Letter: Gun registry a failure

PUBLICATION: The Record (Waterloo Region)
DATE: 2005.01.25
SECTION: Opinion
PAGE: A6
BYLINE: Jim Sehl

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Gun registry a failure

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An old albatross has raised its ugly head — the national gun registry.

The registry was supposed to cost only $3 million, but has now escalated
to over $1 billion.

|A recent letter to the editor stated that 2.2 million guns have been
registered to date. If we accept that figure, and I am always skeptical
of numbers released by the government, then it has cost us about $450
for each registered gun — roughly the cost of a brand-new store-bought
gun.

Would it not have been simpler to just pay out say $200 for each gun
turned in? Then, at least, 2.2 million guns would have been taken out of
circulation at half the cost.

When this much money is involved, I’m always concerned about fraud,
graft and bogus contracts. Some people think that once a gun is
registered it will not be used in crime, but no one can be sure of that.

All we have now, for our $1 billion, is a computer full of names of
honest people who own guns.

One of the letters to the editor said “the system works and is a small
price to pay to own such dangerous weapons.” Give me a break!

Jim Sehl
Waterloo