Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I will be sharing my time with my colleague, Mr. Aspin.
Dr. Langmann, I want to begin by thanking you very much for your research. We have some questions on that. I'm going to let my colleagues ask you some questions, because there seems to be a real contradiction between the evidence you presented to us--which was right before our eyes--and the evidence given in an oral presentation. I'm going to let some of my colleagues ask about that.
Mr. Marchand, I couldn't agree with you more that we need to reduce any kind of access, any kind of method.... I think you said we need to make firearms less accessible to individuals who are at risk of suicide, at risk of committing any violent act against themselves or any individual--their spouse, their children, or a stranger.
I can tell you personally, as I've fought to end the long-gun registry and have sometimes received criticism for it, that I believe very strongly that we need to strengthen the licensing process.I think we need to make sure that an individual actually looks someone in the eye and is interviewed personally—that's my personal belief—before they are allowed to have a firearm. So I agree with you and I follow your logic on that.
Where we disagree, and where I still cannot find any evidence, is that once we say to an individual that they can legally own a firearm, that we believe they're safe, that they're not going to hurt their wife or themselves, so they can own a firearm, there is no connection to counting that individual's firearm or firearms in a registry--for a couple of reasons. First of all, because it won't stop them from doing an act that is, many times, spontaneous--sometimes it's premeditated, as in a suicide or a domestic violent act--and as well, most of these people are only registering half their firearms.
Although there could be a slight argument—and I'll go to Sergeant Rutledge when I'm finished with this statement to hear from a front-line officer—our government's belief is that with suicide prevention, the best thing we can do is help people with mental illnesses and the mental issues they're struggling with, and then deal with the methods they're using. I think that includes doctors who give prescription drugs to people who will use those prescription drugs to kill themselves. It's a huge picture and I think we need to really talk seriously about how we can help people and prevent suicide.
Sergeant Rutledge, I want to ask you two questions, or you can describe two situations. First of all, let's suppose you were going to enforce a prohibition order. Someone has a licence to own a firearm, that licence is revoked, and you have to enforce that. Do you look at the registry to see if they have any guns registered, collect two firearms, and know that you're done? How do you actually enforce that licence prohibition?