Detractors of the program expect this to go much higher. More and more money is being diverted from important law enforcement activities. Tight budgets combined with the unpopular law are affecting police morale and there is concern that crime might actually increase as a result of C-68. Compliance with the new law has been poor. A large portion of gun owners say they have no intention of registering their guns and predictably, criminals are not registering their guns at all.
Officials say that black market gun trafficking is thriving.
Since the total number of guns in Canada is unknown, it will be impossible to determine how effective the system is. Any registration system must be accurate if it is going to be useful to law enforcement officers, but various reports coming from within the Justice Department indicate an error rate between 20 and 100 percent in the current database. By targeting honest gun owners, the government has alienated millions of citizens who would otherwise be motivated to help the police do their job. Law enforcement at the local level may actually become more difficult. Ironically, polls show that most frontline law enforcement officers do not support the gun registry.