PUBLICATION:        The Province

DATE:                         2003.06.10

EDITION:                    Final

SECTION:                  Editorial

PAGE:                         A14

SOURCE:                   The Windsor Star

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In other words: Gun registry a shotgun approach to public safety

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Last December, Auditor General Sheila Fraser roundly criticized the federal government for keeping Parliament "in the dark" when the costs of the shotgun and rifle registry began to escalate.

Fraser said that the registry cost would exceed $1 billion in taxpayers' money by 2005, even though the original cost-benefit analysis was based on a cost of only $2 million.

If things weren't bad enough already, the registry has apparently now lost the records of any gun owners who registered in late December.

The loss of files will make prosecution of people who are not registered by the June 30 deadline for gun registration almost impossible. To its credit, Ontario has joined a growing list of provinces that are planning to ignore the registry and not prosecute unregistered shotgun and rifle owners.

Ontario's Attorney General Norm Sterling has said the province would refer all charges laid under the federal Firearms Act to federal prosecutors, unless related to other criminal activities or Criminal Code offences. There is no substantial evidence that registering shotguns and rifles will curb gun crime in Canada.

While law-abiding citizens, including gun collectors and hunters, are registering their firearms, dangerous criminals will continue to use unregistered weapons. That being said, Ottawa isn't paying much attention to growing provincial concerns about the registry.

Hopefully, Paul Martin will realize the absurdity of maintaining the costly, ineffective shotgun and rifle registry, and shut it down if and when he becomes prime minister.