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.
Read on...
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Showing posts with label long-gun registry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long-gun registry. Show all posts
Tory gun bill delists sniper rifles, semi-automatics
OTTAWA—The powerful Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle used in the 1989 Montreal massacre and this summer’s Norway bloodbath.
Sniper rifles that can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 kilometres.
Or one that can drop a target two kilometres away.
They are all weapons that will soon be declassified under the Conservatives’ bill to kill the long-gun registry and freed from binding controls that now see them listed with the RCMP-run database.
They fall under the class of “non-restricted” weapons and they are about to become unregistered. Restricted or prohibited firearms such automatic assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns or handguns are not affected by the bill and would remain under current controls.
But under Bill C-19, the law would no longer require a licensed gun owner to hold a registration certificate for “non-restricted” weapons.
Harper bill to kill long-gun registry could come this week
OTTAWA — The Harper government is poised to introduce contentious legislation as early as Thursday to abolish the long-gun registry.
The legislation is bound to once again spark sharp political debate over whether the registry is a much-needed tool for police to keep Canadian communities safe, or whether it has become a costly intrusion into the lives of law-abiding gun-owners.
Moreover, the bill will likely illustrate the urban-rural divide in Canada, and possibly even cause divisions among members of the opposition party caucuses over which stance their party should take.
The government quietly signalled its intention on Tuesday evening by placing on the House of Commons notice paper a bill that Justice Minister Rob Nicholson will soon introduce.
The bill will amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act and also “make a consequential amendment” to another law, according to the notice paper.
Harper probably wishes he could keep the registry and continue blaming the Liberals for it. He will lose a big issue in rural ridings. Tom
Gun Control Issue Reveals a Changing Canada
Published: December 6, 2009
Christinne Muschi/Reuters
Women in Ottawa observed the 20th anniversary on Sunday of a shooting spree that left 14 women dead at a college in Montreal. Parliament's response to the crime was a long-gun registry, which requires the registration of rifles and shotguns.
OTTAWA — Like public health care, Canada’s tight gun-control laws help distinguish the country from its powerful neighbor to the south. But as Canadians commemorated the 20th anniversary of one of the country’s most notorious shooting sprees on Sunday, their Parliament was on course to eliminate one of its most significant gun-control measures.
A long-gun registry, which requires the registration of rifles and shotguns, emerged largely from public revulsion over the massacre in 1989.
A decade before the Columbine high school shootings set off a national debate on gun violence in the United States, an angry, unemployed 25-year-old armed with a semiautomatic hunting rifle stormed the École Polytechnique, an engineering school in Montreal. Shouting “I hate feminists,” the gunman separated the female students from the men and killed 14 women before killing himself.
A Dec. 6 opinion piece from the New York Times. Tom
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