Canadian Politician Introduces Bill to Scrap Long-Gun Registry
The Canadian Firearms Registry is a government-run registry of all legally-owned guns in Canada. Compulsory gun registration was written into the Firearms Act (Bill 68) in 1995, which also provided for the establishment of a centralized database. It requires every firearm in Canada to be registered or rendered in an unusable state. This was an effort to reduce crime by making every gun traceable. Any person wishing to obtain a firearm must first acquire a Possession and Acquisition Licence or PAL.
$2 Billion Tab for Failed Gun Registry
The Registry was supposed to cost Canadian taxpayers approximately $119 million dollars. Instead, documents obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation show the program has cost upward of $2 BILLION dollars. At the same time there is little evidence that the Registry has had any notable effect on crime.
There has been intense opposition to the Firearms Registry since its beginnings, and now the drive to eliminate the Registry has gained force. In the NationalPost.com website, Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) Garry Breitkreuz has called for the abolition of the long-gun Registry. MP Breitkreuz has introduced new legislation, Bill C-301, that would dismantle the long-gun provisions of the Registry.
Breitkreuz argues: “The Gun Registry has not saved one life in Canada, and it has been a financial sinkhole, estimated to have cost some $2 Billion. Imagine how many more police we could have on the streets if we had invested more wisely…. We need to dismantle the wasteful, futile registry and abandon the notion that this political pacifier is working.
Bill C-301 will scrap the long-gun Registry, improve efficiency and reduce costs without having any negative impact on public safety. The bill introduces a number of amendments to streamline the Firearms Act…. The Auditor-General has already blown the whistle on the gun registry. My bill proposes to ask for regular independent cost-benefit analyses on all aspects of the firearms program every five years.
Many Canadians have come to realize that the long-gun Registry is merely a bureaucratic exercise designed to lay a piece of paper beside every gun in the country. That piece of paper has no effect on the criminal and does nothing to prevent the misuse of a firearm.”
MP Breitkreuz’ efforts have been applauded by Canadian citizens writing to the National Post:
“[Canada’s Gun Registry] was a ‘paper’ ideological exercise which has proven worse than useless.” — Robins
“The Firearms Act as it exists is an incredible drain on much needed financial resources while giving very little of value in return. Streamlining the redundant, byzantine and costly bureaucracy is a worthy goal”. — Chuckbuster
“The gun registry was SUPPOSED to ‘make our streets safer’. It is beyond me how a slip of paper sent to law abiding persons was ever going to accomplish this task. The registry was always about confiscation of firearms. Despite political promises at the time, that it was ONLY for safety, it has shown itself time and time again, to be a tool of confiscation of legally-owned property. Time for it to go.” — Anopheses
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Gary Breitkreuz has been working long and hard for Canadian firearm owners. While this is a great first step, I doubt it will pass. Private Member Bills are extremely difficult to pass. We hold up hope though.
Cheers from up North.
Dear British politicians,
Please take note of the wisdom and responsible attitude of your Canadian colleagues. Wise enough to realise that firearms licensing does not interest the criminal and does nothing to reduce crime.
Responsible enough to stand up and be counted, not to pander to the “let’s ban guns” lobby, nor to authorise an inefficent drain on taxpayers’ money.
The Gun Registry has as much to with controlling firearms and firearms crimes as a wedding gift registry has to do with controlling marriage. It was imposed to apply a thin political facade over an issue that has nothing to do with legal firearms ownership.
Canada is still strongly threatened by “gun ban” factions that feel the panacea to violent crime is to ban certain – if not all – currently legal firearms. Just as the banning of Heroin, Cocaine, Crytal meth and murder has been completely ineffective, so will firearms prohibitions. The difference is that legitimate firearms ownership is a healthy part of our history, and organized shooting sports are amongst the oldest organized sports in Canada.
