New Efforts to Eliminate Long-Gun Registry in Canada

Canada’s much-criticized long-gun Registry is under attack. Media editorials have called the registry a “$2 Billion Waste” (Calgary Sun) and “an insult to law-abiding citizens” (Kelowna Capital News). It looks like there is a very good chance that Canada’s Parliament will dismantle the costly and unpopular Registry this year.

Members of the majority Conservative party, lead by Primer Minister Stephen Harper, are moving forward with efforts to repeal the Registry. When Harper’s party came into power in 2006, its leaders pledged to get rid of the controversial registry. Legislation was introduced last year to eliminate the Registry, but that effort wasn’t successful. However, according to the BBC News website, “While a repeal failed last year, the Conservative’s new majority has a much greater chance of success.”

If the Conservatives succeed in dismantling the registry, the tens of thousands of Registry records would be deep-sixed. That idea is popular with critics of the Registry: “the Harper government’s further directive to destroy all the data is a mammoth victory of the people over Big Brother” (Calgary Sun).

A recent editorial in the Kewlona Capital News website, states: “The looming end of the federal long gun registry is a good omen for taxpayers. It shows that the [Canadian] federal government is actually willing to get rid of programs that serve no purpose, and waste tax dollars unnecessarily.”

With Canada Poised to Eliminate Registry, California Mandates Long-Gun Registration
It’s ironic that while Canadians move to dismantle their costly and ineffective Registry, California’s Governor Jerry Brown recently signed AB 809, a bill requiring registration of rifles and shotguns, starting in 2014. Apparently California has not learned from Canada’s “$2 Billion Mistake”.