Police chiefs to campaign for long-gun registry

As the Tories move to kill the long-gun registry, Canada's police chiefs heard a report defending the national program on Monday. One cop is pushing back, claiming the majority of police officers oppose the registry.

CTV News Channel: David Ewasuk on the support

The president of Canada's police chiefs says the national gun registry saves lives and should not be dismantled.

CTV News Channel: Bill Blair, police chief

Toronto's police chief says there were many important discussions on public safety at the conference. A special purpose group presented their report on developing a national strategy for firearms and firearm safety to the chiefs of police.

CTV Edmonton: Kevin Armstrong on the survey

A 22-year veteran with the Edmonton Police service says a poll he conducted shows frontline officers across the country are overwhelmingly in favour of doing away with the long gun registry program.

Watch: See all Videos in the Player

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Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair is seen in this photo speaking at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Edmonton on Monday, Aug. 23, 2010.

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Mon. Aug. 23 2010 10:22 PM ET

Delegates at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police conference have voted resoundingly to support the long-gun registry, and now plan to lobby to save it from being scrapped.

Bill Blair, Toronto's police chief and the association's president, said Monday police now hope to wage a public relations campaign in the coming weeks to boost public support for the registry.

The association also plans to discuss the issue with politicians who support eliminating the registry, he added, reiterating that police across the country refer to it thousands of times per day.

"Our support for the long-gun registry is because we use the information contained in that registry virtually every day -- we use it over 11,000 times a day," Blair told CTV News Channel Monday night from Edmonton. "Our police officers use that information to conduct criminal investigations, they use it to keep communities safe, and they use it to keep themselves safe."

Blair said a "special purpose group" of association delegates presented a report to members detailing a national firearm and firearm-safety strategy.

Association members then voted on a resolution based on that report, calling for improved communication with police officers and the public on gun-safety issues, better information and intelligence sharing, improved training and operations, as well as the association's "support for the retention of the Canadian Firearms Program in all of its components, including the long-gun registry," Blair said.

The association voted unanimously to adopt the resolution, which calls on police officials to promote the registry's value to both politicians and the public.

A private members bill by Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner proposes abolishing the registry, calling it expensive and ineffective.

The bill passed second reading in the spring, with the support of the Tories, eight Liberals and 12 New Democrats.

On Sept. 21, MPs are expected to vote on a committee recommendation that would halt the bill.

Blair said police officers do not intend to engage in a large-scale public-relations campaign or to wade too far into political waters.

He said he hears from his own officers with the Toronto Police, particularly members of the guns and gangs unit, who want the registry to remain intact.

"They seize a lot of firearms, and they use the registry countless times each day to do their jobs," Blair said. "And so they've come to us and said we need this information to do our jobs. They want us to bring our voice forward."

Not all frontline officers agree with the registry. Randy Kuntz, an Edmonton police officer for 22 years, surveyed 2,600 officers on the issue, and found about 2,400 want to scrap the registry.

"With the boots-meets-the-pavement type of policeman who's going to be dealing with the public every day, overwhelmingly there's no support for this registry," he told CTV's Kevin Armstrong in Edmonton. "It hasn't saved anybody."

Ousted Mountie absent from conference

RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak was supposed to present the purpose group's report at the Edmonton conference. But Cheliak was recently removed as the head of the Canadian Firearms Program and sent for French language training, just weeks before the issue returns for debate in the House of Commons.

Edmonton police Supt. Brad Doucette presented the report instead.

Critics have accused the Harper government of using the language requirement as an excuse to remove Cheliak, a staunch supporter of the registry, in anticipation of the debate in Parliament.

Both Harper and RCMP commissioner William Elliot have denied the accusations. Elliot noted last week that Cheliak led the registry only on an acting basis.

On Sunday, Blair said Cheliak's work on the gun file had a positive impact on communities across Canada, but would not comment on his removal from the RCMP position.

"Marty went right across the country and educated police officers, police unions and police leaders in how that information could be used to keep our communities safe," Blair said. "In every place he went, people became more effective in their jobs. Those communities became safer as a direct result of his work."

