New government will have to deal with... - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 13:05
PUBLICATION: Times & Transcript (Moncton)
DATE: 2006.01.24
PAGE: B6
SECTION: Everett Mosher
BYLINE:
WORD COUNT: 628
------------------------------------------------------------------------
New government will have to deal with gun legislation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As this was written yesterday, the outcome of the federal election was
still very much an unknown.
Yet, regardless of that outcome, hunters, target shooters, collectors
and all others that own firearms will be affected in one way or the
other.
Paul Martin has proposed the banning of all privately owned handguns.
Steven Harper has stated that he will do away with Bill C-68.
Yet, almost everyone is well aware that banning handguns will only
affect the law abiding owners of currently registered handguns and will
have no affect on the illegal use of handguns by criminals.
Conversely, there is some doubt that Harper will completely do away with
all aspects of the bill.
Full implementation of this legislation was supposed to cost no more
than $119 million, yet the current cost is over $1.5 billion (that's
$1,500,000,000) and steadily increasing.
That $1.5 billion has been spent and can never be recovered. Current
yearly costs are projected to be around $100 million, give or take
$10-20 million.
If we look at a cross-section of the Canadian public, we find a small
percentage that would outlaw the private ownership of all firearms, with
their possession limited to the police and the military.
Some of those folks have lost loved ones killed by a firearm, yet there
are also those that have supported this viewpoint for purely political
reasons, or for reasons of personal profit, power, etc.
Then we have the majority of Canadians who do not own a firearm, yet are
concerned that firearms are being used for criminal purposes.
These folks can be swayed either for or against private ownership,
depending on what they read or hear.
For the average firearm owner, the hassle involved in acquiring a
firearm licence and registering their firearms stirred up considerable
resentment towards the Liberal government in Ottawa.
They have also been more than a little upset about what it has cost them
financially and that it has cost all Canadian taxpayers, firearm owner
and non- firearm owner alike, $1.5 billion to date.
Despite the spending of all this money, there is no evidence that it has
reduced the criminal use of firearms one iota.
In the firearms community a significant percentage are very much opposed
to both the licensing of the firearm owner and the registration of
firearms.
Most of these folks are of the firm belief that firearm registration is
but the first step to eventual confiscation. Martin's proposed ban on
handguns lends credibility to this belief.
Note that in Great Britain the private ownership of all handguns has
been banned. Olympic pistol shooters have to travel to another country
in order to practiae.
In Australia, the ownership of all semi-auto and pump action long guns
has been banned for several years. Yet, in both countries the criminal
use of firearms has risen substantially since then.
It seems very elementary common sense to say we should register and ban
the criminal, not the firearm.
Although the figures are not precise, less than 10 per cent of the
population commits 90 per cent of the crimes.
When a criminal gets out of jail, he or she is very likely to go on
committing more crimes. We currently have a revolving door system with
criminals.
Instead, if we had a "three strikes your out" policy like California
where, if a criminal is convicted of a crime for the third time they are
sent to jail for life, it's speculated that crimes in this country would
drop by as much as one- half. We should be targeting the criminal
element, not an inanimate object such as a firearm.
The newly elected government should not do away with the licensing of
firearm owners. They do, however, need to start a registry of those who
were refused a firearm licence, information that is not currently kept.
As for the possible discontinuance of the current long gun firearm
registry, we must first ask certain questions.
The public very much wants to know if this registry actually reduces the
criminal use of firearms, and, if so, to what extent; and, does the
benefits justify the costs. Yet, the key question to ask is just how
much Bill C-68 has infringed on the privacy and other rights of firearm
owning Canadians. And that may well be the primary reason why the
legislation should be thrown out, replaced with firearm legislation that
would be common sensed, practical, cost effective and target the
criminals, without infringing on the rights of law- abiding Canadians.
No soap opera can ever compare to what has gone on in political circles
in Ottawa, including having a separatist party in the Canadian
parliament. Thus what goes on in Ottawa the next few months should be
more than a little interesting, especially since it will affect each and
every Canadian.
