If repealed...hopefully it gains momentum in the U.S.

http://www.lakelandtimes.com/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=11192

Canada set   to repeal registration of hunting rifles, shotguns
Gun rights advocates in   U.S. hope repeal will spur efforts here

Richard Moore Investigative Report

After nearly 20 years,   Canada appears poised to end one of its boldest experiments in gun   control - the required registration of long guns, or shotguns and   hunting rifles.

Last November, a bill to abolish the Long-Gun   Registry, enacted in 1995 and gradually phased in through 2003, passed a   second reading in the Canadian House of Commons by a tally of 164 to   137. It faces a third and final reading in that chamber later this year;   prospects are good for passage in the Canadian Senate.

The bill   would delete from federal law the obligation to register so-called   nonrestricted firearms, though licensing requirements for long-gun   owners to buy or possess firearms and to buy ammunition would remain in   place.

The legislation would also require all registration   information collected to date to be destroyed.

About 7 million   long guns have been registered, but as many as 8 million guns, according   to various estimates, have not been in what many say is outright   defiance. The Conservative government has also extended to May 16, 2011,   an existing amnesty for rifle and shotgun owners facing charges for   failing to register their firearms.

Opponents cite runaway costs,   gun rights, and lack of effectiveness in pushing the repeal measure.   The author of the legislation, MP Candice Hoeppner, says the   registration requirement pays lip service to reducing crime without   actually doing so.

"Canadian taxpayers have shelled out $2   billion and counting to hassle hunters, farmers and sport shooters with   registration requirements, while receiving nothing in return in crime   reduction or prevention," Hoeppner told a recent gathering of the   Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH).

In an article   written for London Free Press, Hoeppner called the registry a "massive"   policy failure.

"It makes no sense to force law-abiding   individuals with firearms licenses to register their long-guns," she   wrote. "It makes no sense to believe the registry will prevent a gun   crime from taking place."

And, Hoeppner stated, the $2 billion   could have been better spent.

"This money could have gone toward   front-line police officers, or for programs to help our at-risk kids,"   she wrote. " . . . In order to make our communities truly safer we need   to retool our criminal justice system and focus on the real problems. We   need to strengthen the Criminal Code with tough anticrime and anti-gang   measures and make sure criminals serve the time they deserve."

Hoeppner   has also taken on those who say repeal is a measure aimed against   women, the principal victims of domestic violence. In fact, she says,   Liberals have called her a "showpiece" and "little foot solder" and have   on multiple occasions told her to sit down and shut up.

"They   are telling women who are part of families that farm, hunt or sport   shoot to also sit down and be quiet," she wrote. "They are telling women   if they don't think as the Liberals do on these issues, they should be   silent."

Support for the registry

While the odds favor   repeal, opponents still have a variety of parliamentary tactics they can   use to stall the bill, while outside Parliament a sizable coalition   also supports keeping the registry in place.

Advocates say   repealing the registry will deprive front line police, suicide   prevention and domestic violence prevention workers of an essential   tool.

"Opponents of gun control claim rifles and shotguns are   not a problem in Canada," said Denis Côté, president of the Quebec   municipal police federation. "They are wrong. Rifles and shotguns make   up a substantial proportion of the guns recovered in crime in this   country. They are the guns most often used to kill police officers, in   domestic violence situations and in suicides, particularly those   involving youths."

In addition, supporters say police use the gun   registry approximately 11,000 times a day, and so-called long guns are   especially a problem in suicides.

Wendy Cukier, president of the   Coalition for Gun Control, said an American effort was behind the push   to repeal the law.

"There is a well-funded, U.S. inspired   campaign to misrepresent the facts," Cukier said. "Millions have been   spent on targeted campaigns and strategies. Reports were withheld until   after the registry vote. The opponents continue to invoke the costs of   the registry, but the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have stated   clearly that dismantling the registration of rifles and shotguns will at   most save $3 million a year, less than the cost of a complex murder   investigation."

Organizations supporting the law include the   Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Police   Association, the Canadian Association of Police Boards, the Canadian   Association of Emergency Physicians, the YWCA Canada, the Canadian   Federation of University Women, the Canadian Association for Adolescent   Health, le Barreau du Québec, la Fédération des femmes du Québec, the   G-13 consortium of 13 national women's groups.

Arguments against

An   equally vocal and perhaps politically stronger coalition has emerged   against the registry, particularly the Ontario Federation of Anglers   & Hunters and a wide array of sport shooters groups.

What's   more, there are multiple grassroots groups, including the aptly named   Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association, which advocates   peaceful, nonviolent but active civil disobedience.

