THAT while violent crime is a major concern and all law-abiding Canadians want safer streets regardless of whether they live in a big city or a rural community, a 1995 Canadian Facts public opinion poll found that over 90% of Canadians do not believe that stricter gun control laws are a solution to violent crime;

THAT a 1997 report by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics showed: (1) 1994 represented the largest annual decline in police strength since they began surveying in 1962, (2) the number of Criminal Code incidents per officer went from 20 to 47 per officer since 1962, (3) the fewest number of police officers per capita since 1972;

THAT the Commissioner of the RCMP in a July 1997 letter to the Department of Justice reported, "the RCMP investigated 88,162 actual violent crimes during 1993, where only 73 of these offences, or 0.08%, involved the use of firearms.";

THAT in an attempt to do something about the criminal use of firearms (0.08% of the problem) the government passed Bill C-68 into law in 1995 and is now spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars to licence between 5 and 8 million law-abiding firearms owners and register between 18 and 21 million legally-owned firearms;

THAT this multi-million dollar licencing and registration scheme: (1) will do nothing to curtail the criminal use of firearms, (2) is not a cost-effective way to address the violent crime problem in Canada, (3) is putting tens of thousands of jobs in jeopardy, and (4) is opposed by the majority of police on the street and by the governments in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Yukon.

THEREFORE, your petitioners request Parliament to repeal Bill C-68 and redirect the hundreds of millions of tax dollars being wasted on licencing of responsible firearms owners and registration of legally-owned guns by doing something proven to be more cost-effective at reducing violent crime and improving public safety such as: more police on the streets, more crime prevention programs, more suicide prevention centres, more women's crisis centres, more anti-smuggling campaigns, and more resources for fighting organized crime and street gangs.

Signatures (Sign your name. Do not print.) Addresses (Give your full mailing address.)

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Note: Signatures and addresses must be handwritten originals only.
Each signatory must indicate his or her address
Each petition must be free from erasures, crossed off signatures or changes to the text.
Each petition must have at least 25 signatures to be valid.
The subject matter must be shown on each attached sheet of signatures and addresses.

PLEASE RETURN POSTAGE FREE TO YOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, HOUSE OF COMMONS, OTTAWA, K1A 0A6, OR TO:
GARRY BREITKREUZ, MP, (YORKTON-MELVILLE) ROOM 252, WELLINGTON BLDG., HOUSE OF COMMONS, OTTAWA, ON K1A 0A6

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