MarkG

Why shouldn't they?

The vast majority of people are not crazed psychos, and crazed psychos don't give a crap about breaking the law to kill people: after all, murder is _already_ illegal.

I can't speak for Canada but, ignoring terrorism, I believe the largest mass murder in America was committed with a can of petrol and a match. Guns are really terribly inefficient ways to kill a lot of people, which is why even the military generally prefer explosives and incendiaries for those jobs.

oceanMDX

Rae was a terrible leader... but with the selection being so piss poor... Rae may win the Liberal leadership notwithstanding his record.

Novocastrian

And Harper?

oceanMDX

The gun registry was suppose to protect us against a repeat of the Marc Lepine (?) disaster.... it failed to stop the latest moron who followed all the rules and registered his guns... I am aware of no evidence that it has protected us but has only added more cost and paperwork to gun ownership... and property rights are an issue since the government has legislated which guns we may or may not own.

oceanMDX

... Harper previously served as the MP for Calgary West from 1993 to 1997, and he was a founding member of the Reform Party.... he also served as Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.... the Canadian people were familiar with him before the last election.... but this Ignatieff fellow?

Novocastrian

So, it needs strengthening, not repealing.

For evidence, compare US and Canadian gun homicides. Cost and paperwork? Big deal.

oceanMDX

Don't you mean that guns should simply be banned across the country?


Sorry, but that is not evidence... long before Canada had gun registration - or any legislation regarding gun ownership - the US had far, far higher rates of violent crime involving guns ....

Novocastrian

I stand corrected. I first came across him when he was a pundit on the CBC politics show and leader of the NCC.

oceanMDX

For those interested in this gun registry debate, you may want to read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89c...nique_Massacre

Novocastrian

No.


What would you accept as evidence then? Evidence of the essential sanity of keeping a track on guns, just like we do on cars?

iaink

But the 3 weapons used were registered weapons, and the assault rifle was covered by the older, more repressive restricted weapons legislation. No one is considering repealing that.
Its not guns that kill people, its loonies with guns.

My boss is a recreational shooter (not a hunter) He has a few shotguns and handguns. When he registered he supplied references as required. Were they followed up on? What do you think! What about theother members of the gun club he knows. Nope, few if any of them either it seems!

Its not the laws that are the problem, its the application of them and the allocation of resources that are the problem.

The Federal Gun Registry is a different thing altogether. It was a complete waste of at least a billion dollars, it never did what it was supposed to, as proven by 4 dead cops in Alberta last year, and it was ten times or more over budget. Apart from anything else it would be breaking a direct election promise if they did not do away with it, and if there is an election brewing, that would just be too much ammo for the liberals for the conservatives to consider back tracking over.

Novocastrian

Yawn.

dbd33

I'm not convinced that there's a case for keeping track of cars. The number of cars and their ownership is only a matter of interest to the government in terms of tax revenue.

It seems to me that the gun registry is a waste of money but no more than that. Of the three guns I know about on our street none are registered and two are ineligible for registration anyway because they're hand guns. The bagel shop lady next door keeps a shotgun which I know isn't registered because yesterday the cops came after a shooting in the shop (customer on customer drug squabble nothing to do with her) and this morning she was all atwitter about how if she defends herself she'll get busted.

Overall, I know of four unregistered guns in the city and one registered gun in the country. I fail to see how the person in the country filling in forms helps anyone. However, I think the gun regulations are enforced as vigorously as the bicycle helmet regulations so I don't think they're a great intrusion on property rights. (All that said, my OH has left her handgun in the US for the moment).

oceanMDX

One problem with registration is that the criminals will never bother to register their guns.... they will just smuggle them in from the porous US border. So all you are doing is creating additional cost/trouble for the average, law abiding citizen. In addition, if someone is willing to go through the hoops and register their guns, nothing is preventing them from going postal - as we have just seen.

With respect to issue of evidence: I would submit that this latest incident demonstrates the uselessness of the gun registry. The government has spent over $1 billion on this useless registry.... imagine how much shorter the wait lines would be for cataract, heart etc surgery if that money would have been spend on health care.

Novocastrian

Right. So, I don't need to take the plates off before running people over then?