Other benefits include the enhanced ability to detect and return stolen firearms; the enhanced ability to investigate and prosecute crimes involving stolen firearms, which saves resources; the identification of an accumulation of firearms that could potentially harm public safety; the enhanced ability to investigate crimes through links established by the registry; the reduced ability to traffic stolen firearms and reduced illicit export or import of firearms; the reinforcement of the inherent public safety interest; and the responsibility inherent in firearm acquisition and possession.

Since these reductions mean that most Greek farming households are facing bankruptcy, is the Commission thinking of taking measures to tackle the catastrophic impact of the commercial crisis? If so, what measures does it envisage?

In the light of the UK government’s approval on 3 October 2001 of a new plutonium fuel facility at the Sellafield nuclear complex, will the Council state its position on this proposal, particularly with regard to the security aspects, given that there are worrying reports that such a facility will increase the global trade in plutonium, that such trade will increase the threat to global security, that transportation of 'weapons usable' material makes it vulnerable to terrorists and that the atrocity of 11 September raises the risk that Sellafield could be targeted by terrorists, with catastrophic ...[+++] results for the populations of the UK, Ireland and globally.

What contingency plans has the Council considered to respond to the threat of attack by terrorists on nuclear installations in the EU, and, in particular, on the Sellafield plant, taking into account the totally unacceptable decision of the British Environment Secretary to give the go-ahead on 3 October 2001 for the opening of the MOX (mixed oxide) plant at Sellafield, formal approval of which had been delayed because of the falsification of records by BNFL?

[English] These are the elements of the legislation that we bring forward today as Bill C-68: First, tough measures to deal with the criminal misuse of firearms; second, specific penalties to punish those who would smuggle illegal firearms; and third, measures overall to provide a context in which the legitimate use of firearms can be carried on in a manner consistent with public safety.

Mr. Jim Hart (Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt, Ref.): Mr. Speaker, my constituents from Okanagan-Similkameen-Merritt call on Parliament to reject any proposals which might add to the existing regulatory restrictions regarding firearms; to respect the integrity of law-abiding, responsible firearms owners; to cause the Government of Canada to take such measures as are necessary to provide for strict enforcement of existing statutes governing the use of firearms in the commission of a criminal offence, with particular emphasis on the rigorous use of section 85 of the Criminal Code; and to provide strict sentencing guidelines and mandatory sentences for anyone convicted of the use or possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime in which violence is t ...[+++]hreatened or actually used.