Last month, the Conservative government fired an opening salvo regarding the long-gun registry, and is preparing a second volley later this month when legislation that would scrap the program will be put to a vote in Parliament.
Controversy is mounting over the Tory private-member’s bill, as proponents and opponents of the long-gun registry have been weighing in with widely varying facts, figures and opinions.
Long viewed by many in the West as an unnecessary Liberal money pit that only serves as a metaphor for Eastern Canada’s lack of understanding of the West, the long-gun registry has been plagued by huge cost overruns and bureaucratic mismanagement in the past. But many groups across the country, from law-enforcement agencies, including the RCMP, to the health care industry, have argued firearms regulation makes society safer.
Medicine Hat MP LaVar Payne supports the idea of eliminating the registry for long guns, and added the majority of Canadians also support elimination.
“From a poll that I saw recently, I think it was something like 72 per cent of Canadians have said they think it’s a waste of money, and support scrapping it. So I would say the majority. Certainly, there are people who don’t support that concept.”
The RCMP’s recent internal evaluation of the registry examined the overall firearms licensing, registration and training program administered by the RCMP, and cited political messages interfering with compliance and difficulty in getting their message to the public.
That included requiring government authorization on communications messages, as well as general lack of understanding about what the registry represents.
The RCMP evaluation also concluded there is a misperception amongst Canadians regarding firearms fatalities as a product of crime and criminal organizations, when in reality most fatalities occur from firearm-related suicides and long-gun related homicides.
The report also indicated the federal gun registry is a valuable component of law enforcement that prepares officers for potentially-violent situations, helps them trace recovered weapons and assists in seizure of weapons from the mentally unstable.
Payne does not accept the RCMP’s internal evaluation of the registry represents the views of all members currently serving with the force or in other law enforcement capacities.
“First of all, the RCMP report in itself didn’t just deal with the long-gun registry. But the front-line officers don’t believe that it’s of any value, and they don’t believe that it’s safe for their officers to rely on that system. They talk about the 11,000 hits that they get on the system, but they do that automatically. Secondly, in my view, if a police officer is relying on that to tell them whether there’s a gun in a residence or not, he’s probably not using his head very well. If I was a police officer, I would have that in the back of my head, always. No matter where I go, I wouldn’t be relying on some software program somewhere that’s telling me their might be a weapon, or maybe not. I think you’ve got to use your head in that kind of situation.”
Payne pointed out there are other ways of tracking weapons in Canada outside of a registry, and if the purpose is to cut down on crime, the registry is missing the mark.
“Every individual that wants to purchase a weapon legally, must have a possession-acquisition license. Those have to be renewed, I think they’re good for five years. And they have to be renewed, otherwise they fall outside the law. But of course the other point is, anybody that might be a criminal is not going to have one of those licenses. You’d have to be really dumb to be a criminal and try to register your gun. I’ve never heard of one criminal actually registering any kind of a weapon.”
The battle is currently heating up on Parliament Hill, with Conservatives arguing the long-gun registry is a Liberal pipe dream that has wasted billions while only penalizing farmers and hunters, while the Opposition has returned fire, claiming it is a favourable method of keeping the streets safer for all Canadians.
Payne also tried to dispel some of the myth surrounding the goal the Conservatives are attempting to reach, adding restricted weapons will remain part of a registry program.
“I’m in favour of scrapping it, because I think it’s a waste of money. There are records of individuals who have licenses, and the last point I think I would like to make is there has been a handgun registry since 1934, and it will continue to be in existence.”
With public and Opposition sentiment rising in anticipation of the Sept. 22 vote on the private members bill, Payne said it could be a close-run thing.
“I’m not certain where everything stands (politically). I know our party is opposed to the long-gun registry, and that bill comes up on Sept. 22, and we’ll be voting for the bill, to scrap it. There is a question, certainly, on the NDP side. I think Ignatieff has already whipped his boys to say that they’re going to vote against it. Even the (Liberal) guys that voted for it last time, even though their ridings may be northern or rural ridings, where we have First Nations people, Inuit, all those people hunting, and who don’t want it, it would appear that they are going to vote along their party line. The NDP, I’m not sure, because from what I’ve read Jack (Layton) and some of his guys are waffling as to what to do.”
Payne indicated he has received constant positive feedback from his constituents on his party’s position of intending to scrap the long-gun registry.
“Regularly, when I’m walking down the street or I’m in the mall, I get phone calls, emails. Virtually everyone is saying, ‘Scrap it. We’ve spent $2 billion on this thing already, and we don’t need to spend any more money on it.’ I’m just hoping that we can get rid of it, and I know people who support our party definitely want to get rid of it.”