Mr. Speaker, since the introduction of gun control in 1978 the annual homicide rate in my home province of Saskatchewan has averaged three per 100,000, the same as in adjoining Montana where there are almost no firearms restrictions. Economic and social conditions are parallel and so are the murder rates.
On the other hand, since prohibition days New York state has had the toughest North American gun laws outside of Mexico, yet the murder rate there is five times higher than in Canada. I do not know why, but I suspect the presence of organized crime, widespread drug abuse, racial tension and grinding poverty just might have something to do with it.
Instead of concentrating on the emotional rantings of the Coalition for Gun Control, the Minister of Justice should inform himself by comparing firearms legislation and crime statistics in a wide variety of jurisdictions. Prejudice makes bad law.