Inside Politics

Police use of firearms registry jumps: RCMP

by Chris Hall Posted: November 5, 2009 12:42 PM Last Updated: November 5, 2009 1:29 PM
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A cache of firearms seized by the RCMP and Edmonton police in September. (RCMP handout/Canadian Press)

A new report prepared by the RCMP shows that the number of police officers using the firearms registry jumped last year.

The information is contained in the Mounties' annual performance report filed with the Treasury Board.

It says the number of queries to the Canadian Firearms Registry went up 24 per cent in 2008-09 -- more than twice the increase the registry had targeted.

The report also says the government spent just $8.4 million on the firearms registry last year -- a third of what had originally been budgeted, in part because it needed 66 fewer full-time workers than the 131 anticipated.

This information is being made public a just a day after Liberal and New Democrat MPs from rural ridings voted with the government to scrap the long-gun registry which covers hunting rifles and shotguns.

That bill, fronted by Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, now goes to committee for further study. But opponents concede there is little chance of stopping it from becoming law.

The report released today blames confusion over the future of the registry for a sharp drop in the number of firearms owners who renewed their licences.

The report says 100,000 gun owners failed to renew their five-year licences despite the government's decision to waive the fees.

Owners of rifles and shotguns still need to be licenced, even if they are no longer required to register those firearms.

Some of the information included in the annual performance report comes from the Commissioner of Firearms' 2008 report, which has yet to be tabled by Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan -- despite Friday being the deadline.