Cheliak did not attend the conference, but was honoured there on Sunday for his work.

With files from The Canadian Press

Comments are now closed for this story

Mark5
said
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A gun registry where the serial numbers can be easily filed off in a few minutes. A gun registry where audits are never done to ensure gun owners still have the guns they say they do.A registry that has not registered all guns, especially those of criminals.A registry that harasses and worries and intimidates those who have registered. A gun registry that gun owners and their families and many other Canadians do not want. A gun registry that lists makes and models of guns and their exact location to create a shopping list for thieves. A gun registry that has created a black market in illegal guns. A gun registry that can be used to try and disarm the Canadian people. A gun registry that targets the wrong people. It is appalling that the chiefs of police are in favour of such a thing. Perhaps they should resign or be fired.

Tom From Oakville
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Ok Chiefs.....facts. Your release did not include any facts...and the 12,000 requests per day were not directly firearm related but criminal checks. I am tired of non-elected officials trying to establish public policy. The Chiefs have learned how to spin a story without having to back up their claims. They continually do not produce evidence or cause to WHY and HOW the Registry is working and for the first time in my life I am concerned about private citizens now under the thumb of a paramilitary group whose mandate is to serve and protect. Protection is no longer a reality and now Serve is becoming a lost value as well.

Dan
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The police are correct. Those who disagree don't have an ounce of logic.Slippery slope arguments are a waste of time.

Kirk
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I have to agree with Paul. He is right in that this is about money and nothing else. Most of the money that was spent on developing the gun registry went to buying new computers and associated hardware. The police are using their influence to try and gain public support to support their own agenda. There is a serious conflict of interest with this?

Richard in Ontario
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If the Chiefs of Police think it's so good an idea. let their departiments pay for it. To a lot of us it's just a huge waste of money. Something the Liberals put in place to try to let everyone think they were doing something useful.

J.Janzen
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Guns do not KILL people... People Kill People. Whether it be by guns, knives, or just plain clubs, Someone, somewhere will kill someone else and there is little crime prevention can do to stop it. Let's stop wasting the taxpayer's $$$ on something that never should have been an idea in the first place. If anyone is to blame, it should be the Politicians that used this as a platform to garner votes from contituents. Let's put the taxpayer's $$$ to better use by building jails to house the PEOPLE who comit these crimes in the first place.

JB in Ontario
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The day the government scraps the long-gun registry, well thats the day I become an astronaut!

Scrap it!
said
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Where are the solved crimes from this debacle?Give the money to the Vets, for shame's sake!

Police state
said
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If they put a gps tracker chip in the back of our necks, the police chiefs could keep track of all of us, all the time, They want a police state.. so I'm sure they would use the GPS tracker thousands of times a day to.Say no to this money grab, say no to a police state.

Damon
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We have to register most important things in life including cars. As a family of gun owners, we have no problems registering our weapons that can KILL.Also, it is important that police know there is a gun in the house so they can properly announce themselves and be appropriately cautious. We don't want police officers getting shot by people protecting themselves.

Damon
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1 billion on G8/G20, billions on new prisons while crime rates are dropping and we're expected to believe that scrapping the registry at this stage for a savings of 4 million a YEAR makes sense.No question this is pure politics, you don't scrap a program that cost 1 billion to implement (yes, an obscene amount) and only needs 4 million to maintain. Even if its not the ultimate crime solving tool, it still has some uses and obviously the police chiefs think its beneficial.

Anne
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Good point Wes - 11,000 inquiries A DAY, or 4 million a year or 20 million in 5 years. With a population of 34 million or so, things just don't add up. Looks like we do need more prisons if that's the case.

Tim
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I bet it would just make the Police Chiefs red, that it was an Ontario Police Officer that talked me out of selling my Prohibited Handguns. What makes the Police Chiefs think that they somehow represent the mindset of their officers??? Especially when many of their own are registred, recreational gun owners themselves.

keith
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ya right- like the Canadian public has a lot of faith in the good judgement of its policing services right now. Where do they think their cred is at to be offering such sage advice to us now?

