When former federal justice minister Allan Rock proposed his
national gun control registry in the 1990s, he estimated that the cost
would be only $85 million to complete the job, and consist after that
only of ongoing maintenance of the registry.
The price would be well worth it, he claimed. The registration of all
long guns -- that is, rifles and shotguns; Canada has required the
registration of handguns for almost seven decades -- would dramatically
reduce the rate of gun-related crime.
That was seven years ago. Last week, Treasury Board officials told the
Senate committee on national finance that by the year 2005, the gun
registry will have cost Canadians at least $1 billion: "From the
Treasury Board Secretariat perspective, we are very concerned about this
file," deputy comptroller Richard Neville told the senators when
asked why, seven years after the $85-million price tag had been promised
by Mr. Rock, and after almost 10 times that amount -- more than $800
million -- had already been spent on the project, the Department of
Justice was asking for an additional $72 million to continue preparing
the registry.
A billion-dollar price tag is pretty stiff by anyone's standards. Even
so, if there were evidence that the gun registry were accomplishing the
goals promised by Mr. Rock -- a significant reduction in gun-related
crimes; the facilitation of solving those crimes by the police -- it
might be justifiable.
Unfortunately, there is no such evidence. Canadian taxpayers have spent
$800 million on this project already -- they are looking at $1 billion
and counting by 2005 -- and it has not brought those goals closer. In
fact, the contrary is the case. In the last five years, the number of
killings committed with firearms has increased by almost 15 per cent, and
most of those are committed with handguns, which have long been subject
to registration. The use of long guns in criminal acts, the focus of the
registry law's attention, remains relatively rare.
In the face of the evidence, work on the registry proceeds in the belief
that registration will diminish the criminal use of firearms. The
Treasury Board's report and the crime statistics suggest that the money
might be better spent on upgrading police forces and emergency response
services.
_______________________
Scott MacLean
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 9184011
http://www.nerosoft.com
