Re: Gun Registry Is No Lifesaver, editorial, July 4.

I note that your editorial states that the statistician responsible for data -- concerning the decline in gun-related homicides between 1979 and 2002, and the overall utility of the firearms registry -- asserts that there cannot be a link to any single cause, such as gun laws. However, your editorial then ignored this caution and drew conclusions about what was causing, or not causing, the decline in this type of homicide. In any event, what we do know from the facts is that the gun control legislation is working.

Since December, 1998, approximately 14,000 individual firearms licences have been refused or revoked by Chief Firearms Officers across Canada. This is helping to ensure that those who pose a threat to themselves and others are no longer allowed to legally possess or acquire firearms and ammunition. The reasons for licence refusals and revocations include domestic violence, drug offences, mental health problems and other public safety concerns.

Law enforcement officers across Canada use Firearms Program licensing and registration information to help them do their jobs. Police, customs officers and other public safety officials use the Canadian Firearms Registry Online (CFRO) service approximately 2,000 times every day and have immediate, direct access to the service through the Canadian Police Information Centre. Since Program implementation in 1998, the CFRO has received more than 3.6 million queries. Firearms Program information is also used to help prosecute firearms crimes. In 2004, the Canada Firearms Centre produced 2265 affidavits to support the prosecution of firearms related crimes across Canada.

Long-term reductions in firearms crime and violence clearly parallel the implementation of enhanced firearms control measures in Canada over many years. For example, since 1995, the number of firearms-related spousal homicides has decreased by 8% and the number of firearms-related family homicides has declined by 25%. With the implementation of the firearms registry, we can expect these downward trends to continue.

As gun-related deaths decline, so are the costs of the firearms registry. Registration costs have declined from $33-million last year to just over $15-million this year.

The registry is proving its effectiveness in the fight against crime.

Roy Cullen, MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Ottawa.