I agree with you Ed T. I feel the Conservative/Reform Party is pandering to a misinformed segment of the population whose views on the prevalence of crime in Canada is skewed by a sensationalism oriented media and right wing radio hosts who have a tendency to overplay horrific crimes. All the statistics point to a significant downward crime trend in the last 10 years.

More ammo for the courts = more convictions = more incarcerations = more prisons (the existing ones are seriously overcrowded). This formula is popular with our neighbours to the south and we all know about crime rates down there.