Harper needs a water pistol
Prime Minister Stephen Harper must have had parents who deprived him of toy guns during his childhood. How else can we explain his obsession with the federal gun registry?
As a dyed-in-the-wool urbanite, I admit that I don't understand some people's fascination with guns. Perhaps if I had grown up in rural Canada or gone hunting in my younger days, I might be more comfortable around guns.
But let's accept the argument of gun advocates that guns are nice and don't kill people. Cars don't kill people either; people do. So, if we have no problem licensing drivers who hurl themselves at incredible speeds along our highways and registering their vehicles, why would private citizens who like hunting Bambi or getting off a round at their local firing range not be required to also get a license and register their firearms with the government?
If we accept that governments have a right to require their citizens to register everything from cars to their pet cat or dog with a government agency (and pay for it), why the fuss over the federal gun registry, which aims to account for gun owners and their firearms?
I get that the registry has been a "boondoggle" (Harper's favourite word for the gun registry). Wasting $100 million per year over 10 years to register two million gun owners and several million firearms is criminal. But that money is now gone. It can't be recouped. And, yes, I'm sure the federal government might save some money by scrapping the registry. But doesn't society have a right to know who owns guns in this country?
Surely owning a firearm—like a car or a cat—is a privilege, not a right.
If you ask police organizations, they will tell you they need a registry because it is a tool for them to do routine checks and also for investigative purposes. According to the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, police services across Canada use the registry more than 6,500 times daily.
Makes no sense
For law enforcement already dealing with rising gun crimes across Canada, scrapping the registry makes no sense. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has warned that scrapping the long-gun registry would allow the transport of fully automatic and semi-automatic assault weapons to civilian shooting ranges and would relax current restrictions on handguns, semi-automatic assault and tactical weapons.
Victims' rights groups also point out that six separate inquests in Canada have recommended licensing and registering guns. Since the registry's establishment was established, suicides among young people and murders of women involving guns have plummeted, as have homicides with rifles and shotguns. Thirty-two Canadians were murdered with long-guns in 2007, down from 107 in 1991. Coincidence?
But, opponents of the registry say it is illegal handguns that are used in most crimes involving firearms, and the registry does nothing to address these weapons. What these advocates don't say is that these murder weapons are largely smuggled handguns—mostly American guns exchanged for Canadian illegal drugs—that are not being registered. And it is thefts of legal handguns and the illegal sales of such weapons which fuel much of the handgun violence in urban Canadian cities.
I don't expect gun lovers to accept these arguments. For them, guns are holy relics. But what should worry Canadians is 1) the influence of the pro-gun lobby on our federal government and 2) the sneaky way the government is trying to scrap the gun registry.
The influence of the National Rifle Association in the U.S. is well documented. But many Canadians would be shocked to know how much clout the gun lobby holds in Canada with this Conservative government. Harper himself went to a meeting of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Fishers—just one of many pro-gun groups out there—and, with near religious zeal, urged the lobby group to pressure politicians and public alike to get rid of the registry.
More disturbing is Harper's move to backdoor legislation through the Canadian Senate to scrap the registry. Having first tried and failed to convince enough Liberal MPs to side with the Conservatives on a Private Members Bill which would have eliminated the registration of rifles and shotguns (including semi-automatic rifles), Harper is now attempting to push a Bill through the Senate.
Harper had better re-think his fascination with firearms that kill not just Bambi, but people. Either keep an eye on gun owners like we do with motorists and pet owners or take away their toys. And somebody send the prime minister a nice water gun to help him address his need to play with guns.
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