PUBLICATION:        The New Brunswick Telegraph Journal

DATE:                         2003.08.28

SECTION:                  Opinion

PAGE:                         A6

COLUMN:                  Editorials

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Another setback for gun registry

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We Believe: Province's firearms decision is

a good one Question: What do you think about New Brunswick's decision not to prosecute firearms registration cases?

The provincial government has been opposed to a national gun registry for years, and any doubt as to the depth of that opposition has now been eliminated by Attorney General Brad Green.

With the endorsement of his premier, Mr. Green has wiped the collective brow of an already swamped New Brunswick Crown Prosecutors office by implementing a new policy where firearms registration charges will not be prosecuted in the province. Simply put, cases will be referred to federal prosecutors.

Although the gun registry office calls Miramichi home, New Brunswick is the sixth province to openly defy the federal government by taking this course of action. While the provincial government has been tardy in the decision-making process on this and a host of other issues, it has made a good decision to get off this merry-go-round. The gun registry is a $1-billion boondoggle that's been allowed to gulp tax dollars under three federal justice ministers over an eight-year period. With all the spending - with modern technology at its beck and call - there is still not statistical data that informs law enforcement agencies in New Brunswick how many guns have been registered. Furthermore, no one has a clue how many illegal arms - weapons we often hear about after serious crimes are made public - will never be registered.

What we see in the federal gun program is a track record of registration glitches and cost overruns. What we see are a lack of assurances that the majority of provinces and their residents were ever on side with this initiative. What we see is a clash of urban and rural ideals that was overlooked by federal officials. Where urban Toronto may equate guns with criminal violence or self defence, rural New Brunswick sees them as a practical tool for aptitudes related to farming and hunting.

What the gun registry has become is one of the most expensive public education exercises in Canadian history. Inadvertently, responsible gun owners are probably acting in a safer manner around firearms. That may help prevent accidents in the woods or around homes, but the reality is that responsible Canadians were never the target, nor were the taxpayers who have been forced to swallow this bitter billion-dollar pill.

With heavy caseloads, Mr. Green would rather his prosecutors attend to genuine criminal matters. In New Brunswick, that doesn't include this federal firearms registration law.