Put the gun registry out of its misery(Canada)

nationalpost.com ^ | 21 July, 2011 | NA

[marktwain]

The federal Conservatives have confirmed that the contentious long-gun registry will be scrapped this fall. Speaking with Postmedia News, Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner said: "Everyone knows it's been part of our party's policy for many years, and the Prime Minister committed to Canadians during the election we would scrap the longgun registry.. Canadians can expect to see [the legislation] fairly early on in the fall."

We support this move. The long-gun registry, which has been with us for a decade, should never have been created. There was no convincing explanation as to how a database of serial numbers and street addresses was supposed to improve public safety. Gun crime is a real problem. But the criminals who kill people with guns generally are using illegal handguns smuggled in from the United States - not legally registered rifles and shotguns.

Once established, the registry not only proved to be expensive and errorprone, it drove a wedge between police and lawful Canadian firearms owners, who became justifiably frustrated at being deemed public safety risks simply because they owned a firearm. The Liberals' hysterical insistence that harassing duck hunters and sport shooters was somehow necessary to pay proper homage to the victims of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre (which wouldn't have been prevented with a registry anyway) has been particularly grating. Scrapping the registry will remove such irritants, and is worth doing for that reason alone.

[marktwain]

Canada should destroy all the information in the registry. Otherwise it will always be a temptation to reinstate it.

[Eska]

We live on the border, have a few friends in Canada. They all still have their pistols & mini-14’s; but don’t show them off. They all have a drivers license to buy guns, no waiting period or anything. They have been telling me for the last year that the USA will have more gun control than Canada when it’s all said and done. They maybe right.