The new Canadian federal firearms registry has cost taxpayers $327 million so far and is running up a yearly bill nearly 10 times higher than what the government forecast in 1995, according to The Ottawa Citizen.
Despite the cost—and with more than 1,000 police officers and bureaucrats working for the registry—critics say it is unlikely the government will meet its Jan. 1, 2001, deadline for licensing all gunowners.
Even the Canadian Firearms Center admits that as of February, only 142,324 new licenses had been issued to gunowners across Canada since the registry started in December 1998. A further 270,000 valid licenses remained from the previous gun-control regime.
The center estimates there are 1.6 million gunowners to be licensed by the end of the year, with the backlog of applications already up to 45,000.
"What will it take for them to realize that this turkey cannot be made to fly?" asked Dave Tomlinson, Edmonton-based president of the National Firearms Association (NFA). "It’s a complete waste of money because there is no way on earth to keep a registration system accurate."
The Canadian Firearms Center in April released to The Citizen the cumulative cost of the system up to March 31. The figure confirmed the fears of Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz, a staunch foe of the Firearms Act, that the cost of the national registry will exceed the forecast that former Justice Minister Allan Rock made in 1995. Rock then estimated a five-year price tag of $185 million, including a one-time startup cost of $85 million.
The government spent $45 million before the registry began, Jean Valin, head of public affairs for the Firearms Center, said on April 20.
"There was some relatively small amounts that were spent in the early years in preparations, consultations, design sessions, consultations with groups," he said.
By the end of March 1999, only four months into the registry, the federal government had spent another $82 million, according to figures released by Valin. The government spent a further $200 million on the registry in the past 12 months.
Rock’s 1995 estimate, based on the cost of the previous gun-control system, put the average yearly cost of the new registry at about $20 million.
Based on international averages and past Canadian records, the NFA estimates 6.5 million gunowners and 20 million firearms. The government estimates three million gunowners and up to seven million firearms.