Jerry in Calgary
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The 11,000 a day reported hits to this gun registry have been skewed right from the beginning. After an exhaustive investigation into these numbers, it was discovered that many of these so called hits (or usage of) was in fact false. Even just a casual hit for no real justified police reason other then to satisfy the user's curiosity was also being recorded as a "hit". Some hits were being recorded in duplicate and sometimes in triplicate to make the numbers look good.Pretty hard to support those police chiefs in favour of it when they refuse to acknowledge any real truths associated with this registry usage as to the real numbers regarding its usage. It makes them (police chiefs who represent law and order) look somewhat suspect themselves as to their real motivations for their stand in this matter. Obviously I chose to believe that somewhere in the middle of this whole matter lies the truth but certainly not with the police chiefs who are refusing to listen to their own rank and file who by a lopsided majority want nothing to do with this gun registry!

robert Hutt
said
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I do not believe the Police reference the registry 11,000 time per day. The cops want a police state. Law abiding citizens are no problem.

Roadrobber
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Toronto Police Chief Blair doesn't have much credibility in my book. Remember his little G20 fence law that really wasn't a law but he let everyone believe it really was? Like I said...he has no credibility.

Frank - Toronto
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Guess what folks. There's a reason why 80 percent of real police officers say the registry should be scrapped.They know the system the Liberals set up to justify the registry long-term is rigged.For example, if a police officer detains an old woman for J-Walking, her name is automatically run through the registry. The system was set up that way. That, and the fact criminals won't register their firearms, is why despite supposedly being used 10 thousand times a day, the firearm registry has yet to prevent one gun-related crime, or save one life. If anyone has proof to the contrary, I'd love to see it. Otherwise, I continue to believe the front-line officers who say the Firearm Registry is a costly joke.

Wes
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11,000 inquires a day? No wonder the police have no time to investigate property crimes. So in less than 10 years they would have done a search on every man, woman and child in Canada.

fred
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Scrap the long gun registry, it's just a waste of Canadian tax payer's money. There's is absolutely no evidence that it has done any good to anyone.

Roadrobber
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The police chiefs will lobby for retention of the gun registry, but I bet if any of the rank and file officers lobby to abolish the gun registry the police chiefs will take disciplinary action against them.

beentheredonethat
said
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Gun Registry does not work they have tried this for years in Europe and have a higher ratio of gun offensives than anywhere. Police Chiefs are just a bunch of yes men. Just ask any general duty police officer that works in a busy city.. Criminals do not generally use Hunting rifles to commit crimes. They use illegal unregistered prohibited weapons. The only people that use long barrelled weapons are hunters and most of them are plain old law biding citizens!

Noodle
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Being that our police forces are only reactionary, to crime this will never save lives. I stand against this blatant Liberal waste of our tax dollars and say quash it now or sooner. If you want you tax dollars to do real good put this to education and safe handling courses for everybody.

Jerry in Calgary
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Its being said and reported, following the release of a survey that was held among 2,500 police officers across Canada, that over 90%...thats right...over 90% of those 2,500 asked this question.......ARE YOU or ARE YOU NOT IN FAVOUR OF THE LONG GUN REGISTRY? The survey results were 90% in favour of GETTING RID OF THE LONG GUN REGISTRY. This response was in complete opposition to what the police chiefs in Canada are saying. My point being that in Canada, I always thought that majority ruled...period. What part of this overwhelming 90% response to "get rid of it" do these police chiefs not get?

charlie
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Bill Blair want to keep the long gun registry. When he speaks as Chief of Police, I am expected to trust and have confidence in what he says and in his conclusions. Wait a minute, I seem to recall something about him sending out incorrect information to the public about having the power to arrest anyone within 10 feet of the G20 fence due to some provincial law that was passed just before the summit - hmmmm. No thanks, Bill, I think I will pass on your conclusions about the gun registry.

