Mr. Speaker, last June I asked the justice minister to undertake a national study to determine the source of firearms used in criminal activities. Despite assurances by his parliamentary secretary eight months later Canadians are still waiting.
Three months ago I put a question on the Order Paper asking how many registered gun owners used their guns in the commission of a crime anywhere in Canada.
My question for the Minister of Justice is simple. By its own admission the government has no comprehensive statistics on which if any of the more than 1.2 million registered guns in the country were used for criminal activity. Therefore how can he defend spending millions of dollars on gun registration as a solution to crime when he has no proof that the legal owners of firearms are part of the problem?