Canada: "Ottawa plans to stop funding for firearms education in province"

[Cuchulainn]

Well, the government shouldn't be paying for this sort of stuff, but they'd save more money by scrapping that registry instead.

Pick A or B, boys and girls:

A) scrap a $140,000 program that does something, or
B) scrap a $1,000,000,000 program that does nothing

http://www.canada.com/regina/news/st...0B24BD6105D%7D

Ottawa plans to stop funding for firearms education in province
Ryan Lorge
Saskatchewan News Network; Saskatoon Starphoenix

Friday, December 13, 2002

SASKATOON -- The federal government will end its funding relationship with the Saskatchewan Association for Firearms Education (SAFE) Inc. as of Jan. 31, a move that has left the organization's administration scratching their heads.

"It just makes no sense. It's a whole legacy that they're laying down here of even more lack of good sense in what they're doing," said SAFE executive director Rick Wyatt.

"It's a pretty frustrating situation right now, that's for sure."

SAFE is a non-profit firearm safety education organization made up of about 1,100 volunteer instructors across the province.

Its operations are partially funded by $140,000 in service contracts with the federal and provincial governments.

Under those contracts, SAFE provides instruction and examinations for an average of 4,000 Saskatchewan gun owners a year, though Wyatt said that since 2001 the organization has dealt with over 35,000 applicants attempting to comply with the new firearms legislation. The cost of the national safety course and exam under the current funding structure is $25 per person.

In past years, SAFE has received $65,000 annually for the implementation of Canadian Firearms Safety courses.

Since 1993, the courses have been a federally legislated requirement for owners and users of firearms.

Wyatt said no federal funding leaves SAFE, and potentially Saskatchewan gun owners, in limbo.

"That means for sure the federal content program goes, and it also means that if we're unable to negotiate some form of increase with the provincial contract ... SAFE won't be here. Simple as that," said Wyatt.

According to Michelle Snyder, communications coordinator for the Canadian Firearms Centre, the federal government's contract with SAFE was a 2000 agreement with the RCMP, who were administering the program at the time, that reverted to Justice Canada's responsibility in April 2001.

The term of that contract was one year, with two options for one-year extensions. Those extensions were both exercised and the contract, which expires Jan. 31, 2003, will not be renewed, Snyder said.

"They're moving toward a cost-recovery model similar to what is now in operation in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec," said Snyder.

Under the new system, applicants will pay the cost of having a certified instructor of their choice teach the course and administer the tests.

The instructors will purchase any needed course materials, then sell them to the applicants. The instructors will also charge a fee for their services.

Snyder said it was not possible at this stage to predict what the cost to an individual applicant would be under the system.

According to SAFE, firearm owners in other Canadian jurisdictions pay up to $200 to take the required safety courses and exams.

Wyatt believes the government will have a hard time implementing a system that is more cost effective for all parties than securing the services of 1,100 instructors for $65,000 per year.

"It's not rocket science to figure out that if they put a federal civil servant here in the province to manage that program, they couldn't do it for twice that much," said Wyatt.

Wyatt found the decision especially difficult to understand in light of the cost overruns facing the federal gun registry program, which the auditor general estimates will have cost $1 billion by 2005. He called the comparative savings of eliminating SAFE's $65,000 contract the equivalent of "locking up the pencils in the office.

"This whole Bill C-68, gun control, gun registry, the whole thing, has been sold by the federal government as a public safety issue. And it would seem to us and to many others that in terms of public safety, proper training and certification is sort of a backbone of a public safety issue when it comes to gun ownership.

"And that's what they cut the funding to," said Wyatt. "The $65,000 in terms of their billion-dollar problem that they've got right now. ...They're going to have to cut a lot of $65,000 programs to solve their financial problems."

[JackM]

I'm one of the 1100 instructors and this contract cancellation tells me more about the Liberals than the 1 billion dollar boondoggle. They preach constantly that it's all about safety and it's for the children. We all know that the sooner you teach a kid, the better.

They don't want anybody learning about guns, and our Saskatchewan program was too successful. Between a fairly good availability of instructors (Saskatchewan is a big place) and the low cost in a economically depressed province; we were able to train a lot of kids.

We will continue with the provincial course which has been very successful for 42 years. Hopefully the Liberals will be gone by the time this year's 12 year olds reach 18 and can get a Possession and Acquisition license. Likely the Feds will try to sign up the current instructors. If I sign up, it will be on my terms and it will be for the children.

Bye
Jack

[Cuchulainn]

Jack,

First off, my hat is off to you for doing important work.

I bet you can raise money to keep the program going. Wouldn't it be great if you could create a similar or better program without the government strings?

[JackM]

Hi, Cuchulainn:
Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately the Feds have a very big monkey wrench, since they control the program and don't have to let a contract to anybody. It sounds like they want to contract with individual instructors. So he/she has to charge at least the Feds overhead or find funding locally. This isn't impossible, as the local service groups do the best they can, but there's always another dozen worthy causes.

The provincial government will continue to fund it's share, but we'll have to do more with that money. For example, provincial hunter education dropped firearms from the course when the Feds came in with their course and concentrated on the parts like conservation and wildlife indentification. So we'll have to put firearms back in the text, doubling it's size. That takes bucks. The province is seriously short of money, and we're lucky it didn't cut back funding.

Handgun training will take a hit. The Feds put them in their first course, then decided too many people were learning too much. They separated it from the long gun course in the second version. About 2/3rds of our local students took it too, but the province won't fund teaching handguns since handgun hunting is, for all practical purposes, illegal in Canada.

Yes, we could do better if the Feds got out of the way. We did before they stuck their noses in.

Bye
Jack

[Cuchulainn]

Thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately the Feds have a very big monkey wrench, since they control the program and don't have to let a contract to anybody.

Whoa! You can't just train people? You have to do it as part of the government program? If I understand you correctly, what the government is doing to you is just plain wrong.

[JackM]

Hi, Cuchulainn:
I should have explained that point earlier. You need the Federal safety course to get a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL), else you can't own guns or buy guns or ammo. So I could get the best instructors and facilities in the world, and if I don't have a contract with the Feds to teach their course, my students can't get a PAL.

The course's first textbook was seriously flawed, but the second edition is passable, although inexcusably politically correct in places. The course isn't that difficult, as most 12 year olds can pass if they put a little effort into it. Too many kids have a reading problem, but that's the fault of the public school system, not the Federal course.

There's also a Possession Only License (POL) for those who have guns, want to buy ammo, but don't plan to buy any more guns. It's basically for old-timers. It's no longer issued, but is renewable. You didn't need the Federal course to get it.

Obviously I'm in favour of Firearm Safety training, but the program should be in control of shooters and hunters, not faceless non-shooting Ottawa bureaucrats.

Bye
Jack