http://nfa.ca/sites/default/files/RC...om-Police2.pdf
Canada’s National Firearms Association Media Release 28 September 2011
For Immediate Release
428 FIREARMS GO MISSING FROM POLICE ARSENALS, RCMP REPORT
Police should be asking, “How many of our guns have fallen into the wrong hands?”
A recent Access to Information Act request found that the RCMP acknowledges that 428 firearms have been lost by or stolen from the RCMP, other police services and public agencies in Canada. “The police are quick to point accusing fingers at law-abiding gun owners who have their firearms stolen from them but aren’t so quick to admit their failure to keep their own firearms out of the hands of criminals,” said National Firearms Association President, Sheldon Clare.
This new information was obtained from the RCMP through an Access to Information Act request submitted as a collaborative effort by two independent researchers, Gary A. Mauser, Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University and Dennis R. Young, retired Parliamentary Assistant to Garry Breitkreuz, MP. The RCMP does not regularly report information on lost or stolen firearms to Parliament.
Summary of the number of firearms missing or stolen from the police in Canada:
- Firearms Lost by and Stolen from the RCMP = 32
- Firearms Lost by and Stolen from other Police Services = 316
- Firearms Lost by and Stolen from other Public Service Agencies = 80
For more details: http://www.nfa.ca/sites/default/file...rom-Police.pdf
No time frame was given in the RCMP’s response to the ATI request, but it appears that these firearms were lost or stolen since the Police and Public Agency Regulations came into force in October 2008 and all firearms in police inventories had to be registered with the RCMP by October 31, 2009. The information in this ATI does not include the numbers of firearms stolen from the military as the RCMP doesn't collect that information.
Back in 2002, MP Garry Breitkreuz, MP, submitted a similar ATI request and as of September 2003, the RCMP reported 17 firearms stolen, 3 lost and 88 others that they were still “tracing”. As in the recent request, the RCMP gave no time frame. Since the Police and Public Agency Regulations came into force, the RCMP has been able to report the number of firearms that have been stolen from other police services in Canada.
More information on Police and Public Agencies can be examined at this location:
http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/i.../index-eng.htm
“Many police have been fixated on firearms being stolen from law-abiding gun owners, charging many of them with “careless storage” following a firearms theft rather than putting the blame and focus of their investigations where it rightfully belongs, with the criminals who are stealing the guns. Most police and law-abiding gun owners are storing their firearms properly but these new statistics prove that criminals will always find a way to foil the most secure gun safes and locking devices. It’s time for police to stop treating law-abiding gun owners as part of the problem and work with us to help catch the real bad guys out there,” concluded Mr. Clare.
-------------------------------------------------------
I can go to jail if I have a firearm stolen due to improper storage, but I doubt we will see a any police officers have any action taken for losing their guns.
The report should also list the names of the officers responsible for the firearms in question.