On July 20, 2012, tragedy struck Aurora, Colorado leaving an entire nation overwhelmed with fear and sadness. During a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises a lone gunman equipped with multiple firearms entered a crowded theatre and opened fire, claiming the lives of 12 people and injuring 58 others.
The gunman who mercilessly opened fire in a crowded theatre in Colorado was operating a Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge Remington 870 shotgun and a .40-calibre Glock handgun, all of which he purchased legally in the United States.
In Canada, we pride ourselves on being a peaceful and non-violent nation. For decades, Canadians have recognized the importance of remaining vigilant about gun control. This was reflected in the adoption of a federal gun registry which not only ensured that all individuals who wished to own and operate firearms went through strict and thorough licensing process but also saw to it that all guns, long and short were registered in a database.
Established in 1995, in the wake of the 1989 École Polytechnique Massacre, the long gun registry was a valuable public safety tool which was utilized roughly 16,000 times each and every single day. However, earlier this year, with the passage of Bill C-19: An Act to Eliminate the Long Gun Registry, the Remington shotgun that was used in Aurora, is now considered to be an unrestricted firearm meaning that it would no longer have to be registered.
The passage of Bill C-19 not only resulted in the loss of an important public safety tool, it also represented a step toward adopting more lenient gun control laws in Canada. Having played an active role in establishing the long gun registry and having dedicated a great deal of time to defending its value, I was particularly dismayed when it was dismantled.
Tragedies like the one that shook Aurora are a reminder of the importance of remaining vigilant about gun control. Handguns and long guns, both of which were used during this massacre, are equally dangerous and we as a society have a responsibility to do everything in our control to ensure that they stay off our streets.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims who lost their lives in Aurora, Colorado and my thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time. As parents grieve the loss of their children, a husbands and wives grieve the loss of their spouses let us work together to help ensure that our streets remain safe and that gun violence does not plague our communities.
Follow Senator Mobina Jaffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@senjaffer
So this guy walks into a theatre and lights it up with registered firearms. Do less people die?
I'm pretty sure they got him. I'm pretty sure they didn't need a gun registry to catch him.
Maybe not killing other people should be enforced more than how people are killed.
Law Enforcement was vehemently opposed to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms--good enough for you, then?
Actually, the RCMP considered gun registration a costly joke:
http://www.lowe.ca/Rick/FirearmsLegislation/AGangThatCouldn%27tShootStraight.html
"The RCMP had stopped accepting FAC records, and had actually destroyed those it already had. The FAC registry system didn't exist because the police thought it was useless and refused to waste their limited budgets maintaining it. They also moved to ensure that their political masters could not resurrect it."
And compliance with the long gun registry was very poor, with an estimated HALF of legally-acquired (under the old FAC system) guns never registered. Sorry, Mobina, but nobody in their right mind will throw another two billion at this failed social engineering experiment again.
Why is it gone?" Well, it's due to 1). politicians pandering to the Canadian gun lobby and 2). Harper wanting Canada to be like the USA and we can't be like them without gun violence.
The USA has little gun control.........most states have only a residence requirement to purchase a handgun, and allow the citizen to carry it with a minimum of training. Canada still has strict licensing, and very strict conditions on handgun ownership, with no urban carry and very very little woods carry. The claim that Harper wants Canada's gun laws to be like the USA is absolutely ludicrous.
The registry can not work without the cooperation of gun owners, and we did not, nor will we ever cooperate.
"The registry can not work without the cooperation of gun owners, and we did not, nor will we ever cooperate."
Why gun owners did not and will not cooperate with a registry in order to own weapons in secret is off to me, and to the Police.
Do you support other groups who have an opposition to the Government taking the same stance? Right to grow marijuana for example? You guys are lucky I'm not making the decisions in Canada. VERY lucky.
If individuals and groups decide which laws they'll obey and which ones they'll ignore then we have trouble ahead.
How much better law enforcement could that money buy, or better health care?
As for the 16,000 daily hits by police on the registry, this is a bit misleading. These are not intentional queries where there are cops thinking "hmm, I had better access the registry to see if this person is on the list." Those 16,000 hits were automatically generated whenever any query was entered. 99.9999% of those hits were irrelevant to the information the police were after, but it makes for a big fat number to use in an illogical argument in favor of a colossal misspending of public funds.
The cost of entering a GD 'serial number' into an online data base is minimal in comparison & the Harper Government will NOT incurr any great saving from this program until they eliminate the other pillars of the program.
