It’s time to set the record straight on the Harper government’s plans to change the gun laws.
The Conservative government proposes to eliminate the mandatory requirement to register long-barrel firearms (rifles) — not eliminate the gun registry entirely.
Somewhere, somehow, during the gun debate, some Canadians have been misled into thinking the Tories want to scrap the gun registry, period.
In fact, handguns will still have to be registered, and their owners will still face stringent rules.
Prior to the former Liberal government introducing gun laws that came with an unexpectedly high price tag, Canada had some of the toughest gun laws in the world.
Nevertheless, the Liberals brought in a costly law in an attempt to curb gun-related violence.
That law — with the exception of the mandatory rifle registry — is very similar to the previous law. Yet gun-related violence has not stopped in this country.
Under the former gun law, anyone not of sound mind was prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm — be it a handgun or a rifle.
Then, a Firearms Acquisition Certificate was required for all gun owners. They had to fill out a form that asked questions about mental instability and criminal records involving violence. (The potential to lie on the form is no less now than it was then.)
Owning a handgun under the old laws was tough. Obtaining an acquisitions certificate was a minor point. In addition to registering the firearm, potential owners were also required to obtain a permit to legally transport the gun.
Other requirements specified that the handgun owner must be a member of a legitimate shooting club and the handgun could only be carried from that person’s residence to an accredited shooting range. On the return trip from the range, that person was required to go directly home with the handgun. Even a quick stop would lead to a charge of unlawfully transporting a handgun.
How much tougher could the gun laws get?
On Dec. 6, 1989, Mark Lepine, a mentally ill individual who blamed all his failures in life on women, declared a personal war against feminism.
He entered the engineering school Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and shot dead 14 women, and wounded 10 others and four men, before shooting himself. Lepine’s actions have been variously ascribed to psychiatric diagnoses such as personality disorder, psychosis or attachment disorder.
Groups pushing for better protection for women demanded new gun laws after the massacre. The new laws, originally estimated to cost in the millions to administrate, ballooned into reckless spending over $1 billion.
But the gun laws don’t take into account that it is extremely difficult to police the kind of mental illnesses that drive some sufferers on a murdering rampage.
What the Tories are addressing is the requirement to register rifles — not usually the weapon of choice in murders. In Canada, knives are most likely used in drunken brawls and domestic disputes. Illegal handguns are often the weapon of choice among gangs. Rifles, like the .22-calibre often used to control rodents, are a fact of life in rural Canada. Rifles and shotguns are used for hunting and competition shooting.
Some Canadians can’t condone the use or presence of firearms under any circumstances. Short of banning all guns outright, they will never be pleased. But that should not play a role in revamping laws to govern the legitimate use of guns. The law will continue to put an emphasis on safe ownership.
Rick Zemanek is an Advocate editor.