angrywalkindude
Member
Ottawa may soften on guns
Voluntary registration favoured by West
Tim Naumetz
For CanWest News Service
Friday, April 30, 2004
OTTAWA -- Liberals may be considering a proposal for a voluntary firearms registration as part of the party's effort to appease western voters.
Toronto MP Sarmite Bulte said Thursday members of the gun-control lobby have told members of Parliament the idea surfaced when associate defence minister Albina Guarnieri met advocates of the gun registry during her three-month review of the Firearms Act.
Wendy Cukier, head of the Coalition For Gun Control, alerted MPs about the proposal in a letter outlining her concerns about a series of recommendations that Guarnieri has reportedly submitted to Anne McLellan, deputy prime minister and minister for public safety.
Bulte and Montreal Liberal MP Marlene Jennings vowed the proposal would meet stiff resistance in the Liberal caucus.
"All hell will break loose," said Jennings.
"The overwhelming majority in every single province want compulsory gun registration. They want police to know who has guns and what guns they have."
Jennings added the gun registry, which has cost more than $1 billion to implement over the last 10 years, is vital for police to track illegal firearms that are used in crime.
"When you have illegal guns, those guns started off as being legal, so you want to have the ability to track it back," said Jennings.
Bulte said Prime Minister Paul Martin is committed to the Firearms Act.
"I think the prime minister has made it absolutely clear that we are not scrapping the gun registry," she said.
After becoming prime minister, Martin said last December scrapping the registry was "not an option," but it was not clear whether he meant continuing with a long-gun registry or maintaining a registry only for handguns.
Guarnieri said when she launched her review that everything was on the table.
Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz called the proposal "absurd," saying it is legally impossible to have voluntary registration unless the government amends the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code to eliminate non-compliance offences.
"How can the Criminal Code of Canada be something optional, something voluntary?" said Breitkreuz, who called the idea an "election gimmick."
Thousands of gun owners are thought to be in contravention of the registration law, but most provinces have declared they will not prosecute violators. In cases where police have laid charges, it has been under the Criminal Code rather than the Firearms Act to avoid giving gun owners the opportunity to challenge the act in court.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has promised his party will repeal the gun-registration law if it forms a government and replace the registry provisions with gun-acquisition safeguards similar to those that were in place prior to the Firearms Act. Harper has also promised to divert more federal money to crime-fighting and other public safety measures.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=e25f7da5-323d-4682-a93c-e6dbdbf9a596
Voluntary registration favoured by West
Tim Naumetz
For CanWest News Service
Friday, April 30, 2004
OTTAWA -- Liberals may be considering a proposal for a voluntary firearms registration as part of the party's effort to appease western voters.
Toronto MP Sarmite Bulte said Thursday members of the gun-control lobby have told members of Parliament the idea surfaced when associate defence minister Albina Guarnieri met advocates of the gun registry during her three-month review of the Firearms Act.
Wendy Cukier, head of the Coalition For Gun Control, alerted MPs about the proposal in a letter outlining her concerns about a series of recommendations that Guarnieri has reportedly submitted to Anne McLellan, deputy prime minister and minister for public safety.
Bulte and Montreal Liberal MP Marlene Jennings vowed the proposal would meet stiff resistance in the Liberal caucus.
"All hell will break loose," said Jennings.
"The overwhelming majority in every single province want compulsory gun registration. They want police to know who has guns and what guns they have."
Jennings added the gun registry, which has cost more than $1 billion to implement over the last 10 years, is vital for police to track illegal firearms that are used in crime.
"When you have illegal guns, those guns started off as being legal, so you want to have the ability to track it back," said Jennings.
Bulte said Prime Minister Paul Martin is committed to the Firearms Act.
"I think the prime minister has made it absolutely clear that we are not scrapping the gun registry," she said.
After becoming prime minister, Martin said last December scrapping the registry was "not an option," but it was not clear whether he meant continuing with a long-gun registry or maintaining a registry only for handguns.
Guarnieri said when she launched her review that everything was on the table.
Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz called the proposal "absurd," saying it is legally impossible to have voluntary registration unless the government amends the Firearms Act and the Criminal Code to eliminate non-compliance offences.
"How can the Criminal Code of Canada be something optional, something voluntary?" said Breitkreuz, who called the idea an "election gimmick."
Thousands of gun owners are thought to be in contravention of the registration law, but most provinces have declared they will not prosecute violators. In cases where police have laid charges, it has been under the Criminal Code rather than the Firearms Act to avoid giving gun owners the opportunity to challenge the act in court.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has promised his party will repeal the gun-registration law if it forms a government and replace the registry provisions with gun-acquisition safeguards similar to those that were in place prior to the Firearms Act. Harper has also promised to divert more federal money to crime-fighting and other public safety measures.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/story.html?id=e25f7da5-323d-4682-a93c-e6dbdbf9a596