.
PSAC members working in the Miramichi office of the Canada Firearms Program also have first hand experience of the importance of this process. As Charline Vautour, who works at the Exception Handling Unit of the Program says:
“We see results everyday. We know the registry is useful when we see who uses it - in police investigations, when police visit people’s homes, in situations of domestic violence, in legal matters. It is also used by health care workers who are first responders who need to know if there are weapons in a house and by fire departments which need to know if there are any explosives in a house. In a house fire, a long gun might just melt, but the ammunition can be very dangerous.
Eliminating the registry would be a huge step backwards. All those records would be deleted. The outcome would be negative and it would be dangerous.”
Gun control helps police do their work
In early May 2010, the Canadian Police Association, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Association of Police Boards issued a joint statement in which they state that licensing and registration of firearms:
- Helps police prevent crimes: Police use the registry to prevent violent incidents at homes, schools and workplaces, and have seized firearms from people who were deemed high risk. The registry prevents stockpiling of firearms by individuals, gangs and organized crime. The registry also deters people from selling firearms to unlicensed people.
- Helps police investigate crimes: Due to the existence of a national firearms registry, firearms investigations currently have tremendous cost-benefit. The registry gives police an enhanced capability to conduct timely criminal investigations and, thus, serve the criminal justice system well.
- Helps police trace firearms: The firearms registry is critical for tracing lost and stolen firearms, and tracing firearms used in crimes. The registry thus helps police provide community safety. Between 1974 and 2008, 40,000 long guns and 33,000 prohibited weapons were stolen from Canadian residences. At this time, there are more than 111,000 firearms in police custody for public safety reasons or after criminal use. Of these, 87,000 are long guns.
- Helps promote individual and social responsibility: Canadians are demonstrating their responsibility by registering their firearms. The registry promotes accountability in terms of safely storing firearms, reporting lost or stolen firearms, and tracking transactions of firearms. Transfer of firearms ownership is commonplace in Canada, especially of long guns. A total of 1.85 million long guns have changed hands in Canada since 2006.
Finally, the Police Associations’ joint statement underlines the fact that at $4 million per year to operate, the long gun portion of the registry is cost-effective, with benefits to all provinces and territories.
Most gun owners have already registered their firearms
Over 90% of gun owners have been licensed and 90% of guns have been registered.
Why shouldn’t gun owners who possess or use weapons face the same responsibilities and restrictions that we, in civil society, demand from owners of vehicles and animals? Registering a firearm is at most a small inconvenience. Gun owners must fill out a one-time-only form, indicating the type and the number of guns they own. PSAC member Charline Vautour says this of the experience:
“At the beginning, long gun users were aggravated by the licensing and registering process. They were mad and didn’t think it was a fair program. But the program was simplified. Now instead of having angry clients who are against it, the users have accepted it. And now they are voicing their concerns. Gun owners are calling us and voicing their concerns. We’ve even had calls from out west, from places where everyone expects there to be opposition. Our clients not only accept the program, they want it, and they want to keep it.”
What’s more, the Registry can be very useful to gun owners, since it can help the police find and return a stolen gun that has been registered. In addition, if guns are reported stolen, and then used in a crime, the gun owner will not be under suspicion.
While it is true that the cost of implementing the Registry and the other elements of the 1995 legislation was high, those costs have been paid, and the system is fully functional. The Registry now actually costs $4 million a year to run. This is not a significant amount given the benefits of this program, such as the 40 per cent reduction in the number of homicides with guns, from 1991 to 2008.
Most Canadians support gun control
The Coalition for Gun Control commissioned a poll with Léger and Léger that was released on April 26, 2010. It indicates that 59 per cent of the population considers that “the registering of guns is useful and should be maintained”. Two-thirds of women polled support the Registry.
In fact, support for the overall gun control law that was adopted in 1995 is even higher. In this poll, respondents were informed that this law requires more than just the registration of firearms; it also requires a license to possess firearms, it imposes a prohibition on certain handguns and military weapons, it requires owners to pass a safety test and a safety check and it requires that firearms be stored unloaded in a secure place. Nevertheless, 72 percent of the respondents (79 percent of the women, and 64 per cent of the men) said they support this law.
If it works, don’t break it
The Firearms Registry is an effective tool for law enforcement. It has effectively reduced the overall rate of homicide by guns, resulting in less death and mayhem. In particular, it has significantly reduced the number of women killed by their spouses, and surely helped decrease threats and psychological violence in the family.
The costs of implementing the gun registry have already been paid for, 90 per cent of the guns have already been registered, and the costs of the day-to-day operation of the registry are relatively low.
In addition, this workplace plays an important role in the social and economic well-being of the workers and their families in Miramichi, New Brunswick. According to PSAC member Charline Vautour:
“The community is built around the Firearms Centre. When the base closed, everything closed. The Firearms Centre allows businesses to exist. And it brings business in from outlying areas. Losing the registry would be devastating.”
This Committee has a responsibility to promote public security
Abolishing the long-gun gun registry would serve no useful purpose, but it could generate a lot of insecurity. Will we see a sharp or a gradual increase in gun violence? Will we see more trafficking in illegal arms?
The adoption of legislation in general – and the work of this Committee in particular – must be guided by Canada’s constitutional human rights framework. This includes the obligation to ensure that federal legislation does not infringe anyone’s right to life, liberty and the security of the person, guaranteed in Section 7 of the Charter.
This Committee should not support legislation that would weaken the existing mechanisms created to protect public safety.
This Bill is not the result of careful research and thoughtful analysis. Rather, it is the expression of an ideological bias in favour of a “right” to bear arms that is a made-in-USA concept. There is no such “right” in Canada. Owning a gun is a privilege, and the government has the right to ensure that this privilege is exercised in the safest of conditions.
It is paradoxical that while promoting a law and order agenda that purports to better protect victims of crime, the current government has expressed support for a Bill that can only result in more Canadians becoming the victims of violent crimes.
Instead of spending huge amounts of money on ineffective law and order proposals, this government should maintain a long gun registry that is an effective tool against domestic and community violence.1
We urge this Committee to stand against this Bill and reject its proposed amendments.
John Gordon
PSAC National President
Patty Ducharme
PSAC National Executive Vice-President
1 Minister of Public Security Vic Toews has just announced that his law proposed reforms to the criminal justice system will cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and will reach a total of 2 billion dollars in 2015. However, costs might actually be much higher, with rumours on Parliament Hill saying that these costs could go up to 8 or 10 billion in the next 5 years. This reform would result in having more people in jail for longer periods of time, and it would result in particular in having more youths in jails...Hélène Buzzetti, Le crime ne paie pas, mais les programmes coûteront cher. Le Devoir, 29 avril 2010, p. A 3.
Date Modified : 2010/05/27
