trooper
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http://www.e-topics.com/index.asp?layout=topic_story&UserID=20030728131616899853&topic=2868&doc_id=h0520147.2ap&date=5%2F21%2F2004&display=World+Crime
Canada to eliminate registration fees on firearms
[The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,]
AP WorldStream English (all) via NewsEdge Corporation : TORONTO_The Canadian government announced measures Thursday to revamp a national gun registration system bogged down by cost overruns of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Canada will continue to require universal licensing of gun owners and firearms, but fees for the registration and transfer of firearms were eliminated and government spending on the registry will be capped at US$18 million (C$25 million) per year, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan announced in the western city of Edmonton, Alberta.
McLellan said the government will also propose key criminal code amendments to toughen gun crime provisions and increase penalties for weapons trafficking.
Canada currently spends US$23.7 million (C$33 million) a year on the registry.
The registry was originally budgeted to cost US$1.44 million (C$2 million) a year when it was introduced in 1995 to help stem gun violence.
The Canadian government initially planned to recover almost all of the registry's US$88 million (C$119 million) projected cost through registration fees, leaving only US$1.44 million (C$2 million) to be covered by taxpayers.
But costs spiraled and led to Auditor General Sheila Fraser estimating an "astronomical cost overrun" of about US$720 million (C$1 billion) by 2005.
There have been 1.97 million firearms licenses issued for 6.8 million firearms so far under the current legislation, according to the Canadian Firearms Center, the government department overseeing the program.
A 1996 Canadian government study found that 22 percent of Canadian households possessed at least one firearm, while the rate was 48.6 percent in the United States. Only 0.42 percent of Canadians said they had been the victims of an attack with a gun in the previous five years, while the amount was 2 percent in the United States, the highest of any in the eight-country study.
Beside the cost issue, opponents have also called the law an unnecessary infringement of private property rights. Others have said it is contrary to the rural lifestyle where guns are seen as an everyday tool.
The law has even seen a legal challenge from the northern territory of Nunavut, where the Inuit charge it violates the Nunavut land claim.
But police groups and anti-violence activists say gun registration is an important information-gathering tool. .end (paragraph)<<AP WorldStream English (all) -- 05/20/04>>
Canada to eliminate registration fees on firearms
[The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,]
AP WorldStream English (all) via NewsEdge Corporation : TORONTO_The Canadian government announced measures Thursday to revamp a national gun registration system bogged down by cost overruns of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Canada will continue to require universal licensing of gun owners and firearms, but fees for the registration and transfer of firearms were eliminated and government spending on the registry will be capped at US$18 million (C$25 million) per year, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan announced in the western city of Edmonton, Alberta.
McLellan said the government will also propose key criminal code amendments to toughen gun crime provisions and increase penalties for weapons trafficking.
Canada currently spends US$23.7 million (C$33 million) a year on the registry.
The registry was originally budgeted to cost US$1.44 million (C$2 million) a year when it was introduced in 1995 to help stem gun violence.
The Canadian government initially planned to recover almost all of the registry's US$88 million (C$119 million) projected cost through registration fees, leaving only US$1.44 million (C$2 million) to be covered by taxpayers.
But costs spiraled and led to Auditor General Sheila Fraser estimating an "astronomical cost overrun" of about US$720 million (C$1 billion) by 2005.
There have been 1.97 million firearms licenses issued for 6.8 million firearms so far under the current legislation, according to the Canadian Firearms Center, the government department overseeing the program.
A 1996 Canadian government study found that 22 percent of Canadian households possessed at least one firearm, while the rate was 48.6 percent in the United States. Only 0.42 percent of Canadians said they had been the victims of an attack with a gun in the previous five years, while the amount was 2 percent in the United States, the highest of any in the eight-country study.
Beside the cost issue, opponents have also called the law an unnecessary infringement of private property rights. Others have said it is contrary to the rural lifestyle where guns are seen as an everyday tool.
The law has even seen a legal challenge from the northern territory of Nunavut, where the Inuit charge it violates the Nunavut land claim.
But police groups and anti-violence activists say gun registration is an important information-gathering tool. .end (paragraph)<<AP WorldStream English (all) -- 05/20/04>>
but that in addition to the criminal codes makes me believe they might be taking a step in the right direction. Maybe some smart politician will, a few months from now, say "Okay, the registry's getting too expensive and we're locking up all the thugs. Can we scrap it now?"
...I hate that word. 