Will the CRIMINALS turn in THEIR guns???? ya think?

will men promise to stop raping/beating women? ya think? Will tyrants and terrorism cease? Ya think?

Law abiding citizens turn in your guns and rely on the government authorities to protect you?!?!?!?!?!?............. I think NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAGC - USA
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B.C. launches gun amnesty program
Date: Jun 1, 2006 7:43 AM
PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: 2006.06.01
PAGE: A9
BYLINE: EVA SALINAS
SECTION: National News
EDITION: Metro
DATELINE: Vancouver BC
WORDS: 984

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B.C. launches gun amnesty program Province plans month-long blitz

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EVA SALINAS VANCOUVER Solicitor-General John Les is supporting a new
program in B.C. -- the $50,000 provincewide gun amnesty -- that he says
is better at reducing incidence of gun crime than the federal gun
registry.

"I don't mourn the passing of the gun registry at all. May it rest in
peace," Mr. Les said. "If those resources had been put into actual
policing, we would have had a lot more crime reduction as a result." Mr.
Les praised the gun amnesty program, which is slated for this month. He
joined Attorney-General Wally Oppal and heads of the Vancouver Police
Department and RCMP in Vancouver yesterday to announce the initiative.

The program comes just weeks after Prime Minister Stephen Harper
announced plans to scrap the federal long-gun registry, saying that
until legislation is in place, amnesty will be provided to gun owners
who do not sign up.

Mr. Les said the plan will not affect the results of the gun amnesty in
B.C. "It is still the law that all handguns must be registered, nothing
changes in that regard," he said.

"If people have guns to hand in, I'm sure they will hand them in
regardless if the gun registry is in effect." As part of the $50,000,
co-operative effort, television commercials and print advertisements
will let B.C. residents know of the amnesty, under which they can give
up unregistered firearms without penalty.

Once a firearm is reported, police will visit the house and remove the
gun, taking most away to be destroyed locally.

The City of Vancouver ran successful amnesty programs in 1998, 1997 and
1992, police said. Toronto, Ottawa and Manitoba collected significant
amounts of firearms during programs held in the past year. Alberta is
expected to run one in the fall.

B.C. RCMP estimate that 90,000 firearms, which were registered with the
decades-old firearms acquisition certificate system, were not registered
in the government's latest effort and remain in homes unwanted and
unused.

The program is a great way to get rid of those weapons, Mr. Les said. He
conceded, though, that law-abiding citizens will be the biggest source
of handovers.

"Of course we don't believe that criminals themselves will be turning in
weapons because of amnesty," he said.

He said it is worth noting, however, that "weapons that are stolen
during break-ins in people's homes and businesses can very quickly wind
up on the streets and in the wrong hands." Vancouver police raised the
possibility of a gun amnesty program last year, after 23-year-old Lee
Matasi was shot and killed outside a nightclub on Dec. 3.

A 30-year-old Vancouver man who was shot while on the dance floor at a
nightclub May 5, died Tuesday night.

The most recent statistics, for 2004, show that 39 people in B.C.

were killed in shootings that year.

Mr. Matasi's mother, Susan Jessop, supports gun amnesties, the gun
registry and the introduction of mandatory minimum sentencing for gun
crimes -- another recent announcement by the federal government -- but
said these initiatives address the "tail end" of the problem.

"What causes young people in our society to carry a gun and hurt someone
with it?" she asked. "It's a complex social problem that starts much
earlier that we somehow need to address." Police said the program is
only part of the solution to the problem of growing numbers of firearms
used by gangs in the lower mainland.

"In order to keep British Columbia safe, we must get guns out of the
hands and off the streets," Vancouver police Chief Constable Jamie
Graham said.

Police asked members of the public not to bring firearms to local
detachments. Police will instead pick up any weapons or ammunition that
are reported. No charges will be laid for disposing of illegal firearms,
Mr. Oppal said, unless they have been used for a crime.

Special consideration will be made for gun owners who are unaware of a
weapon's history, Mr. Oppal added. "If someone had turned in a gun and
they have no knowledge of its previous unlawful use, obviously that's
something that we would have to look at and determine if charges ought
to be made," he said.

A gun amnesty sampler Vancouver : More than 1,500 firearms were turned
in during the city's last amnesty in 1998, which coincided with the
introduction of the federal firearms registry. The city also had amnesty
programs in 1997 and 1992.

Manitoba: The first gun amnesty for the province in more than a decade
was held in June, 2005. Over the month, 211 rifles, 66 shotguns, 26
handguns and nearly 1,500 rounds of ammunition were turned in.

Toronto : In November, 2005, the Toronto Police Service, backed by the
provincial Attorney-General, implemented a three-week Project PEACE
amnesty for unwanted or unregistered weapons. In all, 261 guns,
including 33 handguns, and 1,554 rounds of ammunition, were collected.

Ottawa: City police announced a three-week amnesty in January of this
year, and more than 500 firearms were turned in, including 188 handguns.
After the amnesty, police announced a Crime Stoppers gun program, in
which cash rewards were given for information on people who possessed
illegal guns.

Hamilton, Ont .: An amnesty program in March saw residents give up 1,254
firearms, including a rare British "Brown Bess" musket from the War of
1812 that was saved from being melted down: it goes on display this week
in a Hamilton museum.

Alberta : Edmonton Police Chief Mike Boyd initially proposed a gun
amnesty for his city to be held this month, but the idea has grown into
a provincewide amnesty, tentatively set for the fall.

Officials from the Ministry of Justice and Alberta Solicitor General and
Public Security are to meet with police agencies over the summer to work
out the details.