Thank you.
I'm quite surprised by the opposition members' lack of understanding of the Canadian firearms program and the classification of firearms. If you saw off a shotgun, it becomes an illegal weapon. If you change a semi-automatic firearm into an automatic firearm, it becomes a prohibited, restricted firearm automatically. The long-gun registry deals with non-restricted, non-prohibited firearms.
Mr. Scarpaleggia talked about licensing. When an individual has his licence revoked, police officers are able to go in and apprehend the firearms in that individual's home. If two individuals have a licence to own firearms, the registered firearms can be transported between both places. So police officers could go out to a home where there are five firearms registered, and those firearms may not be legally stored at that individual's home. That's why police officers are telling us that when they go to someone's home, they don't look at the registry and say, “Well, there are two guns, so we'll go and apprehend those two guns from this individual whose licence was revoked, and then we'll know we're clear”. No, they sweep the home and make sure that all weapons, all firearms, are accounted for.
I'm wondering, Minister, if you can talk a little bit about what front-line officers are doing when it comes to gun crime and what they're telling you when you meet with them. We have 11 police officers in our own caucus.
Can you tell us what they are actually doing when it comes to fighting crime and what they're asking us for, because the registry is not helping them? It's inaccurate. They can't count on it. And the way the system is set up, firearms can be stored at different locations.