Mike on PEI
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The gun registry is a waste. It does nothing to promote responsible use. Take the money spent on the registry, use some for increased education on gun safety or providing safe areas to target shoot and put the rest of the money back into the national budget.We have a lot of guns in Canada, yet a fraction of the gun crime that the US has. You actually have to be willing to sit in a classroom for a single weekend to buy a gun legally here. We have a different attitude about firearms. We should promote that responsible attitude and forget about keeping lists.

pat sk
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My problem with the gun registry has always been the billions of dollars the Liberals used to put it in place. Where did that money go?? All cows are registered in Canada. I believe it only takes 2 to 3 million dollars to run that registry. There are way more cows to register than guns. So again I ask what did the Liberals do with that money?? Maybe an audit should have been done at the time. The registry is just another form of tax. If you did not have to pay fees to renew your registered guns then maybe people would not be so up in arms.

Steve in Manotick
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I can't get over Harper's arogance at assuming the gun registry will fall. He assumes parliment will be bullied by John Baird into passing its demise and the jobs that could be lost in New Brunswick will remain safe as he fires 550 public servants in Ottawa. How much will it cost for the workforce adjustment of these 550 jobs regardless of where they are? I bet the gun registry would be cheaper to keep than all the time and money wasted by the Cons (REFORMERS) to get rid of it. I know it was a campaign promise but so was "OPEN and TRANSPARENT GOVERNMENT" what happened to that promise?

Robert Sprague
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The government managed to creat a simple data base for a ridiculous amount of money. Notwithstanding I believe that guns should be registered. Furthermore, manufacturers should be forced to document every weapon on the data base and registrants matched to fire arms produced. This way we can determine exactly which guns are not accounted for. I am sure the numbers of unaccounted for guns would be substantial.

I thought
said
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It's a make work program! Decades ago we had no kindergarten. Now we need it, it creates more teacher union jobs. We had no gun registry, how many salaries does it pay? Police should approach every house in a crisis situation expecting the worst (firearms, etc) until they thoroughly determine there aren't any. Rule no. 1. Never Assume Anything.

Sober, Newmarket
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The registry keeps police officers safe because it gives them a heads-up when they are called out to domestic disputes where things easily go wrong. The only reason why it costs so much is the clumsy way in which the Liberals implemented it. Many other countries have such a registry, it has been working well for decades and it doesn't cost much to administrate. A little more homework would have put it on the right track.

BMIA
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The gun registry did absolutely nothing for Mayerthorpe or Dawson College. Let's face it - the gun registry only keeps track of legal firearms owners and their current address (if kept up-to-date). It does nothing about keeping track of offenders prohibited from carrying firearms nor keeping their current whereabouts updated. So this is a valuable tool to do what? Identify people who are not criminals? I'd rather the money spent on a tool that identifies people who are criminals.

Cy
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The simple fact that criminals do not register guns,by itself,is reason enough to put the money somewhere else.What possible good can it do to have to have rural folk registering their guns?Perhaps put that money into curbing the illegal importation of handguns from the U.S.

Linda
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Here again we have a situation where those that do the work disagree with those that tell them to do the work. While I sometimes err on the side of leadership, I have to think that the opinons of police that are actually out there doing the job carry more weight in this arguement than those who don't do the job. (When is the last time you even heard of a police chief being involved in an investigation?) I am a female, and I do not support the registry.

Rick @ Ottawa
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There is absolutely nothing in any of the relative firearm's legislation that says if you own a firearm you must store it in your residence. I own several firearms, none of which I keep in my house. What a danagerous situation that would put me in if a '20 something' cop response to my home (for whatever reason) thinking I have a gun in my house when I don't.Only a liberal would think this makes sense.The gun registry is just plan stupid.

Jeff from Calgary
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I'm echoing Paul, here, when I ask for one supporter to bring forth one confirmed report, from any police department in the country, that unquestioningly shows that this registry was used to preemptively stop the injury or death of one person in this country with a registered long gun. I would challenge that it cannot be done, without using exaggerated anecdotal evidence of such. We already had licensing of all guns in the law. Why duplicate what we are already doing and pay more money to do it?