Britain’s olympic pistol team must practice in another country as the ownership of pistols is banned in the UK. We must stand up and prevent this level of utterly obtuse fear mongering from further eroding our healthy, responsible and vibrant shooting sports.
hi there everyone
As a avid hunter and marksmen, I think that the gun ban here in canada is a total barrel of hog wash the goverment really should not try and take take away are right to hunt and to target shoot its been a traditon in my family for centuries and in honesty the goverment is just wasting our taxpayers dollars by trying to do something that won’t stop street crime at all heck all the guns that are used in street crimes are obtained illegally and most of them are guns that came up from the united states that were smuggled up in transport trucks and boats that really should’nt be here in the first place heck an uzi just is useless for target shooting or hunting so are most of the other guns like it. The guns that are used in street crimes are not are long guns or shotguns they are guns they are guns bought from illegal sources as for are handguns up hear in canada i see a valid use for them as a target shooting gun but that’s it and as for handgun use crime up here in canada those guns too are the ones that dont come from legimate good hard working legimate owners they come from illegal sources smuggled into this country like most illegal drugs.
As for the lift on the long gun registry that gary breitkreuz is trying to implicate i prey to god that it actually goes threw and as for this hand gun ban in canada i dont feel it’s right i had to personally go through all the red tape to get my handguns to target shoot and i purely use them for just that and for me to be able to get them i had to take another course ( the course to obtain a restricted licence) then i had to go through all the paper work again like i did to obtain my P.A.L and all im authorized to do with my handguns are take them to the range from my home and back and for me to be able to do that i had to get authorization to transport if i want to take it to a gunsmith i have to once again get authorization to transport from my home to the gunsmith and back. So handgun gun control is pretty tight up here and as i said its not the law abiding citizen thats causing the problems and I and all the 60,000 plus hunters and marksmen and markswomen in this country think the goverment should’nt take away are rights.
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I applaud this move and hope it has the RIGHT outcome. I would like to follow this, how would I do that? Also as part of this whole registration thing I’m still trying to get my head around the fact that this only affects non-aboriginal people. How does that work? I feel I’m being [unfairly] treated by the government that impliments these laws.
Prowd to be Canadian??????????????? What does thios meen? Is our government socialism or a dictatorship? What a waste of taxpayers dollars. Every polatition that Intrduced and insisted or voted for this rediculouse bill should give up thier large pentions to pay back the tax payers. When are the tax payers going to hold the polatitions accountable??? NEVER. The whole system is run and operated by by lawyers and profesionals with degrees from our universities and this is how they run our country. Why are they allowed to act in this way and have this kind of mind set. They waste our dollars and get away with it. We turn around and retire them with lage pentions and comfort for the rest of thier lives. Somthing wrong with this picture. As far as the gun registry the federal government should not be involved. I can see an outline for hand gun registry but the Feds should leave it up to each city to impiment what they see needed for thier city or comunity. One set of laws for the whole country does not work, nor can they police it so why be involved??? When a person wants to go to his uncles ranch and spend the afternoon shooting gophers with his uncle, What buisness is this of the federal government or any other law enforcment arena. What freedoms are we alowing to be taken away as tax payers??? Too Many!
Our scociaty will always have killings and missconduct amung humans. Laws
will not stop this. I Believe the government should spend more time protecting the right of ones defence to live. We as Canadians need rights of ownership and protection of ones self and ones property. We now do not have this. The Laws we have are what Judges and Lawyers make of them. Alot of the lawyers become politions so you figure it out on how things are in Canada. We need politions that push for bills of economics and accountability in the system not waste and personal gain.
It is my experiance in canada that ownership does not exist in the law nor does the finacial gain of ones efforts belong too you. If the law wants what you have or think you have you will loose all.
Frustrated Canadian
Louis Ravoy Jr.
two words:
“sawed off”
Next up to repeal is the hand gun ban. All of the arguments for repealing the long-gun registry are equally applicable to the hand gun ban. There is no evidence that we are any safer with this ban in place. It’s a complete waste of money that could be put to better use.