Bill C-391

On September 22, 2010, efforts and actions from Canadians across the country, including police officers, victims, public health and security experts, crime prevention experts, women’s advocates, suicide prevention groups, unions, as well as individual citizens, have led to a hard-earned victory: the safeguard of the long-gun registry. Although we can rightfully savour this victory, the thin margin by which the registry was saved (153 to 151) and the government’s vow to continue its fight to abolish it are clear indicators of what still lies ahead.

Click here to see how your Member of Parliament voted on the parliamentary committee report that Bill C-391 be ended.

Private Member’s Bill C-391 was introduced by Portage-Lisgar Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner in May, 2009. C-391 appears to be a Private Members Bill (PMB) in name only, as there is ample evidence to support the conclusion that in fact it is a government bill: the Prime Minister has been promoting it, the Conservative Party of Canada has been supporting it with aggressive advertising campaigns, it was referenced in the speech from the Throne, and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has answered several questions about C-391 from Conservative backbenchers in the House of Commons.

On November 4, 2009, after an extensive Conservative attack ad campaign, which focused on opposition MPs in rural ridings, Bill C-391 was passed at second reading, wherein 12 NDP MPs, 8 Liberals, and one Independent voted with the government. Click here to see how your Member of Parliament voted on Bill C-391 at second reading.

During the months of May and June 2010, C-391 was examined by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. After hearing testimonies from police and public health organizations, women’s, victims groups and gun owners associations, the Committee returned to the House of Commons with a motion that Bill C-391 be discarded: “[The committee] has heard sufficient testimony that the bill will dismantle a tool that promotes and enhances public security and the safety of Canadian police officers.”

Bill C-391 proposed:

• To repeal the registration of unrestricted firearms. This category of guns includes rifles and shotguns, such as the powerful semi-automatic Ruger Mini 14 used in the Montreal Massacre, and sniper rifles, including .50 calibre sniper rifles such as the Steyr-Mannlicher HS50 and the L115A3.
• There are no provisions in this legislation to reinstate the requirement that businesses keep records of sales. This has been a requirement since 1977, and was removed when the Firearms Act passed in 1995 as the information would be contained in the registry. Without this information there is no way for police to investigate the source of rifles and shotguns used in crime.
• There is no mention of erasing data currently in the registry, yet the Firearms Act has provisions that could make it possible for this to happen through certain regulations, and it is also unlikely that the regulations on privacy and personal information would allow the RCMP to keep information they would no longer be allowed to obtain. Even if the RCMP could retain the information, it would quickly become stale and its utility to law enforcement would be compromised.

Firearm registration is a one-time only procedure (a simple form to fill out):

• Rifles and shotguns are often recovered in crime, and are the firearms most often used in domestic violence, suicide and in the murders of police officers, particularly in rural areas.
• Screening and licensing firearm owners reduces the risks that dangerous people will have access to weapons, and registration is essential to enforcing licensing.
• Registering all firearms holds gun owners accountable for their firearms, and reduces the chances that legally owned guns will be diverted to unlicensed owners.
• Registering all firearms assists police in removing guns from dangerous people, and in enforcing prohibition orders.
• The gun registry has aided police investigations. Two men were identified and convicted as accessories to the murder of 4 RCMP officers in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, in part because a registered gun was left at the scene of the crime.
• All illegal firearms begin as legal firearms. Controls over legal guns are essential in preventing diversion and choking off the illegal supply.
• Building Canada’s licensing and registration system was more expensive than expected but the RCMP have clearly stated that dismantling the long-gun registry will save only $4.1 million per year.
• Police, public safety, crime prevention, women’s organizations, and others support the existing law and maintain that it contributes to public safety.

On August 31, 2010 the RCMP released its evaluation of the Canadian Firearms Program. The report is dated February 2010 and confirms what registry supporters have been advocating; the vast majority of firearm related deaths in Canada are the result of rifles and shotguns. The report clarifies that the registry is effective, efficient, cost-efficient and most importantly, it saves lives. Click here to read the full RCMP report.

Police Associations

Joint Declaration: Three National Police Associations’ Joint Statement on Bill C-391 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry) ...download pdf

Testimony before the Parliamentary Committee of Chief William Blair, Chief of Police Toronto Police Service, President Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police ...Click here

Testimony before the Parliamentary Committee of Charles Momy, President, Canadian Police Association and Detective Constable Nadine Teeft, Organized Crime Enforcement, Gun and Gang Task Force, Toronto Police Services, Canadian Police Association ...Click here

Canadian Police Association Open letter to Members of Parliament and Senators on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Canadian Association of Police Boards Brief to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-391...Click here and here for their opening remarks

Police support for the registry: Chiefs of police and several police departments in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland all support the long gun registry ...Click here for their statements

Press Release: Ontario Police Chiefs Back Federal Firearms Registry as Vital Public Safety Tool. Registry used thousands of times daily to prevent and solve crimes, keep citizens and police officers safe. ...Click here

Press Release: CACP Efforts to Support the Canadian Firearms Registry Gain Momentum ...Click here

Truths and Myths on Canada's Gun Registry ...Download pdf

Public Health Experts

New Study by the Institut de santé publique du Québec - Estimates 2,100 lives saved since the implementation of the Firearms Act ...Click here

Joint Statement: Firearms Control and Injury Prevention: The gun registry is a good investment...Click here

Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians's presentation to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...download pdf

Canadian Paediatric Society's presentation to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Ontario Public Health Association “Responding to private member’s Bill C-391 an Act to Amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act” ...Click here

Rural B.C. Psychiatrist Dr Barbara Kane writes in her Brief to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security "The measures contained in Bill C-391 would remove tools used by psychiatrists such as myself to ensure that mentally ill individuals do not have access to firearms. I trust the committee to recommend the end of Bill C-391." ...download pdf

Press Release: Health care experts say eliminating the registration of rifles and shotguns will put health and safety of Canadians at risk. ...download pdf

Press release: Registered Nurses Association of Ontario sends an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Save Lives, Keep the Gun Registry Click here.

