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Editorial: Time to abolish long-gun registry
Commentary by Mac Olsen
for South Peace News
When will the gun-control lobbyists and advocates understand the long-gun registry is an exercise in futility, a money pit of bureaucratic bungling and, ultimately, of no tangible benefit to public safety?
The federal Liberals are trying to thwart a private member’s bill by Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner to abolish the long-gun registry. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff wants to force all of his members in the House of Commons to vote against the bill, including eight who voted for it during second reading late in 2009.
Ignatieff is proposing to make it easier for firearms owners to register their long guns. But failure to do so would not result in a criminal charge the first time.
How generous of him! What a wonderful idea! A long-gun owner wouldn’t face charges the first time, but they could be on the receiving end of criminal charges afterwards!
Is there something I’m missing here? What’s the difference between not doing it the first time and not doing the second time? Is the owner going to be any less “dangerous” if they don’t register their long guns the first time than the second time? Are they going to be any less “guilty” if they don’t do it the first time around?
Moreover, does Ignatieff have a moral justification for the $1 billion-plus wasted to establish the bureaucracy overseeing firearms registration? Can he point to any statistics saying the long-gun registry has prevented people from being murdered or accidentally shot with such firearms? Can he point to any tangible benefit the registry has provided?
Fort McMurray-Athabasca MP Brian Jean and other Conservative Party members should ask these hard questions, twisting the thumbscrews on Ignatieff and the Liberals, to make them come clean.
True, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz is in hot water over a staff member’s news release calling an organization of Canada’s police chiefs a “cult” and suggesting the Liberal caucus beat Ignatieff “black and blue.” This is totally inexcusable and the aide rightly resigned.
Moreover, Breitkreuz apologized in the House of Commons for it, which is sufficient.
Nonethless, the larger issue is, the long-gun registry provides no meaningful, objectively measured, tangible benefits for Canadian society and public safety.
When I was at the High Prairie Gun and Sportsman Show April 17-18, I saw many long-gun purchases and even traded one of mine for another.
However, the seller and I also had to exchange the required long-gun registry documentation to complete the deal. I’m sure the seller didn’t find it onerous to fill out the paperwork, but I would have been aggravated had the situation been reversed.
Therefore, I put this question to Ignatieff and the gun control lobbyists. Are the registered long guns owned by hunters, farmers and competitive shooters going to be any more threatening than if someone used a stolen or unregistered handgun in the commission of an armed robbery or violent crime?
I think not and singling out legitimate, law abiding long gun owners for this punishment is an outright government infringement on the freedoms of a certain group of people and unwarranted.
So, please call on your elected officials to abolish the long-gun registry. It’s time to bring intelligence back to the firearms debate – and the law, for that matter.
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