Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 13:48:26 -0600
From: "GOING" <[g--i--g] at [siast.sk.ca]>
To: [c d n firearms] at [skatter.usask.ca]
Subject: How Many Firearms And Owners Are There In Canada?

	      NATIONAL FIREARMS ASSOCIATION
			    
    HOW MANY FIREARMS AND OWNERS ARE THERE IN CANADA?

 The National Firearms Association figures are: 7,000,000 Canadian
 owners with 21,000,000 firearms.  The Coalition for Gun Control (CGC)
 figures are about 2,000,000 owners with 6,000,000 firearms.  Both
 figures agree that the average owner has about three firearms (a
 constant in every country).  But who is right?

 The CGC figures are based on a telephone poll.  Many owners of
 firearms, jewelry, or other valuables won't admit to an anonymous
 voice on the phone that they keep valuables in their homes.

 The NFA figures are calculated using three different methods:

 1.    There were 1,221,179 registered restricted firearms in the RCMP
 FRAS records in Dec 1993.  The unrestricted firearm to "restricted"
 firearm ratio is at least 20:1.  Conservatively, that means 24,423,580
 unrestricted plus 1,221,179 restricted.  Allowing for errors in the
 RCMP's registration system, we strike off 221,179 registered firearms
 as non-existent, which reduces the total to 21,000,000 firearms with
 7,000,000 owners.

 2.    The government's own estimate in Dec. 1976, published as part of
 its gun control campaign, was 6,000,000 owners with 18,000,000
 firearms.  During hearings on the Campbell bill, officials from the
 office of the Minister of Justice testified that the long-term average
 net annual importation of firearms into Canada (imports minus exports)
 was 190,000 per year.  Therefore, adding 190,000 per year to the
 18,000,000 of 1976, we get a total of 21,610,000 by Dec 1993.
 Subtract 610,000 plus one firearm for every firearm manufactured in
 Canada during those 17 years as an allowance for firearms destroyed,
 dismantled or worn out--and you are back at 21,000,000 firearms with
 7,000,000 owners.

 3.    Restricted firearm ownership increased from 861,571 in Dec '84
 to 1,221,179 in Dec '93, an increase of (1,221,179 - 861,571 divided
 by 861,571) 41.74 per cent in 9 years.  Those figures are solid,
 because they are taken from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of
 the RCMP.  The NFA estimates that the 1976 figure for total firearms
 owned, 18,000,000, increased to 21,000,000 by 1993.  That represents a
 "total firearms" increase of only 16.67 per cent in 17 years, which is
 again quite conservative.

 None of the above estimates include any figures for illegally imported
 firearms, which are known to have increased sharply each time
 restrictive, costly, and/or vague legislation has made legal ownership
 more complicated, more expensive, and/or more risky.

----- End Included Message -----

	Canada's population is currently running about 26 million. 7 
million owners divided by 26 million is about 27%, assuming a 3 guns per 
owner average. If it's two guns per owner, it hits 40%. Mind you, these 
percentages are fair guesswork, as I know many owners with one firearm, 
and a few with many (including two "prohibited" class owners, with MGs 
in their basements!)

Don MacPhail
Ryerson Polytechnic University



All opinions are mine - I sleep through my Sociology classes!
Support the motion to split Bill C-68!