Drizzt
Member
Copyright 2002 CanWest Interactive, a division of
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Windsor Star
December 23, 2002 Monday Final Edition
SECTION: CANADA; Pg. B1
LENGTH: 530 words
HEADLINE: Registry foul-up confuses owner;
Gun officials tell man he has 12 weapons ... but he only has 11
SOURCE: CP
BYLINE: The Canadian Press
DATELINE: Maitland, N.S.
BODY:
Edward Hatch received the registration numbers for 12 guns from the federal government in his mail last week.
The problem is, the Nova Scotia man says he only has 11.
Hatch has been calling the Canadian Firearms Processing Centre in Miramichi, N.B., for a week in a futile effort to talk to someone about the oversight. "I don't know how many times . . . maybe 35 times or more I called," the hunter and trapper said Saturday from his home.
Hatch, like many other gun owners, reluctantly registered his weapons to comply with the new registration law.
But the extra registration number he received from the processing centre has him worried.
"There is a good chance they're going to come looking for that other gun that I do not have," Hatch said.
It's ironic, he said, that he registered his guns to comply with the law and now because of a bureaucratic oversight he could be in the position of breaking the law.
Hatch's situation is similar to that of gun owner Bob West of Halls Harbour, N.S. He discovered last week that one of his weapons is registered at least twice. West had similar problems in trying to contact the firearms processing centre by calling the toll-free numer -- 1-800-731-4000.
Phone calls to the centre on Saturday were answered by an automatic message system, then finally by a staffer who couldn't comment on operations.
An official spokesperson couldn't be reached.
Hatch said all the confusion about registration is hurting the credibility of the program.
'All this trouble'
"A lot of people are not going to bother registering because of all this trouble," he said.
"They'll just hide their guns."
Meanwhile, in Battleford, Sask., firearms owners threw fake money down a toilet Saturday to dramatize their opposition to the federal firearms registry during a rally outside this small town.
Others in the crowd of about 150 burned their Firearm Acquisition Certificates and firearm possession licences to protest the program's cost overruns.
"This Liberal government is prepared to keep flushing your money and flushing your money and flushing your money," protest organizer Bill Risling told the crowd.
The rally comes with the program's registration deadline looming less than two weeks away. Firearm owners currently have until Jan. 1 to register their weapons.
Those who do not comply could face fines of up to $2,000 and jail terms of as long as five years.
According to officials from the firearms centre, about 70 per cent of the 1.8 million Canadians with firearms licences had registered their weapons by the end of November.
In recent weeks, the Liberal government faced a flurry of criticism when it acknowledged that the registry will have cost more than $1 billion by 2005.
Jack Hillson, the only member of the Saskatchewan Liberal party that currently has a seat in the provincial legislature, attended Saturday's rally.
Hillson said he was initially in favour of the registry, but the cost overruns have caused him to reconsider his position.
"I think it's time to admit that the registry has been a failure," Hillson said. "This country simply has better places to spend its billion dollars."
CanWest Global Communications Corp.
All Rights Reserved
Windsor Star
December 23, 2002 Monday Final Edition
SECTION: CANADA; Pg. B1
LENGTH: 530 words
HEADLINE: Registry foul-up confuses owner;
Gun officials tell man he has 12 weapons ... but he only has 11
SOURCE: CP
BYLINE: The Canadian Press
DATELINE: Maitland, N.S.
BODY:
Edward Hatch received the registration numbers for 12 guns from the federal government in his mail last week.
The problem is, the Nova Scotia man says he only has 11.
Hatch has been calling the Canadian Firearms Processing Centre in Miramichi, N.B., for a week in a futile effort to talk to someone about the oversight. "I don't know how many times . . . maybe 35 times or more I called," the hunter and trapper said Saturday from his home.
Hatch, like many other gun owners, reluctantly registered his weapons to comply with the new registration law.
But the extra registration number he received from the processing centre has him worried.
"There is a good chance they're going to come looking for that other gun that I do not have," Hatch said.
It's ironic, he said, that he registered his guns to comply with the law and now because of a bureaucratic oversight he could be in the position of breaking the law.
Hatch's situation is similar to that of gun owner Bob West of Halls Harbour, N.S. He discovered last week that one of his weapons is registered at least twice. West had similar problems in trying to contact the firearms processing centre by calling the toll-free numer -- 1-800-731-4000.
Phone calls to the centre on Saturday were answered by an automatic message system, then finally by a staffer who couldn't comment on operations.
An official spokesperson couldn't be reached.
Hatch said all the confusion about registration is hurting the credibility of the program.
'All this trouble'
"A lot of people are not going to bother registering because of all this trouble," he said.
"They'll just hide their guns."
Meanwhile, in Battleford, Sask., firearms owners threw fake money down a toilet Saturday to dramatize their opposition to the federal firearms registry during a rally outside this small town.
Others in the crowd of about 150 burned their Firearm Acquisition Certificates and firearm possession licences to protest the program's cost overruns.
"This Liberal government is prepared to keep flushing your money and flushing your money and flushing your money," protest organizer Bill Risling told the crowd.
The rally comes with the program's registration deadline looming less than two weeks away. Firearm owners currently have until Jan. 1 to register their weapons.
Those who do not comply could face fines of up to $2,000 and jail terms of as long as five years.
According to officials from the firearms centre, about 70 per cent of the 1.8 million Canadians with firearms licences had registered their weapons by the end of November.
In recent weeks, the Liberal government faced a flurry of criticism when it acknowledged that the registry will have cost more than $1 billion by 2005.
Jack Hillson, the only member of the Saskatchewan Liberal party that currently has a seat in the provincial legislature, attended Saturday's rally.
Hillson said he was initially in favour of the registry, but the cost overruns have caused him to reconsider his position.
"I think it's time to admit that the registry has been a failure," Hillson said. "This country simply has better places to spend its billion dollars."
