May 18, 2006

Canadians want effective gun control, not bureaucratic waste. As a result the government has made these immediate changes:

• transferring responsibility for the Firearms Act and regulations to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), taking over from the former Canadian 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.

Our Government is committed to a criminal justice policy that puts more police in the streets and fights crime instead of burdening law-abiding citizens. We will work with the provinces, territories and stakeholders to update the firearms program to make it a cost-effective and efficient crime fighting tool.
 
We will maintain effective programs including

• keeping the handgun registry;
• keeping mandatory safety training programs;
• keeping secure storage requirements;
• keeping thorough background and safety checks;
• keeping the registry for prohibitive and restrictive weapons.

In addition, our new government has proposed other measures to ensure safe streets and communities including putting an end the practice of conditional sentences and house arrest and mandatory minimum prison sentences for serious, repeat and violent crime.