For Immediate Release 31 August 2010
The RCMP Evaluation Report on the Firearms program is a remarkably political document that is entirely biased towards an agenda that favours increased police budgets and more control over Canadian society. It is also frightening as it bases most of its recommendations and findings upon the views of groups known to be generally opposed to firearms ownership, as well as those whose budgets would benefit from the adoption of these recommendations. The report itself offers nothing new to the debate, which former liberal Justice Minister Anne McLellan once declared to be over before losing her federal seat in Edmonton. Instead the report is resplendent with self-congratulation for the dubious successes of what is obviously a failed program.
The report supports such controversial, expensive and unnecessary programs such as the UN requirement for marking all firearms with a unique identification number. The apparent aim of that program is to track the country of origin, and is really a wasteful duplication of the serial number. The report laments amnesties for bringing the credibility of the program into disrepute and ridicule.
The report is a political document precisely because it attempts to attack the credibility of the law-and-order conservatives by clearly taking the statist liberal line on firearm control. It seem to be the desire of the RCMP to actively take a political position on the issue by biasing their study towards certain stakeholder groups which indicated reliable anti-gun positions that support the pre-ordained outcome of this report. Probably one of the most offensive features of this report is that it belittles the Canadian right and cultural tradition of firearms ownership and thus betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the firearms issue in Canada.
It seems that we are in a new era in Canada where the police are no longer the people, but rather an entity above the people that knows best about what is good for the citizenry. Apparently the logic in this report is that if it is good for the police it must be good for society. I beg to differ. Canadians have fought and won wars against such ideology and it is shocking to see it growing on the pages of this report produced by our federal police force.
Sheldon Clare,
President
For more information contact:
Blair Hagen, Executive VP Communications
604-753-8682
blair@nfa.ca
Sheldon Clare, President
250-981-1841
sheldon@nfa.ca
Canada’s NFA toll-free number: 1-877-818-0393