Comments
Comments by prariedog from Alberta on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 22:06
thers no doubt harper is somewhat hobbled in the current situation. he can't just scrap c68 the way he could with a majority.. however there are a number of ways to subtily hack away at it. 1, is to divert cash from the program to other programs that opposition parties may want more.. ie roads, infrastructure, daycare, education ect... 2, the 'order in councel' is a handy tool that can be used to sabotage the law in our favour, though i doubt it could be used to outright cancel c68.. but in the right hands, say, garry, could declare all prohibs to be restricted, and all current restricted to be non-restricted ect.. 3, harper can sneak around the issue, but pushing and selling other laws that will trump, interfere or handicap c68, such as property rights, or privacy rights ect. that may be readily supported by ppl across the spectrum. 4, hack pieces of c68 out of service.. ie can the registry, even if the rest of the bill stays on for a while, and stop any other parts not yet enacted from going forward. and finally, 5, harper could contract the csis or some other secret service organization to kill windy wendy and eat her body.
Comments by freedom fighter from Canada on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 19:53
Finally, a changing of the guard. I'm glad Outhouse Annie is history and hopefully Stephen will start to clean up the mess made by the Lieberals. Stephen needs to repeal bill 68 and by working with Quebec unity he will win more seats there which could mean a future CONS majority.
Comments by Old Owl from British Columbia on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 17:47
Sadly to say, The Blok (Duceppe) is the only party Harper can work with, and he will have to deal to get Bill C 68 replaced with something we can live with. Forget about agreeing with either the Liberals or NDP, it aint going to happen.
I would think also that no funding will dry the totally unecessary law up, and both idiotic parties are well aware of this fact.
There is also some Liberals who were opposed to Bill C 68, but did not have any gonads. A gamble to call a vote if you don`t know the outcome.
Comments by STIRanger from Alberta on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 17:33
The A/G's follow-up report on the blackhole is due in February. If there is enough evidence to resonably suggest Ms. McLellan knowingly had a hand in laundering, diverting, or otherwise fooling about with public funds, I bet Mr. Harper will Gomery-2 her to death!
Comments by 375 H&H from Yukon on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 17:24
Oops ! I meant January 1st 2003 !
Comments by 375 H&H from Yukon on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:56
Whatever it takes, we want C - 68 buried, not our guns. My 375 has spent approximately half the time since January 1st underground. I'm sick of burying and digging up. It drives me nuts thinking about all the guns [ my pride and joys ] rifles, shotguns and handguns in cold storage. With a sensible government, registration at least, should be a thing of the past, an ugly memory. Still, never put all your eggs in one basket. The right government will encourage the same. NEVER REGISTER.
Comments by Jim from Canada on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:35
I hope you are right Bayonet.But does Harper have to go through parliment with some kind of bill to starve the registry of funds or can they just do it unilatrally ??????
Comments by Ticked Ontarian from Ontario on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:35
Stephen will do ok if he continues with integrity and turns Sheila Fraser loose on these incompetent lying communist bent Liberals. Just think about it....what computer system could possibly cost three quarters of a billion dollars and still not even be secure???
Comments by Bayonet from Other on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:23
The irony Jim,is that toronto ,montreal and vancouver for the first time have no cabinet ministers in goverment,so despite being political gold mines in the way of seats they will have little to no clout-harper need say to them what the liberals have been saying to the west-sorry and "BUHBYE"-I think the the registry will be killed by a slow strangulation of funds and will dry up and blow away.
Comments by GUN FREAK from British Columbia on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 16:17
PROUDLY REMAINING UNLICENCED AND UNREGISTERED,IN POSESSION AND USE OF SOME TWENTY GUNS! Hey,lufa told you not to comply,but you didnt listen! This fight might have been won long ago,otherwise.
