Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for coming here to offer this important advice and answer our questions.
I think it was very relevant to hear about the loopholes that exist. It is true that there have been concerns raised about the loopholes around manufacturing being deliberately exploited. However, I think it was also important to raise the point that it is also because of the looseness of the current process around manufacturers. It can be inadvertent as well that they simply misclassify a firearm and bring it onto the market in an honour system accidentally, without understanding changes in the law.
I appreciated your clarifying that and answering those issues about the existing manufacturers' loopholes. I think it should give food for thought to every member of the committee that we have these loopholes, which can be either consciously exploited or inadvertently used to bring firearms into Canada that are not appropriate. I think we'll all reflect on those comments.
I want to come back to ghost guns, because that is another major concern. I know it's a concern with law enforcement right across the country. Where I come from, in the Lower Mainland, it's been raised. The Biden administration has recently taken action against ghost guns. The statistics that were cited were 20,000—an astounding number—untraceable firearms that have been seized as part of criminal investigations in the past year alone.
Would you have similar numbers available for Canada over the past year on the number of ghost guns, untraceable weapons, that have been used in the commission of criminal offences? I find 20,000 to be astounding. That is a 1,000% increase over the last couple of years. We're talking about a dramatic impact from criminals being able to access untraceable weapons.