evidenced by small
things, for instance the relative freedom within these borders from random gunfire.
Clinton is trying to help you. Could you adopt him as your President? TIA
ÿÿÿ ÿÿÿÿ ÿÿ
Saw this online from NY Times:
"U.S. Orders Suspension of Gun Sales Into Canada
By RAYMOND BONNER
ASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- The Clinton administration is suspending the export of handguns,
rifles and ammunition to Canada after discovering a large volume of sales in the past nine
months, American and Canadian officials said today.
Since last April, when the United States began requiring licenses to export weapons to
Canada, licenses have been issued for 115,000 handguns, 25,000 rifles and 200 million
rounds of ammunition, according to United States government data.
American officials said they do not know where the firearms are going -- and that is what
caused them to act. One official said that it is "extremely possible" that the handguns are
being smuggled back into the United States along the long, relatively porous border.
In recent years, Canada has become a transshipment point for weapons from the United
States including sophisticated missile technology. The weapons have ended up in countries
like China, Iran and Libya, according to United States Customs Service records.
The number of handguns licensed to be sold to Canada in the past nine months is more than
to any other single country, and 10 times greater than the combined total of handgun sales
to Britain, France and Italy in 1998, according to government statistics. A similar suspension
of firearms sales to Britain two years ago has been lifted.
Although about 4.5 million new firearms are sold every year in the United States, the number
of the licenses for sales to Canada are viewed as unsettling by Clinton administration officials,
because Canada has one of the strictest handgun control laws in the world -- far stricter than
the United States. In Canada, with a population of 31 million people, possession of firearms
is limited to collectors, target shooters, and people who can demonstrate that they need a
gun to protect their life, Canadian officials said.
A senior law enforcement official in Canada, who spoke on the condition that he not be
named, called the import figures "astonishing," given his country's strict firearms laws. "I
don't know where these handguns could be going," he said.
As the trade works now, a firearms importer generally gets a license that covers a far greater
number of firearms than the importer intends to bring into Canada immediately, and then
brings them in over a period of months or years. These open-ended licenses make it harder
to monitor the trade in firearms, experts say.
After several weeks of intense negotiations over the handgun issue, the Canadian
government on Wednesday sent a letter to the State Department asking the United States to
suspend the issuance of further licenses, pending an investigation, Canadian and American
officials said.
One question the Clinton administration wants the investigation to answer is why the
Canadian import authority issued so many licenses given the country's gun control laws.
The Clinton administration was prepared to act without the Canadian request, officials said.
The suspension of further licensing takes place immediately, Canadian and American officials
said.
The president of the National Association of Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers, Andrew
Molchan, was critical of the action, but not surprised. "Basically, President Clinton has declared
open warfare on the gun industry in America," he said, in a telephone interview from Fort
Lauderdale, Fla.
The suspension of firearms sales is another round in the battle between the two neighbors
over export controls on weapons sales to Canada. Over strong and continuing objections by
Canada, the Clinton administration has slowly been tightening export regulations. The figures
on firearms imports are also likely to embarrass the Canadian government, which has taken a
highly vocal lead in the international campaign to curb the flow of small arms and light
weapons.
The action against Canada is one of the rare times that the United States has suspended
arms sales to an ally. Last April, the Clinton administration suspended the sale of handguns
to Venezuela, concerned that many of the weapons were ending up in the hands of narcotics
gangs and guerrilla groups in neighboring Colombia. The suspension remains in effect, with
the Clinton administration waiting for assurances from the Venezuelan government that it will
control the re-export of firearms from the United States." |
