PUBLICATION:
Times
Colonist (Victoria)
DATE:
2003.06.09
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
Comment
PAGE:
A6
SOURCE:
Times Colonist
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Gun
registry farce continues: Our $1-billion investment has given us a system that
six provinces refuse to endorse
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Canadians
have known for years that the federal gun registry is a bad idea would cost cost
too much and make criminals out of law-abiding people without dealing with the
real problem -- guns being used in crimes.
But
how long will it take the federal government to understand? Eight years after
sending us into a regulatory nightmare, Ottawa is still pressing ahead with the
registry, oblivious to the waste -- and to the hostility the plan faces from one
end of the country to another.
The
B.C. government made it clear this week where it stands on the topic.
Attorney-General Geoff Plant says the registry is an "unmitigated
disaster," and the province will not prosecute firearm owners for failing
to register their guns.
"It's
a vast public expenditure for no apparent public return," Plant says.
"It is astonishing to me that over a billion dollars could be spent for the
primary purpose, apparently, of essentially criminalizing people who are
otherwise the lawful owners of rifles, shotguns, and these sorts of
things."
Plant's
words echoed the views of most British Columbians -- and most Canadians. B.C.
becomes the sixth province to tell the federal government that it won't enforce
the new Firearms Act. That means any prosecutions will be up to federal
prosecutors.
Formal
opposition to the gun registry now stretches from coast to coast, and includes
governments with diverse political points of view -- including Liberal (B.C.),
Progressive Conservative (Alberta, Ontario, Nova Scotia), and New Democrat
(Saskatchewan, Manitoba).
It's
no longer possible for federal politicians to claim that the opposition is
coming only from the usual malcontents in the West. The rejection of the foolish
gun registry is coming from across the nation. The only real question is how
long it will take for Ottawa to accept that fact.
The
decisions by the provinces haven't been the only bad news about the registry for
the federal government this week. It has also been revealed that the $1 billion
spent launching the system wasn't enough to pay for a computer system that could
handle the load.
A
crash in December wiped out the records of gun owners who thought they had
successfully applied online. How many registrations have been lost? Nobody is
sure. But it's setting the government up for failure on yet another level --
because some people who tried to comply with the law may find themselves charged
for failing to do so.
Then,
the government admitted that it hasn't done background checks on everyone who
has been granted licences for their firearms.
The
gun registry was a bad idea that has been poorly implemented by a federal
government unwilling to listen to the views of the nation.
We're down about $1 billion so far -- but no matter how much it has cost us, the registry should be scrapped immediately.