Gary Mauser: Why the long-gun registry doesn’t work — and never did

National Post ^ | Dec 11, 2012 | Gary Mauser

[neverdem]

In March, Stephen Harper’s government reversed decades of increasing restrictions on civilian firearms, scrapping the controversial long-gun registry on grounds that it was wasteful and ineffective. Gun laws, the prime minister correctly said, should focus on criminals rather than law-abiding citizens such as farmers and hunters.

Some claim that this Conservative policy flies in the face of a mountain of evidence, and even represents an assault against reason. Canadian voters seem divided on this issue, as well as some basic related questions: Are firearms in the hands of ordinary citizens a serious threat to public safety? Is registration an effective approach to controlling misuse? How useful was the long-gun registry to police? This article will answer some of those questions.

Gun laws generally tend to be passed during periods of fear or instability, and only occasionally reversed afterwards. In 1913, for instance, a fear of immigrants prompted Ottawa’s first serious handgun legislation, requiring civilians to obtain a police-issued permit to acquire or carry handguns. Non-British immigrants found it difficult to get a permit.

Fearing labour unrest as well as American rum-runners, Ottawa mandated handgun registration in 1934. In 1941, concerned about possible Japanese sabotage, the government prohibited all “Orientals” (including Chinese) from owning firearms. (After the war, these restrictions were rescinded.) Terrorism in Quebec swayed opinion in the 1960s and ’70s, spurring Ottawa to limit handgun permits for “protection” to a handful of people, such as retired police and prospectors. In 1977, a Firearms Acquisition Certificate (FAC) was required to obtain ordinary rifles and shotguns. (The police decided to refuse an FAC to anyone who indicated a desire for self- protection. This is shocking given that in a typical year, tens of thousands of Canadians use firearms to protect themselves or their families, mostly from wildlife.)

The 1989 École Polytechnique...

[neverdem]

Thank you very much, Professor Gary Mauser!

A better question is why we are plagued by such idiotic arguments from the left? Better yet, why do moderates, centrists and independents predictably fall for such moronic arguments like clockwork?

[molson209]

long-gun registry was just another Liberal way spend a Billion + dollars and of course Liberals love to CONTROL people

[SkyDancer]

[US Navy Vet]

It’s going to take Canada the better part of 50 years to recover from this ASSHOLE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau AND This one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Chr%C3%A9tien Just like it’s going to take the better part of a century for the “United” “States” to recover(if we EVER will) from THESE ASSHOLES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson AND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt AND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson AND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter AND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush AND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton AND last but NOT least:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

[Don W]

Canada ping

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

A better question is why we are plagued by such idiotic arguments from the left? Better yet, why do moderates, centrists and independents predictably fall for such moronic arguments like clockwork?

Answer: Gun control is not about guns. It's about control.

[Dr. Sivana]

You may as well add Richard Nixon, with his EPA, Price Controls, Justice Blackmun, Move off of gold, Kissinger, etc. . . . even if he was better than his opponents.

[Sacajaweau]

Registry is for the good guys. You really think the scum are registering their cache??

[marktwain]

All the culprits that are mentioned were advancing the “progressive agenda”. None were dedicated to follow their oath of office.

All were enabled by the “progressive” media. It has been pushed by the “takeover” of institutions by the “progressives” for a hundred years, by falsehood, by lying to the people, by false education.

[Squawk 8888]

To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.

Canada Ping!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

“The 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal ....”

This tragic incident has since been held out as proof of men’s war against women. What is almost never mentioned — the perpetrator was a Muslim. That probably has a lot to do with his regressive attitude toward women taking engineering. (He was so upset that he couldn’t get into the engineering school, that he decided to kill as many female engineering students as he could.)

[TurboZamboni]

I suspect those who think the 2nd Amendment is about skeet and shooting deer will turn theirs in when this comes here.