It’s been awhile since I wrote about the firearms program, so I thought I’d give everyone a few bits of information to chew on, courtesy of my good friend Garry Breitkreuz, MP for Yorkton-Melville.

Did you know?

• That five million firearms in the registry still need to be “verified” in accordance with police demands for accuracy.
• There are more than three million blank and unknown entries on gun registry certificates that have been issued.
• 375,000 firearms brought into Canada by foreign visitors have never been entered in the registry to determine if they left Canada.
• That 6.9 million registration certificates have been issued without owner’s names.

Have you ever wondered why?

• Saskatchewan’s murder rate has increased from 1.28 to 3.9 per 100,000 people from 1999 to 2004.
• Prohibited guns cannot be taken to shooting ranges but can be taken to gun shows.
• 70 years of registering legally owned handguns hasn’t kept handguns out of the hands of criminals.
• Firearms imported into Canada need special United Nations serial numbers, to keep weapons from being exported to Africa.

The National Long gun registry has cost $2 Billion. Have we gotten anything useful from the program? I think you “no” my answer to that question.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament, and I welcome your feedback. Write or call my offices.