Chief takes aim at gun lobby ‘The gun lobby is misleading people’
Ottawa Sun
8 April 1997
Brian Ford is careful to tell me his recent comments on gun control were not spurred by the coming federal election, where Bill C-68 promises to be a hot election issue, nor were they made in his position as chief of the Ottawa-Carleton regional police force, but rather in his position as chair of the Law Amendments Committee with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.
That being said, this is what Ford told a press conference the other day:
“Our new gun control law is under attack. It is under attack through a constitutional challenge. It is under attack from those who are threatening to repeal the law if elected. It is under attack from the gun lobby, which continues its campaign of misinformation.
“We are here today because we want to set the record straight once and for all. Claims that registration has been tried elsewhere and failed are simply untrue.
“The Association of Chief Police Officers in Great Britain has written to us to state unequivocally that registration and licensing do work, are useful in police investigations and, in their opinion, have contributed to the higher level of public safety in their country.
“Superintendent Stephen Robbins from Western Australian Police has come a very, very long way to tell the truth about the Australian experience with registration of rifles and shotguns.
“The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police strongly supports this legislation, in particular the firearms registration. Firearms registration is critical to allowing police to take preventative measures and remove guns from people at risk.
“Registration is critical to enforcing prohibition orders, to controlling the illegal gun trade, to aiding investigations, to ensuring compliance with safe storage regulations – you have heard the arguments. Our expectations are reinforced by what we know of the experience in other countries.”
Misinformation. Untrue. Some rather strong language. I contacted Ford to find out if he was being quoted accurately, and yes, he was.
“The gun lobby is misleading people, there’s no doubt of that,” says Ford. “I get especially annoyed when they say (gun control) doesn’t work in other places, when it full well does.”
Ford is referring, at least partially, to a recent Fraser Institute study by Prof. Gary Mauser that claims registration has been tried and failed in Australia. The report has been much quoted by the gun lobby.
Robbins, the superintendent of the Western Australian Police force, was in Ottawa last week just to comment on that study, which has enraged more than a few police officers.
“The report is totally untrue,” Robbins told the conference. “Registration does work in both solving and preventing crime. In Western Australia, we believe that one factor contributing to our lower gun death rate is the fact that we have had registered rifles and shotguns since 1931.”
Ford says gun control would go a long way towards making our communities safer, just as it has in Australia.
“I am a supporter of gun control,” says Ford. “The law is a good one and will help us do our jobs. It should not be repealed and it should not be changed.”
I wonder if Jean Charest, who recently came out in favor or repealing Bill C-68, has ever spoken to Ford. If he had, he might realize (I have a suspicion he already does) just how absurd his stance is.
On one hand Charest will campaign on a strong law-and-order platform, while on the other hand he will promise to repeal a piece of legislation that most people in the law and order business say they desperately need.
Ahh, politics.
Don’t try to make sense of it all. Life is too short.
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