Some notes from the article.
Bernier said that the Ecole Polytechnique shooting — the Montreal Massacre that provided the political impetus for the long-gun registry — could not have been prevented.
“The weapon used at Ecole Polytechnique was registered,” he said. “The fact of registering long guns does not permit us to fight efficiently against crime.”
Yes it's like registering doesn't do anything to stop the criminal element.
And here's a rollout of "gun crime"
Clement was asked how victims of gun crime and their families, who will assemble on Parliament Hill for the vote, would feel to know MPs are popping champagne in celebration.
“It’s important to note we’re on the side of the victims, including those of gun crime,” he said. “We’re with people who have been dealt a terrible situation, a tragedy because of the bad guys.”
And note that the vote to end the registry basically came from one party. Which does not bode well given Canada's 3.5 party system. There's also that in a parliamentary system it's much easier for the majority party to do what it wants.
Almost all opposition MPs voted against the legislation — except for New Democrats Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty, who sided with the government.
...
Candice Hoeppner, whose private member’s bill to abolish the registry was defeated in 2010 after a narrow vote, singled out NDP members who pledged to their constituents to vote with the government, only to change sides and vote to save the registry at the last moment.
She named NDP MPs Charlie Angus, Nikki Ashton, Alex Atamanenko, Dennis Bevington, Nathan Cullen, Claude Gravelle and Carol Hughes as those who went against the wishes of their constituents.
“Opposition members cannot be let off the hook for saying one thing and doing another,” she said. “All of these members should know that many of their colleagues were fired by their real bosses: law abiding Canadians who are voting.”
And then you see the "effective gun control" line being trotted out.
“These proposals ignore the concerns of victims of gun violence who are mourning their dead or tending to their crippling injuries: this must never happen again,” she said. “We must do all in our power to prevent this carnage, including supporting effective gun control.”
Coalition members, including YWCA Canada CEO Paulette Senior and Alexa Conradi, president of the Quebec Women Federation, excoriated the government for its “ideological” devotion to ending the registry.
“The safety of women must take precedence over a small ‘bureaucratic hassle,’ ” Conradi said. “The decision by the government to delete the existing data can only be described as a punitive measure that has little to do with privacy and much to do with ideology.”
Yes, it's not like the data in the registry could ever be abused. But no, having your property being capriciously confiscated by the state, that's just a "hassle".
And another interesting thing, in every single example of "gun crime" an anti gives in that article... the registry had done nothing to prohibit or help trace the weapon. In the whole article there's no example of a success story or the registry working or doing anything to reduce crime.
Which is to be expected. It doesn't matter that the registry has failed to do anything in reducing crime, what's important is the intent in passing it and the symbolism of the scheme itself.
Unfortunately, even among the pro-gun side in the article there's not a word of self defense. It's all about sport shooters and hunters. That's a shame because to ignore self defense is the key aspect to firearms rights. Without it you're stuck arguing on the anti's terms.
Defensive gun uses are generally the elephant in the room for the Anti-Rights types, as in an argument where pro-gun people can only frame their gun ownership in terms of sport and collecting, that argument will ALWAYS lose, as no matter what as the negatives will be the abuses of guns in society, and the positives will be fun-and-games. No rational person will chose the gun. But if you frame guns as a tool to protect innocent lives and resist tyranny, and cite the number of lives SAVED by personal firearms EVERYDAY, and compare that with the innocent lives harmed by them, well there is no contest.
But if Canada can get rid of the Long Gun Registry, it's evidence that other countries can roll back gun control too and that the ratchet does not go just one way. Maybe one day Canada can have their own CCW "revolution".
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