Tories Introduce Changes To Gun Registry
Posted June 19, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It won’t be voted on until the fall and even then there’s no guarantee it’ll pass, but that’s not stopping the federal Conservatives from moving forward with their plan to scrap the long-gun registry.
Stephen Harper’s Tories unveiled the long awaited legislation to formally abolish that portion of the gun registry Monday.
Sources say there’s a political reason for introducing the bill now, and it has nothing to do with giving MPs the summer to look it over fully. In rural ridings where many despise the registry, backbench Tories likely want to be able to tell their constituents that the process has begun to get rid of it.
“It’s purely symbolic,” said one Conservative source.
Gun collectors, farmers and hunters have all decried the registry since the Liberals first it introduced during their time in office.
“It can’t be enforced,” complains long gun owner Kingsley Beattie, who admits he’s registered all but one of his weapons. “It’s madness and a terrible waste of resources.”
Another insider suggested that bringing up the topic before the House of Commons breaks for the summer could help convince voters that the government is doing all it can on the matter in case of an unexpected election call.
“There is some urgency in a minority government to keep your promises without waiting until the end (of the mandate),” the source said.
“It makes life a little easier for MPs over the summer.”
The Tories promised during the last election to get rid of the program, brought in by the former Liberal government. It was supposed to cost $2 million a year when introduced but ended up ballooning into more than $1 billion over its first decade.
The government does plan to keep the handgun registry in place as well as current bans on automatic and assault weapons.
The half measure changes have advocates like Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control fuming.
“This is a cynical move to appease the gun lobby,” she claims. “It will be easier now for gang members, for criminals or terrorists and for abusive husbands to get access to guns.”
Cukier and her supporters contend gun control laws save lives. Police organizations use the registry 6,500 times a day.
But with a minority government, getting the bill passed isn’t a sure shot. All the other parties support the registry, making its passage a difficult prospect.