Comments by 375 H&H from Yukon on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 15:52
It is wonderful that finally we have a Conservative government, and that we can have confidence in Prime Minister Stephen Harper { sounds good doesn't it ?! }. But, let's not kid ourselves. The Conservative Party, with having to constantly argue against perverts, liars and thieves, face an uphill battle in trying to get ANYTHING sensible passed. With the paliametary procedure, and convoluted legal way 'laws' are set up, it would have been hard enough to repeal C-68 even with a majority. Howbeit, our prospects are definitely much better now the Conservatives hold the reins, even though there's going to be times we'll be wondering who's got the big stick. In spite of all the perversion, lying, thieving and corruption, millions chose to turn a blind eye ! This was a simple choice, good versus evil, right versus wrong. Am I missing something ? Can ANYONE tell me what redeeming quality there is in being a LIEberal or N.D.P.? As far as I'm concerned, every last one of them is lower than the doggy-doo !
Comments by Greg from Ontario on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 15:48
To Roland, I wonder if the Order in Council
clause(to change anything in C-68 without going
through parliament) will be all that's needed
to scrap it. Does any one else know what will
be needed.
Comments by Jim from Canada on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 15:46
Lets just hope Harper does not go Toronto on us and forget where his power base is ........
Comments by Don from Alberta on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 15:13
Roland, I think they can emasculate that voracious monster by simply cutting off its food: namely MONEY! NO MORE FUNDING FOR THAT DISGUSTING ASSAULT ON RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS. I like Lillian's comments. GET THE AUDIT GOING IMMEIDATELY! Watch the Miramichi rats scurry and hide! Right now ANY semi-skilled hacker can get shopping lists of OUR GUNS. That is the WORST danger of a vicious and dangerous law. Numerous breakins where pretty well only guns were stolen seem to have been targeted by people who knew exactly what kind of firearms were available. ONLY a list of law-abiding registered gun owners could have been so specific and that could only have come from the incredibly ill-designed and clumsy $750 million dollar sieve called the CFC computer system. If more RCMP or city police are killed with these stolen firearms, it can be directly attributed to the useless, expensive and oppressive registry and C-68. Liberals should be charged, prosecuted and jailed for this vicious assault on law abiding people. Mclellan, who was responsible for the bulk of the money and for forming the totally unwarranted NWEST, comes immediately to mind.
Comments by Roland Lewis from British Columbia on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 14:29
There is no doubt in my mind that the Liberals sealed their fate by brushing aside the votes of legitimate gun owners (especially in the west).
Prior to losing the election, I really think liberal politicians believed the CFC statistics that suggest there are only 2.2 million gun owners in Canada.I tend to believe there are 7 million gun owners in Canada. Also, it may be tough for the new Conservative government to dump C-68. I don't know how easy it would be for PM Harper to do this with a minority Tory government in power.
Can someone out there versed in political science enlighten me in this regard.
Thanks.
Comments by dynacom from Other on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 14:14
diaprax def. practicing dialogue to reach a Hegelian (dialectic) synthesis. Otherwise known as compromise that eats away your rights, little by little.
Comments by dynacom from Other on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 14:10
No tricky diaprax, no let's make a deal, no nothing you UN, global-ony, reprobate freaks!!!
Comments by dynacom from Other on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 14:08
NO CRAP FROM LIBRAL MONCTON AND MIRAMICHI.
Comments by Lillian from Saskatchewan on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 13:33
I don;t necessarily believe that "none of that money can be recovered!" I say turn Shiela Fraser loose with full power to trace all money paid to LIEberal insiders and cronies, and foreign operatives. Remember that she had to abandon her first audit because "get-your-guns-Annie" refused to tell her the location of tens of millions of our money poured into that black hole.
But Annie will still get over $100,000.00 annually OF OUR MONEY for having been a liar and for hiding facts from us and parliament for twelve years. This is abominable!
Comments by Mack The Turtle from Manitoba on - Tuesday, January 24, 2006 at 13:12
This is by far, one of the best articles on the subject that I've read in a long time.
Try convincing people like Wendy "the kook" Cukier though, they simply wave their hands and walk away. Facts simply don't matter when you can rely on lies and hysteria I guess.
But, no matter how you slice it, Harper has a tough road ahead. Scrapping the useless gun registry is just one step on that road.
He'll do ok I think...
New government will have to deal with gun legislation
I dont like it but have to live with it .
Linear Mode
