BIG Issue of the day is the Federal Gun Registry programme. While it was an initiative born out of tragedy (the multiple shooting of women in a university in Montreal) it has typically spiralled out of control. A simple registry programme which will track ownership of firearms is costing hundreds of millions of dollars to develop, and seems to be ineffective (recent news about the shooting of 4 RCMP members in Alberta points the finger at this registry and why it didn't help to identify the problem before it could happen) and doesn't get at the root of the problem: the criminal element who will not register their weapons anyways.
Yes this is a big issue. You will get a lot of discussion on it. I personally think that there is an Urban/Rural dichotomy here. As a city girl, I have no problem with registering such lethal tools. After all I do the same withmy vehicle. Yes, it costs money, but so what? There is nothing fundamentally wrong, no loss of freedom involved. If i got a gun I would gladly register it. Especially since it would help to track it if it got stolen.
Rural Canada has s different view. I'm not sure that I can comment on it, but my understanding is that why should law abiding citizens have to be penalized for owning firearms and have to pay out just because they have them. They are a requirement for rural life, whether they are used for hunting or maintaining a farm, or large property. Actually, I still don't understand the resistance, as it seems to be only $$$ that are the problem. maybe somebody could state the opinion from that side.
To summarize:
- Gun registry good because it tracks the ownership of these weapons
- Gun registry bad because it is over-priced (close to a billion $)
- Gun Registrybad because criminal element will by pass it anyways.
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