Editorial: Another registry misfire
Date: Feb 10, 2005 4:43 AM
PUBLICATION: The Windsor Star
DATE: 2005.02.10
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Editorial/Opinion
PAGE: A8
SOURCE: Windsor Star

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Another registry misfire

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The bloated and inefficient rifle and shotgun registry now has another
claim to fame — it has lost track of at least 46,000 licensed gun
owners. Renewals sent out to these licence holders from the Canada
Firearms Centre inexplicably came back from the post office marked as
“undelivered” mail.

Tory MP Garry Breitkreuz has pointed out this information gap could pose
a serious risk if police officers were to approach a house either
mistakenly believing a gun was on the premises based on old information,
or incorrectly assuming there was no gun.

Meanwhile, the Firearms Centre apparently feels losing 46,000 renewal
notices is no big deal.

Spokesman Jamie Deacon pointed out that the undelivered mail rate was
lower than industry standards, and “more than nine out of 10 were
successfully delivered.”

That’s not particularly reassuring given that the government has
contended that the registry is so important to the nation’s public
safety.

More to the point, the missing licence renewals are just another example
of why the registry has become little more than a billion-dollar
sinkhole that has contributed little, if anything, to the safety of
Canadians.

University of Calgary Prof. Ted Morton made this assessment of the
registry two years ago, and it still holds true today: “The purpose of
Bill C-68 –to reduce the use of firearms in violent crime –is laudable
and shared by all law-abiding Canadians. However, its licensing and
registration requirements do nothing to achieve this end. There is no
credible evidence that the new licensing or registration requirements
will have any effect on the criminal use of firearms or the incidence of
firearms in domestic disputes or accidents. Former Justice Minister
Allan Rock has conceded the obvious: criminals will never register their
guns.”