NOTE:
Linda Williamson's
column also appeared today in the Calgary Sun: REGISTER CRIMINALS, NOT GUNS -
GRITS PLAN TO TINKER WITH FIREARM REGISTRY
PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun
DATE:
2004.03.04
EDITION: Final
SECTION:
Editorial/Opinion
PAGE:
15
BYLINE:
LINDA WILLIAMSON
COLUMN:
Second Thoughts
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ELECTION
AMMO TO WOO VOTES,
MARTIN
MAY TINKER WITH HATED GUN REGISTRY
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Prime
Minister Paul Martin has been under fire for weeks because of the sponsorship
scandal, but what he really wants to do is campaign. So how can he deflect the
barrage and convince voters to set their sights on an election instead? How
about by targeting the hated gun registry?
It
now seems likely Martin will make dramatic changes to that billion-dollar
boondoggle, just in time for his long-planned spring vote.
No,
no, he won't scrap it - that would offend too many Liberals who still believe
the registry is all about "gun control." But he could
"decriminalize" it, as he's about to do with marijuana possession.
Conservative
MP Garry Breitkreuz told me yesterday Martin's point woman on the registry,
Toronto-area Grit Albina Guarnieri, has "hinted" to him she will
recommend decriminalization as part of her just-finished review.
That
is, those who possess unregistered rifles and shotguns would get the same
courtesy as all those pot smokers the Liberals are so concerned about - they
would no longer be burdened with a criminal record. Instead, they'd face fines
under a revamped Firearms Act - which would still make them register their guns.
In
practical terms, that would mean very little, notes Breitkreuz, the Saskatchewan
MP who has fought the registry for years and, I'd argue, knows more about it
than anyone in Canada, including those responsible for it.
"It's
such a baby step," he said. "It won't address the costs. All the
problems with the registry are still there."
All
true. Nevertheless, it could be a golden political ploy for the Grits as they
gear up to take on the emerging Conservatives, who as yet have no leader or
election platform, but whose position on the gun registry is clear: scrap it.
Remember
the budget Martin brought in right before the 2000 election? He sabotaged the
Alliance's best policy (tax cuts) by announcing billions in tax cuts of his own.
A cosmetic change to the gun registry could be this year's version of that
highly successful platform ripoff.
But
that's all it would be, warns Breitkreuz. Although removing the registry from
the Criminal Code would bring some relief to long gun owners, it would still
exist. It would still be a gigantic waste of money and - most importantly - it
would still do absolutely nothing to combat gun crime.
"It's
very insignificant compared to what needs to be done," says Breitkreuz. And
he should know. Ever on the forefront of the issue, he has just released a new
proposal for what should replace the registry.
Essentially,
Breitkreuz would "register criminals, not guns" - i.e., maintain a
list of violent criminals and others who are banned from possessing firearms,
and strictly enforce it.
He
would concentrate on tough restrictions on violent offenders and strong,
mandatory penalties for gun crimes - including smuggling and illicit sales of
firearms. Legal firearms owners would still have to have proper safety training
and licences, and produce them for police when asked.
As
for the $100 million or so in registry costs that could be saved, Breitkreuz
would put it toward fighting the "root causes" of crime, as well as
law enforcement.
The
key difference, of course, is that this plan would address the kind of crimes
we're seeing in our cities right now - crimes that involve multiple, random
shootings by handgun-toting gangs, all of which the registry is powerless
against.
Breitkreuz
says since he released his ideas last week (read them at http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/breitkreuzgpress/guns114.htm
), the response has been overwhelmingly positive, although some eyebrows have
been raised about his proposal for "periodic inspection (for illegal
firearms) of the residences and property of repeat offenders" listed in the
criminal registry. "Some people just don't trust the government" with
the power to carry out such searches, he says. Fair enough, but it's still
preferable to criminalizing innocent duck hunters.
And
it's a policy Conservatives need to develop as the election looms and Martin
readies his bag of tricks. A decade of Liberal "gun control" has
failed - we've wasted $1 billion (Breitkreuz says some estimates actually put it
as high as $2 billion) and gun crime in our cities is only increasing.
Mere
tinkering with the law as it stands won't fix the problem, and won't make us any
safer, says Breitkreuz. He expects the Liberal response will be "all about
creating impressions" that they've heard our concerns, pre-election.
Well,
he's not impressed. Me neither. How about you?