We, the undersigned, residents of Canada in the Province of Ontario, draw the attention of the House to the following:

THAT, the Auditor General’s Report submitted to Parliament on December 3, 2002 determined that the cost of the federal firearms registry for long guns will exceed 1 billion dollars and a recent administrative review verified that the gun registry will cost another $541 million before it is fully implemented;

THAT, the government has failed to provide any conclusive or verifiable evidence that the registration of long guns is preventing crime or keeping guns out of the hands of criminals;

THAT, the existence of a handgun registry since 1934 has not prevented criminals from obtaining and using illegal handguns to commit crime and threaten public safety, given that the number of homicides committed by using handguns has increased from 49.8% in 1991 to 64.3% in 2001;

THAT, eight provinces, three Territories, police associations, police chiefs and police officers across Canada have withdrawn their support of the firearms registry for long guns, and recent public opinion polls have demonstrated that a majority of Canadian taxpayers support the abolition of the firearms registry;

THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to abolish the national firearms registry for long guns and redirect our tax dollars to programs in support of health care and law enforcement.