Mr. Speaker, buried in the Toronto Globe and Mail yesterday was a fascinating article which injected a touch of reality in the overwhelmingly emotional gun control debate. The story documents the fact that, although the firearms control bill is on the verge of becoming law, no one has yet produced objective evidence that many of its key components will make Canada a safer place.
New Zealand discontinued its registry in 1983 after the national police reported that it was useless. Police in two Australian states have recommended dropping their gun registration programs because they can't enforce compliance.
Professor Gary Mauser, author of a recent Fraser Institute report that is highly critical of Mr. Rock's gun control bill, said the issue has more to do with votes than violence.
Since it is currently fashionable to equate firearms with violence, and there is an emotional crusade against firearms, especially in urban Ontario and Quebec, the government sees a political opportunity.
Professor Mauser says the government ignores evidence that violent crime is more closely linked to social breakdown and to economic and political factors, than to the availability of guns.
countries, less than half the gun owners and no more than 60 per cent of the guns get registered. The bill won't work.