The fact is however , that by removing the ability to trace or track ownership of these weapons they have rendered the entire program as useless.
Now any person can sell, barter or trade their firearm to anyone not qualified or of age to receive it with little chance of being caught. I can't even do that with my car & it can't kill someone from a kilometer away!
Long gun registry won't stop gun crimes. Knowing who has guns won't stop gun crimes. Thinking that a master list of gun owners will magically stop gun crime is possibly one of the most short sighted, moot opinions you can have.
We already have a law that prevents gun crimes. In plain English, it reads, "Don't kill people". The charge is murder.
Do you really think people willing to break one of the oldest laws in society really care if they are caught with an illegal LONG GUN? Personally, I am terrified somebody will casually walk up to me, reveal their meter long hunting rifle and attempt to shoot me to take my wallet. Unfortunately, sarcasm doesn't read well.
Anybody could sell a rifle to somebody without the proper qualifications before the registry was scrapped. This hasn't changed. An individual can't legitimately buy a rifle without an FAC anyway. Having a registry doesn't stop people from illegally acquiring firearms. It's just as illegal to buy a firearm without a license as it is to have an unregistered firearm.
How dare you express your opinion.
Many older guns have NO serial number.
A great many models have repeat serial numbers.
The computer systems used for the registry cost hundreds of millions, and were very, very poor.
The system only held something aover half of the guns in Canada.
Gun owners did not cooperate, nor will they, and an effective registry is impossible without them on board......
The rights of society can and should outweigh the rights of those that could pose a danger to society.
It might have not spared the victims of Aurora, but it might prevent somebody, somewhere to harm or kill others if the law has the teeth to treat or even hold violent mental health offenders.
- Polytechnic shooting... the guy had some known mental issues... nothing was done about it.
- Dawson college shooting... the guy had some known mental issues, he tried to seek help... nothing was done about it...
We must really look at how far individual rights extend when they become a danger to society.
Mental health care is very expensive because, unlike physical health care, the sick that may commit mayhem are usually uncooperative. The law oftentimes does have the teeth to detain the unbalanced, but they are released from facilities due to lack of funding. The $2 billion wasted on the registry may have been better spent on treatment and rehabilitation.
Criminals do NOT use legal guns. They do NOT register themselves with the government.
All I am saying is that we must not measure these crimes and the reactions to it by one angle. There is more to this story than the 2nd amendment, the NRA and guns. People who are ill or dangerous will find a way to harm others. Controlling or banning guns will not eradicate crime. It is the crime and the reasons behind the trigger, the knife, the bomb, the act of arson, what have you, that we must debate and dialogue about.
A compromise:
I will happily register every firearm I intend to fire on public roads.
Happy?????
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If we want to reduce criminality (and violence) in our cities, we would be much better off investing in programs that help sick and disturbed individuals!
(Something a registration certificate cannot do)
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Jaffer is pulling the Coalition for Gun Control sleight of hand that deliberately conflates the defunct registry with the licensing approval process which is remains in full force.
Firearms registration has no use other than mass confiscation. When the best that people like Jaffer can do is to attempt to confuse the reader, you can bet they haven't a leg to stand on.
Currently, 2.6 million licensed firearms owners are checked continuously, even after training, background checks, written spousal and peer approval, etc. That should be enough for people who have never and likely will never commit a violent crime.
Firearms owners are already RCMP-approved good people. It's bad enough that licensing - a regulatory function - is in Criminal Code.
1. Having a piece of paper assigned to it does not prevent a firearm from being misused.
2. Mass shooters are typically without criminal record or anything else that would prevent them getting a firearms license. Both Mark Lepine and Kilmeer Gill had firearms licenses.
3. A vast number of otherwise good citizens completely ignored the long gun registry altogether.
As well, most shooters simply did NOT register all their firearms. Without at least 90% compliance the registry was useless....it might have gotten 70% compliance, which left millions of guns outside the system. Without compliance, all the LGR did was breed alienation and disrespect for the law.
4. Any re-introduction of the LGR will breed even more discontent, even more non-compliance........and will cost at least a billion dollars.
Is it even possible to propose anything that makes less sense??? I doubt it.
I'm sure we could save another few million dollars.
Guess you didn't read the Auditor Generals report on the accuracy of the LGR. Numerous errors & omissions & no way to evaluate the effectiveness. The LGR doesn't even state where the guns are stored.
So if you were police, woluld you count on a list that is full of errors & omissions & bet your life on it?
Guess that counts for a lot.