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Long gun registry may be on life support
Gene Plihal
Special to the Express
Peace River MP Chris Warkentin is calling for the abolition of registration of long guns.
Bill C-391 passed its second reading and now goes to committee for debate and then will return to the House of Commons for third and final vote.
“For too long the long gun registry has unfairly discriminated against law-abiding hunters and farmers,” Warkentin stated.
His office further elaborated that, “there have been numerous attempts to scrap this waste of money, all of which have been hijacked by opposition parties.”
“It is about time the opposition members started listening to Canadians and respecting their wishes,” he further added.
In 1995, the Liberals promised the gun registry would only cost $2 million. Over the years, however; the costs spiralled out of control 1,000 times over and cost tax payers upwards of $2 billion.
If the bill becomes law, long guns will no longer need to be registered. Handguns and restricted firearms will still be registered.
It is still not clear whether lock and key requirements will be in place for long guns if this bill is passed.
Debates continue to rage over whether the long gun registration did any good in deterring crime. Knife and alternative weapons offenses seem to suggest that criminals either ignore registering guns anyway or choose these “other” weapons to commit their crimes.
Some evidence exists that some harm was done to international tourism to Canada as a result of the registration requirement.
The lucrative outfitting business which depends on American clientele suffered some loss of clientele who refused to spend money in a country where gun registration was required of law-abiding citizens of the U.S. entering Canada for the purpose of hunting.
A $25 fee and registration papers were and continue to be required of any American attempting to bring a firearm into Canada.
One irate hunter from New Jersey took the liberty to write the Prime Minister of Canada, and in his letter he voiced an opinion similar to many hunters in the United States.
“I enjoy Canada very much and respect the country but I will not spend on red cent in a country that penalizes honest hunters with this requirement,” he wrote in his letter to the Prime Minister. “I will not come back until this requirement is repealed.”
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