Mr. Speaker, the legislation in place today to ensure the safe use, storage and maintenance of firearms is intended to reflect that firearms are themselves inherently dangerous.
Whether it is the intention of the owner to use it lawfully for proper purposes or otherwise, the fact of the matter is that this government has decided and I believe it is quite correct, that anyone who wishes to acquire or use a firearm should be subject to the reasonable controls in the law today.
In terms of the use of firearms for criminal or improper purposes, we are taking a variety of steps to ensure that does not occur. We are tightening up border controls with respect to illegal smuggling of weapons from the United States.
The hon. member knows our platform has specific proposals for strengthening measures to ensure that criminals do not have weapons in their hands. We will be introducing measures to ensure that occurs so the people of Canada can feel safe from the improper use of firearms.