I am a bit late with this news but thought that my American readers would like to know that Canada’s gun owners finally can sigh a breath of relieve. The Firearm Registry is finally to be killed off.The Firearm Registry required that every gun owner had to register any firearm they owned or acquired. Failing to do so was a criminal offence and could lead to having the guns taken away by the police. Canadian firearm owners had to endure the firearm registry for over a decade. The registry was introduced as a cosmetic touch in response to the December 1989 massacre of 14 women at a Montreal college. True to Liberal party thinking (then still in power) and the anti gun lunatic fringe of society the guns were to blame for the bloodbath not the killer.
The idea, faulty as it was, was that ones all the guns are registered, including all personal information of the owner, illegal firearms would just simply vanish and gun violence would end. Initially this cosmetic touch should cost taxpayers no more than two million dollars. But what do you know it ended up costing the taxpayers over two billion dollars and counting.
Any sane person would understand that just registering the guns alone would not prevent crime or illegal gun traffic. Since when do criminals register firearms? Even the police had to admit that there was not a single case known where the registry could be used to trace an illegal firearm used in a crime. As I just said, criminals do not register guns. However, that simple fact did not jell with the Liberal government, they just keep pouring more money into it.
When the Conservative party took over the government, Harper promised that he would kill the useless gun registry but since he only had a minority it was not as easy as he thought but finally it has happened. The Harper government finally could convince some of the more reasonable Liberals to see commonsense and support him to bring and end to Canada’s most expensive cosmetic application in recent history. The 164-137 vote in favour of Bill C-391 is a big victory for the Tories, who have been fighting for years to end what they call a "wasteful, inefficient" registry.
There are only a few left that will not see common sense and one of them is Michael Ignatieff who joined the Liberal party as their new leader and hopes one day to run for Prime Minister. Not if Canadians can help it. Ignatieff said that his Liberal party, who brought the long-run registry in, still support the gun control registry and believes in its value to control gun crime. That anti gun fanatic, the Major of Toronto, blows the same hot pro registry air. He cries that gun violence will go up if the registry is scraped. Funny thing is that all these years when Canada had a gun registry, Toronto’s gun related crime just went up, and up, and up… Could it be that the gun registry has eaten up so much money (two billion) that there was nothing left to hire more police officers? It seems obvious to me.
Although the first and important step is taken in killing the gun registry with an overwhelming nod from the parliament, there are still several hurdles to jump until we see the final burial service of the gun registry. There are some that say that the registry might resurface in a different from but somehow I don’t think so. The majority of Canadians are outraged about the amount of money it has cost them and they got absolutely nothing in return for it. I think, any politician, other than Ignatieff (he will just return to America if he fails) and a few other diehard anti-gun-advocates, will be very foolish to keep beating away on a dead horse and upset taxpayers even more then they already are.
It’s a good day to be a legal Canadian firearm owner again without been treated like a potential criminal and liability to society. Somehow and throughout the years I always believed that in the end commonsense would prevail. As for Harper, he will get my vote anytime. Harper and his Tory party worked for many years against all obstacles to make good on the election promise to scrap the registry, and so they did. It’s nice to know that there are still a few politicians left with a backbone.
Othmar Vohringer Outdoors
Founding Member of Outdoor Bloggers Summit
Tags: Canada, Gun Registry, Gun Control , Harper, Canada Abolishes Firearm Registry
5 comments:
Well, it certainly didn't take a rocket scientist to see this coming. Like you, as soon as the registry was introduced many of us gun owners saw the smoke and mirrors that were at play in the politics. The one positive outcome is that there is not a decade-long example of how registering/confiscating law abiding citizen's guns doesn't work as crime prevention. For that I am appreciative of what you've endured.
Since the American gun control supporters looked at the "Canadian model" there is hope it has taken the wind out of their sails. Because you're right about one thing the Canadian gun registry disaster we had to endure will not be able to serve any longer as the banner for other gun control fanatics.
So yes their is always some good coming out of everything.
-ov-
This is great news, Othmar. As you said, I'm also glad to see common sense prevail.
And I just don't believe that a government run process ended up costing way more than was originally advertised. *cough* *cough* *sarcasm* sarcasm*
Hopefully this Canadian gun-owners victory will take the wind out of the sails of the politicians in America who would like to see the same thing happen here.
I'm not going to hold by breath, though.
The line, imperfect as it was, was that ones all the guns are registered, including all personalised entropy of the someone, extralegal firearms would upright only terminate and gun violence would end. Initially this cosmetics match should toll taxpayers no statesman than two 1000000 dollars. But what do you couple it ended up costing the taxpayers over two billion dollars and tally.
***************************
Jack Brosnan
Hunting forum
Hopefully the registry is on the way out but I don't believe that its a done deal yet. We still have to listen to the fat lady sing :-)
Post a Comment