Scrapping long gun registry is bang-on

The long gun registry (LGR) created in 1995, has been a failure. This feel-good, politically correct legislation has not made our streets any safer nor has it stemmed the tide of guns flowing across our border. It's ignored by the rank and file RCMP and even supporters of the program admit the accuracy of the data is flawed. Initial cost of the registry was predicted to be four million dollars per year. The current cost of registering seven million long guns is 2.2 billion dollars. That's "billion" with a "b," folks.

It's claimed police use the registry data over 10,000 times per day, but the fact is computer activity does not denote usage. Of the 11,086 computer hits per day in 2009, 7,653 were for a name, 2,842 were for addresses, but a mere 19 were checking a registration certificate…of all types. The vast majority were due to hits automatically generated by a system designed to produce impressive statistics from irrelevant inquiries.

During Parliamentary hearings into the long-gun registry, the President of the Canadian Police Association, Charles Momy, admitted that less than 1 per cent of his association’s membership responded to a survey on the long gun registry. The reason is because cops ignore the data. They know it's flawed and no law enforcement officer is going to bet his life on the registry's accuracy. Police assume there will be firearms present in any police situation; to do otherwise would be foolhardy.

Many, but not all, police chiefs are on record as supporting the LGR. One has to remember, however, that the chiefs are political appointees and therefore subject to political influence. Again, the beat cop understands the reality of the LGR's ineffectuality. The crooks who use firearms to perpetrate violent acts of crime don't register their weapons with the LGR, regardless of whether they use "long guns."

Keeping the LGR's database is also a waste of money and a continuing infringement of personal rights protected under the Charter. Quebec is keen to keep its LGR data but the idea of some Quebec lower level civil servant bureaucrat fingering the personal data of an Albertan resident doesn't sit well with those who value personal rights and liberty. Maintaining a flawed, and essentially ignored registry would be throwing good money after bad.

Not everyone may enjoy Harper's current swagger afforded by the Conservatives' dominance of Parliament and the Senate but law-abiding, responsible, freedom loving Canadians are pleased that the long gun registry is finally being blown away.