Women's Safety Experts

More than 630 women leaders from across the country have issued a joint appeal to NDP leader Jack Layton demanding that his party vote against Bill C-391, which would abolish the national long gun registry. ...Click here

The Coalition of Provincial & Territorial Advisory Councils on the Status of Women plea to maintain the long-gun registry in its brief on Bill C-391 ....Click here

YWCA Canada Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-391 ...download pdf

PATHS, The Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan released Weakening Gun Control in Canada: How Bill C-391 threatens the safety and security of Canadian women and children, a position paper on Bill C-391. ...Click here (You will leave the website of the Coalition for Gun Control)

The Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres (OCRCC) writes "Bill C-391, if passed, would eliminate a valuable tool that enhances public safety and protects women from firearm violence, in particular the safety of women and children in the context of domestic violence situations." ...Click here

YWCA Toronto Submission to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-391...Click here

Canadian Federation of University Women Brief on Bill C-391...Click here

Memorandum by the Association féminine d’éducation et d’action sociale on Bill C-391 ...download pdf

Presentation by the Regroupement des maisons pour femmes victimes de violence conjugale du Québec to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Presentation by the Fédération des femmes du Québec and the Fédération de ressources d'hébergement pour femmes violentées et en difficulté du Québec to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Press Release: Politicians are forgetting rural women - Outcry and national poll suggests Canadians and women in particular support gun registry. ...download pdf. To view the complete data click here and for graphs click here

Press Release: Listen to Our Police Leaders on Long Gun Registry says YWCA Canada. Registry costs $4.1 million per year, protects vulnerable women and police officers...Click here

Press Release Alberta Council of Women's Shelters: Gun Control Impacts Women All Over Alberta...Click here

Editorial: Ontario Coalition of Rape Crisis Centres and Women’s Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County write Bill C 391 will prolong random acts of violence against women....Click here

Kenora Sexual Assault Centre joins call to defeat bill to amend Firearms Act ...Click here

Press release: Women Unite in Support of Long-Gun Registry Click here.

Press Release: National Council of Women of Canada Advocate for Public Safety and Retaining and Improving the Long Gun Registry ... Click here

Victims

“Costs of Gun Violence and the Impact on Victims,” brief by victim's advocate Priscilla de Villiers endorsed by victim's associations and other victims: ...Click here

Brief by Suzanne Laplante-Edward, Anne-Marie's mother, shot December 6, 1989 at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique ...Click here

Presentation by the Ecole Polytechnique victims and students to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Presentation by the Dawson College Committee for Gun Control to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Press release: Firearms registry saved my life, says domestic violence survivor Click here.

Press release: Families and Small Communities Pay A Terrible Price for Gun Violence: “Save the Firearms Registry,” say Donna French, Karen Vanscoy, Margaret Pinard and Priscilla de Villiers

Click here.

Press release: Federal Ombudsman Supports Long-gun Registry

Click here.

Press Release: Victims of Montreal’s Dawson College, Concordia University and Ecole Polytechnique shootings ask Jack Layton to help stop Bill C-391. ...Click here

Governments

Presentation by the Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Presentation by the Quebec Justice Minister Jacques Dupuis to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Presentation by the RCMP to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Presentation by the Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser to the SECU committee on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Unions and Other Groups

Canadian Labour Congress Opposes Bill C-391 on behalf of 3.2 million members ...Click here for their statement and ...here for Barbara Byers's speech to SECU

Public Service Alliance of Canada Save the gun registry - fight Bill C-391 ...Click here

Coalition for Gun Control Brief on C-391: Relaxing the controls on firearms will put Canadians at risk. The intent of this Bill is to eliminate the registration of rifles and shotguns and, as we read it, to end the recording of transactions of the sales or transfers of these firearms. We believe that if this law passes, it will be necessary to destroy the records on 7 million rifles and shotguns thereby putting lives at risk and dramatically increasing the costs and reducing the likelihood of success of police gun crime investigations. . ....Click here

CAW Submission to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Bill C-391 (repeal of long-gun registry)....Click here

Press Release: Coalition for Gun Control Takes Aim at Myths About the Firearms Registry Group Representing 300 Organizations Appears Today Before Parliamentary Committee ...Click here

Speech: Canadian Labour Congress on Bill C-391 ...Click here

Letter: Project Ploughshares writes about the international implications of amending the Firearms Act. ...Click here

Press Release: Antennes de paix Montreal Guns and Violence Against Women: A Dangerous Connection ...Click here

Press Release: Leading public safety groups appalled that Opposition parties will help pass Tory Bill dismantling the registration of rifles and shotguns ...download pdf

Saskatoon's Star Phoenix First Nation perspective columnist writes " Dangerous mistake to scrap long gun registry"...download pdf

News

For an overview of media reports on Bill C-391 ...click here