Bill introduced to kill long gun registry

[Paul]

OTTAWA - The Conservative government has introduced legislation to scrap the registration of rifles and shotguns.

Police, health and victims groups are among those immediately voicing their opposition the bill, which marks the beginning of the end of the controversial long-gun registry.

A private member's bill to kill it was narrowly defeated in the last Parliament, but the Tories promised in the federal election this year to try again.

Now with a majority Conservative government, the bill seems certain to pass.

The Tories argue the registration of long guns is wasteful and unnecessary, although they support the licensing of gun owners and the registration of prohibited and restricted weapons.

"The Harper government has stood on the side of law-abiding firearms owners, farmers, hunters, and rural Canadians in every region of this country," says Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner, who joined Conservative colleagues in announcing the new bill at a farm outside of Ottawa.

Hoeppner says the registry has been a waste of taxpayers' dollars, close to $2 billion.

She said the money could have been spent to crack down on criminals.

An internal RCMP evaluation found the federal gun registry was a useful tool for police.

The Coalition for Gun Control says it is urging Canadians to tell their MPs to oppose the legislation.

The group accuses the government of proposing "an archaic rollback of the clock."

The umbrella group for Quebec police forces says rifles and shotguns are most used to kill police officers in domestic violence cases, suicides and incidents involving youth.

It called on the government to transfer registry data to the provinces, something Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has ruled out.

Dr. Alan Drummond, of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and an assistant coroner in Perth, Ont., calls the new bill an "unwelcome social experiment" by the Conservative government.

"No law can prevent all tragedies. But a gun-control law, which includes registration and is rigorously implemented, makes it harder — not easier — for dangerous people to get firearms," says activist Priscilla de Villiers, whose daughter, Nina, was abducted and killed with a legally owned rifle.

But Hoeppner says that the Tories have "carefully examined all of the sides and the evidence."

She adds: "I can confidently stand in front of you today and I can say that the long-gun registry has been completely ineffective and it has been completely wasteful."

Hoeppner says there is a misconception that keeping the long-gun registry will prevent "horrible things" from happening. And she says there have been instances where terrible crimes have been committed by long guns.

"The truth is that all of these things did happen despite the long-gun registry being in place."

NDP justice critic Jack Harris said destroying the registry, and the records compiled in it, is inconsistent with the Harper government's oft-declared campaign against crime.

He calls it hypocrisy at the highest level.

"We've got a government who's supposedly interested in helping victims and having safe communities and they're doing something that the chiefs of police are saying is going to cost lives."

He scoffed at the Tories' claim the move will save $4 million a year.

"This is not about austerity. In fact, they're talking about destroying records that probably cost many millions of dollars to collect."

The new bill will repeal the requirement to register long guns, and calls for the destruction of all records pertaining to the registration of long guns currently contained in the Canadian Firearms Registry. It will also maintain controls over restricted and prohibited firearms.

[AxeMan]

Yeah, finally. 
The critics can bring on all the arguments they want but the time for that is over.  It is now time to scrap the damn thing.  We won.  Well almost, just a matter of time now.

[walleyes]

I will still keep my fingers crossed on this one.. This will be a first I am sure when a government has given back a liberty to its people after it was taken away. A very rare occasion. Lets hope this keeps going through.

[Chris K]

I will still keep my fingers crossed on this one.. This will be a first I am sure when a government has given back a liberty to its people after it was taken away. A very rare occasion. Lets hope this keeps going through.

X2.  Well said!


CK

[lad]

It's looking good for sure. I was thinking if i knew the day it would be destroyed i could phone in a transfer of all my long guns to a "John Smith" and just let it slide.....A celebratory gift for all the hassles for the last couple decades.

[Tuc]

Good to hear.

How many of you think the records pertaining to the registry will be destroyed? The conservatives may destroy the federal registry records so no future government could reinstate it but I have my doubts if all police dept's will. I'm willing to bet the RCMP will never destroy the records they have on file and I doubt Ontario and Quebec local police will either.

[BruceW]

Just watched the second reading, Mr. Toews stated that it's right in Bill C-19 that all records pertaining to the lgr will be destroyed, and any person or agency that does not destroy all copies of any kind will be in contravention of the law.
(I'm paraphrasing, but the gist is correct).

Short answer, there'd damn well better not be copies showing up, or someone's going to jail and class action lawsuits will mean we all get a shiny new long gun compliments of the Quebec gov't, or the ndp, or cookier and her minions, or whoever else it is that shows up with one.   

Least that's how I read it.   

[wildmeat]

there is so much controversy surrounding this... itll be a damn miracle if the powers that be let this happen... but we can all wish and hope... im not going to hold my breath over this issue

[BBJ]

Good to hear.

How many of you think the records pertaining to the registry will be destroyed? The conservatives may destroy the federal registry records so no future government could reinstate it but I have my doubts if all police dept's will. I'm willing to bet the RCMP will never destroy the records they have on file and I doubt Ontario and Quebec local police will either.

I know if that was me Id be sueing them sons of bitches , Damn rights I would the government tells me that my information isnt sapsot to be gone and it isnt . Im sure theres others that would do the same damn thing .

[Tuc]

Time will tell I guess!

[Tuc]

updated: Sun Oct. 30 2011 10:28:47

 CTVNews.ca Staff
 
Scrapping the long-gun registry and all of its records could turn a $2-billion waste into a "$2-billion bonfire," a New Democratic Party MP from Quebec says.

Appearing on CTV's Question Period, Gatineau MP Francoise Boivin maintained the government should let the provinces take over the gun registry data.

"We're afraid on the NDP side that the $2-billion boondoggle from the Liberals could become the $2-billion bonfire of the Conservatives," she said.

But Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety, said the federal government will not hand over to the provinces any of the data, despite the recent urging of Quebec Premier Jean Charest that they do so.

"Our plan is to ban the long-gun registry," she said. "And the long-gun registry isn't just an idea about registering long guns in the future, the long-gun registry is the data."

Hoeppner said destroying the registry's database is essential because "we believe much of the data is flawed and much of the information is incorrect."

She also added that it is not necessary for the government to keep information regarding law-abiding Canadians, in this case the long-gun owners.

When asked if the NDP would restore the long-gun registry if it ever formed a government, Boivin declined to be specific.

"We'll see in four years what we do," she said. "But we definitely want to keep the data."
...

These bleeding heart Liberals and NDP's never give up do they.

[Paul]

There are a lot of politicians that would love to make that data their agenda. The only right thing to do is delete everything completely. I am sure they will find jobs for all the gestapo bureaucrats that are currently employed at the registry center.

Letting the provinces retain the data would be a huge mistake. That would lead to certain provinces enforcing it and other provinces not enforcing it, creating a divide. Although some provinces deserve to keep it based on the way they vote, like Quebec.

[Sonny]

Rex Murphy had a show on CBC today about the LGR..(I was at work so I was a captive audiance..lol) anyhoo I was pleasantly surprised at how many callers said that it was about time that the LGR was done away with..There were a couple of misinformed souls who thaught it should be kept but they didn't have any valid reason to keep it.
Well it was CBC after all..

[Paul]

There were a couple of misinformed souls who thaught it should be kept but they didn't have any valid reason to keep it.

You mean "because it's preventing crime" wasn't mentioned? Or "it protects the police"?