Guns don't kill registries, only MPs do

Less than 24 hours after the Commons voted in principle to scrap the long-gun registry, here's the newly released performance report on the Canadian Firearms Centre. It's spending less, attracting more registrants and police are using the registry  more -- almost 4,000 times last year. Yep, that's an argument to kill it.  Full report available if you click here

Program Activity: Canadian Firearms Centre

2008-09 Financial Resources ($ millions)				2008-09 Human Resources (FTEs)
	Planned Spending	Total Authorities	Actual Spending	Planned	Actual	Difference
Firearms Registration	$13.6	$23.8	$8.4	131	65	–66
Firearms Licensing and Support Infrastructure	$62.9	$62.5	$57.4	297	283	–14

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets	Performance Summary 18
Prevent access to firearms for those who are known to pose a threat to public safety	Number of known “at risk” individuals whose firearm possession licence is revoked or who are prohibited from possession of firearms	No individuals subject to prohibition orders or licence revocations retains possession or acquisition privileges	Met all
Operational information made available for policing and law enforcement purposes	Number of queries to the firearms database used by frontline police (Canadian Firearms Registry Online)	10% increase in CFRO queries from previous year	Exceeded; 24.2% increase
	Affidavits produced in support of firearms crime prosecutions	100% of requests	Met all
Safe use and storage of firearms	Number of participants in safety courses	Consistent number of participants from year to year	Exceeded; 2,895 additional participants
Increased understanding and knowledge of program requirements by clients and stakeholders	Compliance rates for licence renewals and/or new owners	Individuals in possession of firearms renew their licences	Mostly met

Benefits for Canadians

Aligned with the Government of Canada and the RCMP’s commitment to safe homes and safe communities, the goal is to enhance public safety by providing police and other law enforcement organizations with operational and technical support and expertise which is vital to the prevention and investigation of firearms crime. The CFP also helps reduce firearms-related death and injury in Canadian communities by controlling and promoting responsible firearms ownership, use and storage. The CFP supports the RCMP’s national strategic priorities of reducing the threat and impact of organized crime, reducing the threat of terrorism, reducing youth involvement in crime as victims and offenders, and contributing to safer and healthier Aboriginal communities.

Through the National Weapons Enforcement Support Team (NWEST), the CFP assists with efforts to reduce the illicit trafficking of firearms supported by organized crime. NWEST responded to 3,983 requests for assistance with firearms investigations from police services across Canada during 2008-2009, assisting in dealing with individuals whose firearms posed a threat to their communities. In November 2008, Canadian police services began reporting seized and recovered firearms to the CFP under the Public Agents Firearms Regulations, via a secure web interface. The resulting national database enables investigators to track seized and recovered firearms back to registered owners and suppliers, if any, and establish trafficking patterns. It also enables statistics-based research into criminal misuses of firearms. Public agencies reported that they had seized approximately 8,000 firearms between November 2008 and March 31, 2009.

The CFP is an active player in firearms-related cross border issues, including the Canada-US Cross Border Crime Forum. It supports Canada’s efforts with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations, and works with Interpol to combat the illicit trafficking in small arms. The CFP’s Firearms Reference Table is a world standard for identifying firearms linked to criminal activity, as well as other firearms. In partnership with the Canadian Police Knowledge Network (CPKN), the CFP now provides e-learning on how to identify firearms and use the Firearms Reference Table. Canada is recognized globally for its firearms controls and expertise in this area.

Although people younger than 18 years of age cannot own firearms, they may obtain a licence that will allow them to borrow non-restricted firearms for purposes such as hunting and target shooting. The CFP promotes and regulates the safe storage and handling of firearms for all gun owners and users, which reduces the risk of suicide, accidental discharge, and antisocial uses of guns by young family members of firearms owners. Firearms outreach and education initiatives have a special emphasis on youth, including a recent partnership with the Canada Safety Council.

The CFP engages and supports Aboriginal people to improve individual and community safety by providing safety training, firearms verification and licence and registration assistance to Aboriginal communities. Leaders of Aboriginal communities have expressed support for this initiative, which respects their role in the process. CFP strengthened existing and new Aboriginal partnerships and is currently leading four initiatives to provide firearms education and outreach programs.

Performance Analysis

The 2008-2009 Report on Plans and Priorities identified several expected results from the CFP. The target metrics for these results were fully met or exceeded, with the exception of increased understanding and knowledge of program requirements, which was mostly met.

