When the Long-Gun Registry (or LGR for the purpose of this post) was brought into effect by Parliament in 1995, the goal was to license all gun owners and register all firearms.
But lately there’s been some beef in Ottawa regarding the LGR. What’s the issue?
Well Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner is all for giving the long-gun registry the boot.
Why the tough love for our gun registry? Hoeppner, along with many Canadians, feel as though the program is not a valuable way to be spending taxpayer cheddar.
The LGR has cost roughly $2-billion dollars.
There’s no denying that’s a lot of moo-lah, but seeing as it’s going to a crime prevention program we should be happy. Right?
Well yes.
And no.
Crime prevention is key. (Obviously.)
But chances are, those who are going out of their way to register their firearms aren’t hardcore criminals. While thugs, gang members and other such felons most likely aren’t registering their smuggled weapons with the LGR.
So what’s the point?
Why spend $2-billion dollars tracking hunters and farmers?
No offense hunters and farmers, but I don’t care what kind of rifle you have or what kind of duck you shoot with it. And I certainly wouldn’t spend $2-billy on it.
That’s not to say there would be no gun control in Canada without the long-gun registry. There still exist gun licensing for hunters, and long-gun users to prevent criminals from accessing them and to help promote firearm education.
So if it’s that straightforward why are we debating whether or not to keep the long-gun registry? Let’s just scrap it and move on!
Well like most stories, this one has 2 sides.
Some folks like the LGR, and would like to see it keep on keeping on.
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is a fan of the gun registry, saying it is an ‘invaluable’ tool and that it is utilized up to 11,000 times a day.
Blair is not alone. Police chiefs across Canada are praising the program.
In fact, according to a lovely article on NationalPost.com, in criminal cases 40% of guns traced back to an owner in 2009 were registered.
(Please note the painful flaws in the above statement – Firstly, sure 40% of the guns were registered, but it does not say the gun registry was used to trace that owner. Was it even the registrar of the firearm that used it? Who knows? All it says is that 40% were registered. Secondly, what about the other 60%? They were traced back to an owner without having been registered. So really, how invaluable is it?
Still, the RCMP also commends the registry.
Director General of the Canadian Firearms Program, Chief Superintendent Marty Cheliak, says "The program does serve a very real purpose and contributes to police officer safety and the safety of all Canadians."
However, lower ranked police officers, those on the streets day-to-day, have a different opinion.
Edmonton Constable Randy Kuntz posted an online survey on a police oriented website – Blue Line Magazine. He asked how officers felt about the long-gun registry and out of the 2,631 replies received, 92% of the respondents felt the registry was a ‘useless crime fighting tool’.
The Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters doesn’t love the long-gun registry either. In fact, upon researching I stumbled upon a website for the OFAH petitioning against the LGR. It had 44,499 online signatures.
(I didn’t like that number. So I made it an even 44,500)
Some facts I found interesting:
- There are nearly 7 million registered long-guns in Canada. Yet of 2,441 homicides recorded in Canada since mandatory long-gun registration was introduced in 2003, fewer than 2 percent (47) were committed with rifles and shotguns known to have been registered. (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics).
- Illegal smuggling by organized crime is by far the principal source of firearms on our streets. Indeed, the Vancouver police report that 97 percent of firearms seized in 2003 were illegal guns smuggled in from the United States, usually by organized crime (Vancouver Police, Strategic Plan 2004-08).
So, if you were a criminal, which of course you aren’t, but just pretend, and you wanted to do something against the law, would you, upon receiving your hot new illegal weapons, turn to your criminal buddies and say “Hey guys, let’s go get these guns registered!”? No.
And of course that’s just a silly example, but the idea of spending $2 billion to track legal-owned firearms is silly too.
Money is not limitless people! (Trust me, I’m a uni student. I do broke like it’s the latest fashion.) So let’s make sure it’s put to good use.
Think social programs, economic stimulation, environmental work, health care improvements… I don’t know… those all sound legit.
$2 billion can go a long way.
