Gun registry under fire for lack of effectiveness
Date: Mar 10, 2005 11:49 AM
PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald
DATE: 2005.03.10
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A8
BYLINE: Anne Dawson
SOURCE: CanWest News Service
DATELINE: OTTAWA

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Gun registry under fire for lack of effectiveness

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The Conservatives have turned the heat up on the Liberals to scrap the
controversial gun registry, on the heels of the most violent gun attack
on the RCMP in 120 years in which four officers were murdered.

And although Liberal MP Paul Steckle supports his opposition colleagues,
he conceded there is little he can do to convince his own government of
this, other than continuing to raise the problems the registry poses.

“It is self evident that last week’s multiple-murder tragedy was not in
any way prevented or impeded by the gun registry, although the gun
registry was brought into effect primarily to deal with precisely this
kind of tragedy,” Conservative Leader Stephen Harper told the Commons on
Wednesday.

“After spending $1 billion, does the government have any evidence at all
that the registry would prevent this kind of tragedy in the future?”

Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan did not offer any evidence, saying
only there is a criminal investigation ongoing.

James Roszko, who turned his gun on himself after murdering four Alberta
RCMP officers, was banned by the courts from owning firearms in 2000.
Although police have described the weapon that Roszko used as a
“long-barreled, rapid-fire, high-powered rifle,” it is believed he used
a .308-calibre rifle, which had been converted into an automatic weapon.
The .308 is not considered illegal and is commonly used in hunting
circles.

Steckle said the killings will serve to rehash the issue of the gun
registry and show once again that it does not work.

“This man was prohibited from having firearms, but at the end of the
day, he still had a firearm. Was it registered? No. And would it have
mattered if it was registered? It wouldn’t have mattered. The men would
have been dead in the same way,” said Steckle, who owns a dozen guns.