One metric, the number of queries by police on the Canadian Firearms Registry Online (CFRO) database, highlights the importance of the CFP to law enforcement. The number of database queries increased by almost 25 percent from the previous fiscal year, to over 3.5 million. Along with the thousands of investigative support requests to NWEST, trace requests to the National Firearms Tracing Centre, and requests for affidavits in support of firearms prosecutions, this shows how valuable the CFP and its operational information are to Canadian policing and law enforcement organizations.

The CFP’s effectiveness in preventing access to firearms for those who are known to pose a threat to public safety was measured against a performance indicator focused on licences. A firearms possession and acquisition licence is required to purchase or take possession of firearms. CFP met its important public safety goal of ensuring that no individual whose licence had been revoked or refused by the CFP, or who was prohibited from possessing firearms for any other reason, retained possession or acquisition privileges.

Another public safety metric is participation in firearms safety training. Over 89,000 Canadians attended the firearms safety course in 2008, compared to 86,600 in 2007. This indicates that the national firearms safety curriculum is being delivered to large numbers of the firearms-possessing public, contributing to the RCMP’s commitment of safe homes and safe communities for Canadians. It also shows that provincial partners who deliver the training are satisfied with its efficacy. Some of these courses were delivered in remote communities by Aboriginal partners, improving the safety of these communities and enhancing the image of the RCMP.

Efforts are being made via police outreach, the CFP website, media campaigns, pamphlet mailouts and other communications vehicles to educate police officers and other firearms clients with respect to the requirements of the Firearms Act and the support to law enforcement available through the CFP. The increase in CFRO queries is an indirect measure of increasing awareness amongst police officers, as is the number of NWEST calls. Feedback from targeted stakeholder groups has been good.

The CFP is growing in acceptance within the law enforcement community, as evidenced by a recent public endorsement by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Police Association, and positive feedback in the RCMP’s annual policing partner survey.

Lessons Learned

Some remaining public misconceptions regarding the future of the program were factors in a number of clients not renewing their firearms licences at the point of their five-year expiration, in spite of being sent a renewal notice by the CFP. Some non-renewals are related to clients no longer being in possession of their firearms or being deceased, but over 100,000 clients still have firearms registered to them. This number represents only about five percent of the population of firearms owners, but nevertheless the federal government renewed a compliance initiative in May 2008 to address it. This initiative included a waiver on fees for renewing firearms licences and the ability to obtain a new possession-only licence without having to go through additional safety training. In parallel, the CFP introduced new procedures and new technology to reduce the number of outdated addresses in the program’s database, which would decrease the percentage of licence renewal notices being returned by Canada Post.

Concurrently, the CFP continued to advise local law enforcement agencies across the country regarding individuals who remained in possession of firearms with an expired licence in their jurisdictions, as this is an offence under the Firearms Act.

Comments

[MCBellecourt]

This report should have been released BEFORE the vote. Once again, the House was manipulated by the Cons for their own agenda, the interests of Canadians be damned.

[Jay]

What else has the government buried that is important for Canadians to know? What a secretive, deceitful government. What would a majority create? I read a story yesterday where to apply for a federal job you needed to write an essay about how great the government economic stimulus plan/scam was. Is this a modern version of McCarthyism directed at all non-conservatives? What happened to us in the last 5 years? Why are so many falling for the lies?

[Safty Training Videos]

I agree. This report should of been released before the vote.

[MCBellecourt]

I would like to thank Ms. Delacourt for writing this article in such a finely detailed fashion. A very impressive bit of writing and very informative, plus the link to the actual document was very handy.

Kudos to you Susan!

[Frank Docherty]

Guns don't kill people, only people do !

[MCBellecourt]

True enough, Frank, but the gun registry was an added plus to keeping guns out of the unstable element of our population. We will never know if the Polytechnique massacre would have happened still if the Registry had been in place at the time, but it is apparent that the Registry may have prevented more such slaughters.

In no way am I against gun ownership, and even if there were no registry, I am freakish about gun safety and ownership stability. To me, paying for the Registy was a small trade-off for keeping responsible gun owners from being tarred with the same brush as the irresponsible ones.

As for privacy? Harper's excuse of privacy rights holds absolutely no water for me since he's determined to let the RCMP sniff through our Internet records without a warrant, and force ISPs to pay for the installation of the required software themselves, which will likely raise the cost of the 'Net in exchange for one of the most invasive bills I have ever seen in my fifty-plus years.

Bill C-47 is that bill.

The Registry could have easily been amended to acommodate farmers and hunters, and I firmly believe that this should have been done instead.