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Paul Martin is Committed To Community-based Crime Prevention Funding |
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Written by LPC
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Tuesday, 13 December 2005 |
Prime Minister Paul Martin while speaking today to students at Princess Margaret Secondary School in Surrey, B.C. said a Liberal government is committed to preventing the spread of gun crime in Canadian communities.
On December 8th, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced the Liberal Party’s “Canada Handgun Ban and Safer Communities Strategy” – a plan to get handguns off our streets.
Under that plan, a Liberal government would amend the Criminal Code to enable provinces and territories to prohibit handguns within their borders. It includes an amnesty and buy-back program to collect existing handguns. And it incorporates a national Gunstoppers Program – similar to the popular Crimestoppers – to provide financial rewards for information leading to the removal of an illegal gun from the street.
The Liberals will also re-introduce legislation that doubles the mandatory minimum sentences for key gun crimes such as trafficking and smuggling of firearms and the illegal possession of loaded handguns in public places. Those who use handguns to commit a crime need to understand that using handguns will result, each and every time, in jail time.
The Liberal government is committed to community-based crime prevention funding and central to this is the $50-million Gun Violence and Gang Prevention Fund along with a $50-million Rural Community Safety Plan to provide resources for crime prevention initiatives in smaller communities.
The plan also includes investments to enhance law enforcement:
- $225 million to create an RCMP Advanced Community Safety and Rapid Enforcement Team;
- an additional $10 million a year to increase the number of graduating RCMP officers to 1,400 a year by 2008;
- $40 million to increase intelligence and surveillance and stem the flow of illegal firearms into Canada.
Because the government recognizes that not all gun owners are criminals, exemptions have been created for legitimate target shooters, and legal owners and collectors of handguns. These legitimate owners will be given the choice of permanently disabling their guns in order to keep them, turning them into police, or selling or exporting their guns to licensed owners in other jurisdictions not enforcing the ban.
And to make things fairer for owners of long guns, the Liberals will waive their re-licensing fees in order to encourage full compliance with the Canada Firearms Program. In addition, previously paid re-licensing fees will be refunded to long gun owners.
These initiatives respect the fact that different regions of the country have different needs. The Prime Minister emphasizes that his government does not believe in a one-size fits all solution to this problem. The Canada Handgun Ban is for provinces and territories that choose to participate, and it will be left up to them to consult with their citizens to decide if a handgun ban is appropriate for their jurisdiction. |