MARG MM
said
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So, 2400 out of 2600 police officers surveyed say thay want to scrap the long gun registry. That says it all, the police that are out there on a daily basis, see that the registry doesn't do them any good. Anyone knows that criminals don't register guns and they are the ones commiting the crimes. Officers are trained to go into any situation assuming there are weapons involved, registry or not. There is gun licensing in place that police can refer to. I think people have the misconception, fuelled by the Liberals and the media, that if the long gun registry is scrapped, suddenly there will be "gun battles" in the streets. The police chiefs haven't been on the front lines for years, and their motivation is only political. Lets get some media coverage from the police officers themselves, and I think a lot of people will change their minds about whether the registry should be scrapped or not. I think if that were to happen, more people would be in favour of getting rid of it.

Luc from Carp
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Of course they are in support of the registry. Police is all about keeping lists about people. Communist countries were great at keeping lists and registries and probably still do. I heard Toronto is about to start a registry about kite owners.

More Information Please
said
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I'd like to see the report that defend's the gun registry and at the same time I'd like to see a report from the 2400 "boots-meet-pavement" cops as to the specific reason they want to scrap the registry. Also, Elliot can deny, deny, deny that Cheliak was not transferred for polical reasons, but I don't believe, don't believe, don't believe him.

Pedro
said
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I have real difficulty to understand what is the REAL objection to the gun registry...In practically everything we do these days, we have to register or file information somewhere.Guns are designed to kill, no matter if it is wild-life or people alike. If we are required by law to register our kids and our cars, why not for something specifically designed to kill?!?If you own a gun legally, what is there to hide from the police in disclosing that you have a gun? If you have nothing to hide, why hide?!?If you have a gun illegally, then this is a "sure fire" way for police to convict. And, we know how many times criminals get off scott-free because there is insufficient evidence to convict, even though guns are found. With a gun registry, then at least they can be automatically charged of illegal gun possession and (hopefully) jailed for a long time.Gun registration is just a small price to pay to expose and prosecute illegal gun owning criminals.~~~~

oddieee
said
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SCRAP THE GUN REGISTRY
give the money to the vets and seniors. not the piddly amount you give every month to our seniors who supported our country for 65 years--not every senior worked for the government or who were senators who are now getting more than $20,000 a year like most senior canadians. seems like guns are not the choice of crooks nowadays maybe should ban the knife

bikerborz
said
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Other countries than Canada have had similar gun registeries, all to abysmal failure. Canada is no different. When Bill C-68 was initially proposed by then-Liberal Alan Rock, I let my FAC (remember those?) lapse in protest, and have not owned another firearm since. If the ground-pounders on the sharp end declare that the registery is useless, then why keep it? Those in their padded chairs in the rarified atmospheres of power (police and politician alike) who deal with theories and not facts/realities are the ones who want to keep this failure in effect. Turf the gun registry!!!

LaserGuy
said
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Did you ever stop to think, that IF the police really did use this farce 11,000 times a day, and still can't show where it's solved a single crime, then that's the very definition of useless.. If registries worked, the hand gun registry which has been with us for over 76 years would have made a difference. It has not. In that entire 76 years, not one single crime has been solved, or prevented by recording the serial number, and 'lawful' owner of any firearm. The Canadian Police Chiefs association is a registered government lobby group, that lobbies the government for things that will give it more power as an association. The Canadian Police Association, another registered government lobby group with the same aims. These 'lobby groups' have never once polled their rank and file members on the usefulness of the gun registry. If they had, the registry would have been long gone by now. The ONLY polling has been done by the police themselves, and 91.6% of them say it should be scrapped. The registry was put into place by misinforming parliament on not only statistics, but with outright lies regarding crime with firearms and was chastised at the time by the RCMP for doing this. Gun Registries are nothing but useless placebos to satisfy the urban ignorant among us..

alex
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HAHAHA

"cherrob
The gun registry is an absolute necessary tool for law enforcement officers to ensure the Canadian public is safe. It is shameful that this government continues to erode the work done by citizens of this country, and even more appalling is the way they are going about it. Canadians will speak out at the polls...loud and clear."

