The first day of the Liberal party caucus summer retreat in Nova Scotia carried a message for the long-gun registry. On Tuesday, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff openly challenged the NDP to decide where the party stands in the long-gun registry issue.

NDP leader Jack Layton has said that he would give a free vote to his MPs on the Conservative private bill where the vote is scheduled for September 22. The Liberal leader said that Layton should "make up" his mind. "The hour is getting late," Ignatieff stressed.

The RCMP have released a report on the Canadian Firearms Program that called the registry a "critical component" of the program and an important tool for law enforcement. However, not everybody thinks that the long-gun registry is an effective programme and calls it just a tool to consume taxpayers' money.

The second reading of the bill passed 164-137 in a House vote with support from 12 New Democrats and eight Liberals. This time, the Liberals must listen to their leader and vote with their party. Those Liberals who voted for the bill have already indicated that they would switch their vote this time.

On Monday, Layton accused Ignatieff of only proposing changes to the registry once his party forms a government. However, it looks like that the Liberal party wants to go with the long-gun registry which was brought in by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1995. The long-gun registry was the result of the killing of 14 women in Montreal's L'École Polytéchnique in 1989. The government believed at that time that having long-guns registered would save the lives of many people. The Liberal opposition today claims the same. Liberal leader Ignatieff says that the governing Conservatives do not want to follow statistics. According to the Liberals, the long-gun registry is effective, decreasing criminal offences, suicides and homicides caused by long guns.

A reality check says something else and shows that it is not as effective as some may think. Once you have a long-gun registry, criminals will start buying other guns, usually smuggled. Criminals will not be stopped by some paper work they have to accomplish before they can use their long gun. Those who want to commit suicide or to murder someone will do it. There are tons of ways to do that and a gun should not be blamed for peoples' actions. Handguns have to be registered as well and for more than 80 years handguns have been the firearm of choice for murderers. Americans do not have a gun registry, Canadians do. However, Americans have seen a much larger drop in murders. Guns cannot be blamed for crime; that falls directly on the people who perform those actions. Canadians already must have a licence to purchase long guns legally in the first place. Thus, under the current system, police already know who is a legal firearm owner. It is very difficult in Canada to own a hand-gun legally. Police would already know who is a legal firearms owner by consulting the licence database. It seems redundant to know which specific rifles and shotguns an owner has beyond that.  

Jana Paskova

Photo: ISIFA