Letter: Gun registry is a waste

PUBLICATION: The Record (Waterloo Region)
DATE: 2004.12.30
SECTION: Opinion
PAGE: A6
BYLINE: Brian Knipfel

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Gun registry is a waste

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Frank Etherington shows in his Dec. 27 column, Gun-Toting MP Needs Shot Of Reality On Gun Deaths, that he is upset with Paul Steckle’s Christmas card.

It’s because of people such as Etherington that the government continues to waste millions of our tax dollars on firearm registration. Etherington says more 15- to 24-year-olds are being killed by firearms every year. I bet if we were to check we would find most of these kids are not from the rural areas, like Steckle’s. Rather they are from an urban area where, no thanks to firearm registration, it is probably easier to buy a gun than a good book.

The fact that 40 per cent of woman murdered by their husbands are shot is terrible indeed. Had they not had access to a firearm though, could they not have used what the other 60 per cent are using? The facts also state that 80 per cent of the firearms used are legally owned firearms. A registered firearm that is stolen and used in a crime is still a legally owned firearm. Again, this shows that our tax dollars are wasted on the firearm registration.

We should be working on improving our family and social values which seem to be deteriorating at an alarming rate. As long as people waste time and money on something that is not the problem we will still have a problem.

Brian Knipfel
Petersburg