ya in a way you don't want it to

Prof. Pye Chartt
said
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Urban crime involving smuggled hand-guns is a genuine problem. The Registry is utterly useless in this regard. (Tagging farmers and rural folk and their rifles is a laughable exercise.) Countless police officers, including a close relative of mine, view the Registry as a sinfully expensive piece of informational garbage that CACP wants to preserve as a "tool" only because it is an easily-accessed resource that MIGHT lead to something when used loosely and regularly. In reality, it doesn't ACTUALLY lead to much of anything. The notion that it makes Canadian society significantly "safer" is non-factual and mere political rhetoric. (Only a naive twit believes that the supposed 11,000 Registry searches conducted daily have to do, directly, with a genuinely-suspected and legitimate firearms issue.) Like those who whined about losing access to free federal long-form census information, even though much of it is worthless and truly unusable in most commercial applications, CACP, expectedly, wants to preserve the status quo. Despite the suggestion that "only" the Conservatives regard the Registry as Liberal-created junk, a fat handful of Liberal MPs are on record supporting its abolishment (not simply a modification thereof). Iggy, of course, will have to change that, like a "dictator" would. ...Let the silly, cap-gun political games continue. Bang-bang.

John from Kelowna
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The police say they use it every day, I guess like running your license plate when they stop your car. But the real question, even though they run it, what does it tell them? That a law abiding citizen has registered a firearm. Does this automatically make them a criminal if the police call, and increase the chance they may be shot?Of course the drug dealers, gang members, and other criminals., all register their handguns...ya right!The sooner, the better this gun registry is abolished, the better for all us law abiding citizens who own a firearm. The gun registry is nothing more than an ill-concieved, knee-jerk reaction by the liberals to the Montreal Ecole Polytechnique shooting by a wacko, and if the gun registry had been in place at that time, it would not have stopped it.

Wendy
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"It's not the only tool law enforcement uses, but it's an important tool that enables us to conduct criminal investigations related to firearms use and misuse. It helps us prevent firearms violence and it keeps officers safe." There you have the truth from the police, Harper threw away over 1.3 billion on the G do nothing meeting, that money would have paid for the registry for about 300 years. it shows Harper cares nothing of the lives of police officers. As usually Harper's only reason is to gain votes but it makes no sense, because these people already vote for him.

Jim
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I think that the fact everyone is missing here, is that the moment I purchase a firearm, (the purchase of which requires a Posession and Aquistion Licence), that fiream is entered into the police database as being in my house. The secondary step of re-registering the firearm is so the politicians know that I own one, and what's the point of that? No question that the registration law has cleaned up a lot of the "unknown" firearms which have been in families for two or more generations. In terms of new purchases though, why need a license to get a license? I'd like to hear more about why Chief Blair made the statements he made. All due respect to him of course, but I'd like to hear how information that he has received twice makes his job easier.

Joe Szentirmay
said
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Does the media appear to be biased on this issue, or am I just paranoid? Let's bury the long gun registry once and for all.

cherrob
said
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The gun registry is an absolute necessary tool for law enforcement officers to ensure the Canadian public is safe. It is shameful that this government continues to erode the work done by citizens of this country, and even more appalling is the way they are going about it. Canadians will speak out at the polls...loud and clear.

Andrea
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Al in NFLD......The police do not make the laws. If they do then we live in a police state. This group (Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police) that calls themselves "police" are nothing of the sort. Not a group of people whom I would want to be watching out for my well being. This is about money Al, not public safety. If we where able to put a number beside every bottle of beer sold in Canada do you think that would stop drunk driving? The police might be able to trace where the bottle came from.....but that does not do the dead guy any good now does it. Apply the same logic to guns.....if you don't get it by now.....you won't.

