The study was conducted by McDowell, Loftin, and Wiersema, and it evaluated the effects of changes in gun laws. It considered the imposition of mandatory minimum penalties for gun crimes. There was a direct correlation, from 1969 to 1979, with the decline in the homicide rate in Detroit by ten per month.
There are a number of other studies of these sorts that are available that go to establishing the proposition that targeted mandatory minimum penalties lead to a direct reduction in the crimes that are targeted.
In respect of the issue of aboriginals, in the development of these proposals, significant consideration was given to the importance of ensuring that the enhanced mandatory minimum penalties would not target or impact aboriginal or other Canadians who use firearms for legitimate purposes, such as hunting. For example, we took the long gun issue but restricted it to the furtherance of a gun crime related to gangs, not to an aboriginal out hunting who might have made a mistake, or even to an aboriginal using a long gun to commit a murder. We're talking specifically about gun crimes.
Much effort was devoted to ensuring that the tougher measures focus specifically on the current pressing nature of the gun crime problem of guns and violence.
I'd like to emphasize, again, that neither the research nor the problem analysis revealed that the nature of the current gun crime problem is in any way aboriginal-specific. The available court data does not provide information on offender demographics, such as ethnic origin. Some of the information received from provincial partners and law enforcement agencies revealed, rather, that the nature of the current gang and gun violence problem that this bill addresses varies considerably in each area where it is being manifested. The response proposed in this bill is therefore general in terms of its application, but it is very specific in terms of its scope and the offences targeted.
It would be important to note that Bill C-10 does not propose to amend the minimum penalty of four years that currently exists for cases in which an ordinary hunting rifle or shotgun is used in an offence, nor does the bill target the offence of simple illegal possession of a firearm, unless the offender is subject to a firearms prohibition order that's been imposed by the court.
So the examples, and the red herring that the member brings forward, simply aren't justified. He's building an entire argument on something that this bill does not address and is trying to use those examples to excuse continued gun violence, especially with handguns, by gangs on the streets of our major urban cities.