The gun registry is a worthwhile endeavour. Police deserve the ability to know that a resident or driver owns a gun. This should be our objective. In addition they should be able to remove unregistered guns. I suspect that fences and drug houses would not likely register.
Most of the dissenting views have argued that it is not worth it, that the criminals will not register their guns. Good — when given the opportunity the police will be able to remove these guns. More importantly, if you or your son/daughter were a police officer responding to a domestic dispute or pulling over a car, would you want the ability to know that the owner had guns?
Why did it fail? As a community we failed to support the plan. The federal government did not establish clear objectives and the provincial governments did not support the plan. We all lost.
Why does it have to be so expensive? Why could it not be an added question on the vehicle registry? How many guns? What are the serial numbers?
Yes, some guns do not have serial numbers and there will be errors. Yes, there will have to be a form for those who own guns but not a vehicle. I do not care. What is important is that the police officer knows that the resident has a gun. In addition there is already a process where a police officer can readily obtain information through a vehicle licence. Our money should have gone to improve this.
This system might have saved the RCMP officer who pulled over a vehicle in Ontario.
I believe it will eventually happen but not for a long time as it is currently political suicide. Unfortunately lives will be lost in the interim.
Wayne Richardson, St. Albert
