Gun registry is gone
One of the first acts of new majority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper this fall will be to do away with the controversial long-gun registry.
MP Larry Miller attended the regular meeting of Grey County council on August 2 and promised the elimination of the long-gun registry is one of the government's top priorities.
"I'd like to say yesterday," Miller said, when responding to a question from Meaford Deputy Mayor Harley Greenfield about when the registry's demise would come about. "If it's not done the first week back it will be gone before Christmas," said Miller.
The end of the long gun registry has long been a key policy plank of the Conservative Party. However, with their first two mandates being minority situations the Harper government was never able to act on that promise.
With a majority now in hand, the government will not be wasting time on the matter. Miller told county councillors that demise of the long gun registry had to be done properly.
"Some want to see all of Bill C-68 gone, but there are storage laws in there that will stay. None of us can argue with the safe storage of firearms," said Miller, noting that the government would be eliminating the mandatory registration of long guns.
The long gun registry was introduced by the Chrétien government in the 1990s as a public safety measure. It has long pitted rural areas of the country against more urban areas. The registry barely survived a private members bill meant to bring about its demise during the last Harper minority government. People living in rural areas of the country have long resented the requirement to register long gun firearms or face criminal charges. Critics of the registry said it did nothing for public safety, while supporters said it was an important and valuable tool for police.
"This has been in our election platform a long time. Overall, it is still the number one issue I hear about. I had three calls on it this morning," Miller told reporters after speaking to county council.