Home Newsroom 2006 News releases 2006-05-17: Government takes action to eliminate the costly and ineffective long-gun registry

Government takes action to eliminate the costly and ineffective long-gun registry

OTTAWA, May 17, 2006 -- The Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety, today announced the Government’s plan to eliminate the long-gun registry and to better meet law enforcement needs while reducing burdens on law-abiding long-gun owners.

“Eliminating the long-gun registry is a promise this government made to Canadians and is a promise we are going to keep. Promise made, promise kept,” said Minister Day. “Canada’s new Government is putting its emphasis on getting tough on crime and developing a truly effective firearms control program, not punishing responsible long-gun owners.”

The Government is moving ahead today with the implementation of the following measures:

• transferring responsibility for the Firearms Act and regulations to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), taking over from the former Canada Firearms Centre;
• reducing the annual operating budget for the program by $10 million;
• implementing license renewal fee waivers and refunds;
• eliminating physical verification of non-restricted firearms; and
• introducing a one-year amnesty to protect previously-licensed owners of non-restricted firearms from prosecution and to encourage them to comply with the law as it currently stands.

As well, the government will table legislation to repeal the requirement to register non-restricted firearms.

Any legislative and regulatory changes will continue to require the safe storage of firearms, safety training, a licensing program including police background checks, a handgun registry (as has been the case since 1934) and a ban on those classes of firearms currently identified as prohibited.

“This new Government will not continue to fund ineffective programs. Instead, we will invest our resources to better protect Canadian families and their communities by putting more police on our streets, funding crime prevention initiatives and supporting the victims of crime,” Minister Day concluded.

See also:

• Backgrounder: The Government’s Commitment to Effective Gun Control
• Fact Sheet: The Long-Gun Registry: Costs and Crime Statistics
• Frequently Asked Questions: Changes to the Firearms Program
• Canada Firearms Centre

For further information:

Mélisa Leclerc
Director of Communications
Office of the Honourable Stockwell Day
Minister of Public Safety
(613) 991-2863