For those of you who do not have a copy of the Department of Justice document, "
Review of Firearms Registration TR-1994-9e,(PDF) (162.30 KB) " I strongly recommend that you get one. Commissioned and funded by the D of J, it was published in July 1994 -- and promptly hidden. Not even government-side MPs were allowed to see it.
That was perfectly understandable. TR-1994-9e exposed the fact that the CFR/FRAS firearms registration was -- and always had been – a fraudulent operation more concerned with keeping firearms bureaucrats in well-paying positions that in any good that they might be doing there.
Items from TR-1994-9e, with National Firearms Association commentary:
"The Restricted Weapon Registration System [RWRS]...contains records of approximately 1.2 million firearms and 565,000 firearms owners." (viii 5)
The purpose of one RWRS record is to show that the one firearm described on it is in the possession of the one person at the one address shown on it, and was formerly possessed at the one other address by the one other person shown on it.
Each current RWRS record uses seven data fields to "identify" the firearm as being one of a group that shares those seven characteristics. The eighth "identifying" field shows the firearm's Serial number -- which is supposed to "identify" it as the ONLY firearm in that group with that Serial number.
That system does not, cannot, and cannot be made to work. TR-1994-9e agrees, saying:
"RWRS...staff have estimated that a significant number of records in the RWRS database contain information which is entered in non-standard format, or is stale or incorrect." (ix 2)
The National Firearms Association's estimate is that, because "ghost guns" and "gone guns" and other types of error/omission/doubling accumulate, year after year, the current situation is appallingly bad. We estimate -- on solid grounds - -- that between 20 and 40 per cent of all RWRS records are meaningless trash. The situation that they describe is a situation that may once have existed, but which is no longer in existence.
National Firearms Association Note: On 09 Jan 2001, the Registrar admitted that only 600,000 of the 1,250,000 firearms in the RWRS at that time were expected to be re-registered after the green registration certificates all expired on 31 Dec 2002. In simple language, that was an admission that over 650,000 (more than half) of all RWRS registered firearms are "ghost guns" or "gone guns" that do not actually exist.
Such defective records are a remarkable hazard when brought into court. CFR/FRAS, when in court, does its best to present RWRS records as factual material and not material that has at least a 40 per cent chance of being dead wrong -- either partially, or totally.
"An August, 1993 evaluation of RWRS indicated that a significant number of user complaints are legitimate and recommended rewriting the system and cleaning up the existing database..." (ix 3)
National Firearms Association Note: That was never done.
The existing database can only be "cleaned up" by sending an officer to the address shown on the record, and checking to see that the gun described on the record is actually there, and is still in the possession of the person named on the record. That check has not been done since 1934.
Every year, a certain percentage of Canadians -- including the possessors of registered firearms -- moves, emigrates or dies. In the stress of moving, emigrating or dying, things get missed. Little items - -- like telling CFR/FRAS that one is moving, emigrating or has died.
The record -- kept safe in RWRS files -- continues to show the person at the original address with the firearm at that address. The only problem is, that firearm is NOT there, and may NOT be in the hands of that possessor any more.
There is no practical way to discover that someone has moved, emigrated or died -- so the false records remain in the RWRS. And one day, such a record may well turn up in court, with a CFR/FRAS officer swearing that it is a true and accurate record.
Registration is PERMANENT -- and that is a grave weak point in the system. As TR-1994-9e says,
"Unlike most registration systems, such as driver and motor vehicle licensing, which have expiry dates, there is no effective mechanism for ensuring that RWRS data is updated." (ix 4)
There is no mechanism to update information that has "gone sour" for some reason -- such as the fact that the information is meaningless because the supposed possessor of the firearm has moved, died or emigrated -- or the supposed location of the firearm is a building which has been burned down, bulldozed or rented to a new tenant -- or the description of the firearms is so defective as to be misleading (a VERY common problem in CFR/FRAS records).
There is no such mechanism because there is no practical way to CHECK that the information is still accurate, other than by going to that address and asking to see both the person and the firearm. This flaw has been recognized. They recognized it in 1939, and enacted legislation requiring re-registration every five years. That did not work.
In 1945, "everyone" was required to re-register every registered firearm he or she had. After the massive spurt of activity was over, the authorities were appalled to discover that fully 20 per cent of all registered firearms had vanished without a trace. Attempts to find out where they went foundered on the sheer SIZE of the problem. It would have been necessary to allot a totally unreasonable amount of scarce and costly police resources to "chasing" firearms that had vanished into the fog.
In 1950, it was about to happen again. Everyone in government and police work KNEW it was going to happen again, because they had been totally unable to think of any way to PREVENT it from happening again. The government acted with speed and certainty -- you know, the way government acts when IT is about to be embarrassed by the exposure of its incompetence. It enacted legislation making registration PERMANENT -- which did not solve the problem, but made it invisible.
On 31 Dec 2002, this unworkable system is going to be expanded -- to 20 times the size it is today -- by adding all non-restricted firearms to the Registry. The CFR/FRAS boys still have NO solution to the problems that make records "go sour" on a continuous and accumulating basis. The only purpose of this cockamamie CFR/FRAS "system" is to ensure that bureaucracy for the sake of bureaucracy continues, grows and prospers.
Errors and omissions in the CFR/FRAS system can send innocent people to prison, waste huge amounts of money, and destroy firearms businesses. There is NO justification for continuing CFR/FRAS in existence. It is a blatantly fraudulent operation, unable to deliver on its promises, and NOT COST-EFFECTIVE. CFR/FRAS cannot be MADE cost-effective. It is a useless and dangerous make-work project for its employees, and it DESERVES to be terminated.
And what of the cry that it is "necessary" for the tracing of firearms used in crime? TR-1994-9e has this to say:
"FRAS conducts approximately 100 weapons traces per year...[and] most traces DO NOT produce a positive trace [emphasis added -- DAT]."
In 1994, it cost us $6.9 million to operate CFR/FRAS -- and what did we get for our money? 100 attempts to trace a firearm -- resulting in somewhere between 1 and 50 "positive" traces. Add to that the information that a reply showing the "registered" firearm as being stolen ten years ago is regarded as a "positive" trace, and the value of the CFR/FRAS system drops even further.
It is time for CFR/FRAS to admit that it is useless and to vanish in its turn.