Re: Stopping Gun Crime, editorial, March 1.

[. . . . Incorporate] the following:

1. A prohibition on firearms ownership for persons who have been convicted of indictable offences involving violence. This should satisfy everyone who does not want the wrong people owning firearms.

2. Violating the above should itself be an indictable offence punishable by a minimum five-year prison term. [Suggestions vary on length. NJC]

3. The Crown's discretion to plea-bargain firearms offences should be removed.

4. The onus for making a criminal records check should be placed on the vendor of the firearm.

[. . . .] What the Liberals have been missing is the political will to actually punish criminals who use firearms to commit violent crimes. Instead they have saddled the taxpayer with an over-priced super-bureaucracy focussed on legitimate recreational shooters, all the while claiming that they are doing something about gun crime.

American law enforcement authorities appear capable of tracing many firearms used in crime due to the U.S. requirement of a criminal records check and retention of sales records by firearms dealers. Recall how the Washington, D.C., sniper's gun was traced back to the dealer who sold it. This was done in the absence of a national gun registry or a licencing scheme for gun owners. . . . NP, Edmonton