KJ in Kingston Ontario
said
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It is NOT about the Registry, it is about the politics -- the Liberals achieved three majority governments from using the useless gun registry program to polarize and divide PC and the Reform Party support and ensure 37% support translated into a majority government mandate. You can't unring the bell now. A generation of gun owners will never vote Liberal under any circumstances in this country. I think most gun owners ignored the program anyway.

Brian Fr Langley
said
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Hey folks, google knife murders and attacks in the lower mainland of BC in the last two years, what you find is SHOCKING. Knives are killing people in horrific numbers. It is high time that Ottawa BANNED knives. While a knife registry may help, (think of the jobs it would create) a total ban would be far more effective. Knives kill people. Ban them.

Al - Ottawa
said
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The police chiefs are out of touch with reality up there in their padded offices - just like most politicians. The police who do the REAL work seem to disagree with the chief by a fair margin. Try Googling "cop survey gun registry" and you'll find an article in the Toronto Sun from Aug 21st talking about how the majority of cops actually don't support the registry. I wonder why CTV doesn't post stories like that...

Gary
said
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Having lived through a gang war in Calgary and met people who are truly the scum of the earth....

They will get a gun no matter what and use it to kill people AND they couldn't care less and get a comfy jail bed.

The waste of money just means that honest people will register their guns. I understand the reasons why it was created but pouring money into the registry or not it makes no difference to someone who is bent on killing someone

James
said
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If the Chiefs want to say this is a public safety issue, then let's deal with all of them. I will support their need for information if they support A) the right of individual to defend their person and their property, and B) in conjuction they support strict concealed-carry laws. I don't find it an inconvenience if the police know I have a hunting rifle, but I oppose them telling me I can't use it to keep my family safe from home invasion or some such if need be.

Al en NL
said
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Well Wendy, unfortunately the money has already been spent and the registry is in force. As far as I'm concerned it should stay that way. If Canada's finest, her police officers not politicians, are saying its a good thing then that's good enough for me. I am a long gun owner and except for the initial cost for permits the cost has been nothing.

Ian Dummigan
said
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It's strange that the police chiefs are in support of the registry, yet the officers on the street are not. How does it tell police that there are firearms in the residence of a criminal that doesn't register their firearms? This is just another "feel good" law that does NOTHING to control criminal use of firearms.

simon
said
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A Conservative private member's bill proposes to scrap the registry, calling it expensive and ineffective. Conservative logic suggests that the G8/G20 and the Fake Lake were effective and inexpensive!

keith
said
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I beleive the police are to implement the laws not make them.

Paul
said
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"Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police ".......This is a lobby group. They get donations from the company that supplies the computers to keep the registry data. This is about the money.......follow the money. If it works then show me one, just one example of how the registry of long guns has prevented a crime. 10,000 times a day they say they use it, all I want is one example. This group of so called "police" should not have any say into public policy as they only have one interest at heart.......themselves.

Wayne in HRM
said
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Good to see independent minded RCMP officers willing to present this report. A report that the Conservatives wanted buried so it did not conflict with their idological base. This my friends will be the beginning of the end to this debate. Why? Because next there will be a concerted effort to whip the remaining NDP supporters of this flawed bill to eliminate the registry. Even if Layton doesn't whip, the fight will go right into their ridings and the threat of electoral loss to the NDP is about all they have worth fighting for and they will cave.

Wendy from London
said
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The gun registry has proven to be a waste of time, taxpayer's money (to the tune of several billion dollars), and way too inaccurate as a store of information for police use. As well, it is intrusive and is a thorn in the side of farmers and other rural folk who use firearms to control pests on their property. Scrap the registry and use the money to put more into frontline policing.

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Labour Minister Lisa Raitt appears on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, May 27, 2012.

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Members of the dissolved Haitian army listen to a public official as they wait to register at the former military academy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (AP / Ramon Espinosa)

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It is about time - as a grandparent I have watched our kids (who were allowed to fail although I do remember some nagging on our part) learn, I have watched our children now micro-manage their children. A big part of it is the fact that there are predators out there and an extreme reluctance on the parents part to alllow freedom that might result in the children becoming victims.

Harvey

Parents must learn to stop meddling, author urges

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