SUPPORT FOR GUN CONTROL

In the latest battle to protect Canada’s Gun Control laws, police, women’s safety, public health, and violence prevention experts joined forces to defeat Bill C-391 on September 22, 2010. The experts insisted that the gun registry is an essential tool used 14,000 times a day by authorities to take preventative action and to support criminal investigations. They gave clear evidence that stronger gun control has made Canadians – particularly women – safer, leading to major declines in homicides, suicides, accidents and robberies. Here are some examples:

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

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

POLLS ON SUPPORT GUN CONTROL

In spite of the controversy about the legislation, polls show Canadians continue to support the need for licensing gun owners and registering firearms.

"Two-thirds of Canadians back long-gun registry: poll" National Post, October 5, 2010 ...click here

April 26 2010-

Press Release: Politicians are forgetting rural women -Outcry and national poll suggests Canadians and women in particular support gun registry. ...download pdf. Click here to view the complete data and Click here to view the results in graph format

February 21, 2003 - Majority of Canadians Support Continuation of National Firearms Registry: Environics Poll. ...download pdf