Gun registry: Vic Toews orders RCMP to flag efforts to track long-gun sales

The federal public safety minister has fired off a rocket to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson, ordering him to flag any efforts by provinces to track long-gun sales.
In a letter sent Tuesday to the top Mountie, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews threatened unspecified “legislative and regulatory measures” against defiant provincial firearms officers who engage in what he calls “unauthorized data collection.”
Although the RCMP’s operations are supposed to be at arms-length from the public safety minister’s office, Toews clearly instructs Paulson in writing about what he expects of the RCMP.
The RCMP is in charge of administering the firearms program, which includes gun-owner licensing and the collection of data on restricted and prohibited weapons. It also maintains — until a Quebec court challenge is decided — the data previously collected under the defunct long-gun registry.

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