Among other   things, opponents allege, assertions that police search the registry   11,000 times a day is bogus because such things as routine traffic stops   trigger automatic queries. Others have questioned the security of the   system, which they say has been hacked, allowing unauthorized users to   gain the personal information of gun owners, including their names and   addresses.

Even worse than the security issue are the costs   associated with the registry. An auditor general's report in 2002 found   significant cost overruns over original government estimates.

In   1995, according to the audit, the government told Parliament the   long-gun registry would involve a net cost of $2 million, with   registration fees covering everything else. By May 2000, the government   admitted, the costs had ballooned to at least $327 million.

By   March 2005, the audit continued, the net cost was $946 million and, by   the summer of 2006, costs had exceeded $1 billion. Parliament was   misinformed about many of those costs, the auditor general concluded.

The   price tag now stands at $2 billion.

What's more, according to   the Public Safety Canada department, neither the costs incurred by   provincial and territorial agencies in enforcing the legislation nor the   costs carried by firearms owners and businesses to comply with the   legislation have been calculated, and the agency cites two Library of   Parliament studies estimating enforcement and compliance costs to run   into hundreds of millions of dollars.

Vic Toews, now the   nation's Minister of Public Safety and a former member of Parliament,   has long supported repeal because of the costs associated with a law he   says does not work.

"While the majority of Canadians support   cost-effective gun-control programs, they also agree that the 2 billion   in taxpayer dollars spent since 1995 on the mismanaged Liberal gun   registry has not kept guns out of the hands of criminals," he said in   2006.

At the same time the government was throwing away that   money, he said, other law enforcement services continued to suffer from   funding cutbacks and staffing shortages, particularly along the borders.

Impact   on crime

But what about the impact on crime? According to the   current government, it has not reduced the crime rate.

There are   nearly 7 million registered long guns in Canada, the Canadian Centre for   Justice Statistics reports. Yet, the public safety department adds, of   2,441 homicides recorded in Canada since mandatory long-gun registration   was introduced in 2003, fewer than 2 percent (47) were committed with   rifles and shotguns known to have been registered.

In addition,   the department cites the Vancouver Police Strategic Plan of 2004-08,   which pegs illegal smuggling by organized crime as the principal source   of firearms.

"Indeed, the Vancouver police report that 97   percent of firearms seized in 2003 were illegal guns smuggled in from   the United States, usually by organized crime," the public safety   department states.

The bottom line is, criminals don't register   firearms, says OFAH executive director Mike Reader.

"Instead of   creating a paper chase for the law-abiding, the system needs to be   revamped to focus on law breakers who use illegal firearms, many of them   smuggled into Canada from the U.S., to commit crimes in our   communities," Reader said.

Of course, Second Amendment advocates   are closely watching the Canadian fight, hoping a repeal of the registry   in Canada will blunt fledgling gun registration movements not only in   the United States but in the United Nations.

"If all goes well in   the Canadian parliament, Dominion gun owners will be freed from 14   years of living under the crushing weight of a bureaucratic,   scandal-ridden, wasteful, invasive, $2 billion, error-ridden and   inarguably worthless long gun registry," NRA executive vice-president   Wayne LaPierre wrote in the March issue of American Hunter. "The   registry has been proven a fraud in regard to promised minimal costs and   significant impact on violent crime."

LaPierre quoted Dave   Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute in Colorado, as   saying, "Repeal of the Canadian registry would be of tremendous global   significance. Repeal would also shatter the claim by the Canadian gun   prohibition lobby that gun control in Canada is an irreversible   ratchet."

That's huge on the world stage, LaPierre wrote, "and   made all the more significant as a backdrop in the pending debate on the   United Nations' global gun ban."

I realize there are other states that don't require registration, but the idea seems so foreign to me.

I realize there are other states that don't require registration, but the idea seems so foreign to me.

It's wonderful isn't it?  I wonder how much the gun registry in Hawaii costs us annually. 

Quote from: 2aHawaii on April 08, 2010, 11:00:11 AM

I realize there are other states that don't require registration, but the idea seems so foreign to me.

It's wonderful isn't it?  I wonder how much the gun registry in Hawaii costs us annually. 

Not only does it cost us, but wastes (I'm told) about 50,000 man hours a year to run. And even worse, to date there has not been a single case solved by using the data obtained by the registration process.

It is, IMHO, the epitomy of a useless, but costly government process....

Not only does it cost us, but wastes (I'm told) about 50,000 man hours a year to run. And even worse, to date there has not been a single case solved by using the data obtained by the registration process.

It is, IMHO, the epitomy of a useless, but costly government process....

I have to agree 100%.