Mr. Speaker, I beg to disagree with the hon. member on the opposite side.
Law enforcement officers are our front line. The national associations and their representatives have stated clearly that the firearms registry and the gun control program are a success. They are producing a positive effect for them and allowing them to put their resources where they need to be put rather than on the administration of the system that the member on the opposite side referred to which previously was the firearms acquisition certificate system.
As to whether or not this program is effective in ensuring that individuals who should not have possession or licensing of firearms, the government and the police themselves have published statistics as to the number of individuals who had firearms who have been refused the opportunity to have the right to have a licence to possess firearms. That is as a result of this system.
When the front line officers themselves who use this tell us that they have used the system more than two million times since it was first instituted and that they have been able to use it in ongoing police investigations, I take them at their word. I would hope that the member on the opposite side would also take Vince Bevan at his word, take Pierre-Paul Pichette at his word. They speak on behalf of the association for which each of them were speaking and they are accurately responding and explaining the views of their membership. I take them at their word. I would hope that the member would take them at their word and not impugn, as he has done, the validity of the statements that they have made on behalf of their associations, the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.