# Gun registry is DEAD!



## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Finally! I don't know how many of you follow Canadian politics but we had our federal election yesterday. The Conservative Party, which previously had a minority government, won enough seats to form a majority government.

The Conservatives have long pledged to kill the long-gun registry implemented by the previous Liberal government in 1995. The Conservatives came close -- within one vote last fall -- to eliminating the registry but now with the majority of seats in Parliament, the next vote on the long-gun registry's future will see it killed, once and for all.

Firearms owners up here will still have to get a licence to own firearms and owners of handguns will still be required to licence them, something most firearms owners can accept. But it was the long-gun regisry that angered gun owners.

It's not known just how and when the new Conservative majority government will go about eliminating the registry -- maybe one big tap on the 'delete' button. But once it's gone, no political party is going to want to tangle with that issue again. Since the registry was introduced it's cost about $2 billion to get it up and running although it's estimated there are millions of rifles and shotguns whose owners refused to register.

So yesterday was a good day in Canada for gun owners and a good day for democracy. :sniper: Saskcoyote


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

I spend a lot of time hunting and fishing in your country and appreciate that privilege very much.I also follow your political scene closely and am very happy about your election results as are the many Canadian friends I have there.Wonderful results,congrats!!!!


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## bearhunter (Jan 30, 2009)

great news. that just may make it harder for our government from doing it.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Saskcoyote, that is good news. I hope the conservatives keep their word, stand by their principles, and ditch some of those laws that spit on your freedom. It may not be my country, but I celebrate with a fellow hunter. Good luck.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

Well I have been led to believe it will be done asap. I called my elected member and politely let him know that if this gun fiasco is not dealt with soon he and his counter parts will be unemployed. The conservatives have been using the gun registry as a tool to attract rural voters,which i have no issue with as long as they keep the promises they are making.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Yo, headshot: I had the chance to interview Garry Breitkreuz today. He's our MP for Yorkton-Melville (for our American friends, an MP or Member of Parliament is similar to your congressional representative). Garry is arguably the fiercest critic of the long-gun registry and is recognized across Canada as the point man in the fight to eliminate the registry.

He told me the Prime Minister assured him that killing the registry would be one of the top priorities of the new government. As you pointed out, the Conservatives have long played the gun-registry card and it gained them immense support across Canada from firearms owners and translated into enormous support at the ballot box, particularly in rural ridings.

How long before the legislation is introduced and passed on the long-gun registration? Garry says it could happen within 100 days of the sitting of the new Parliament expected toward the end of May so that could mean as early as this summer. More likely, it'll happen in the fall, possibly in October.

I've come to know Garry well, he's a friend as well as my MP. Both he and the Conservative goverment have invested so much political capital in the registry fight and have gained so much political mileage from their anti-registry position that for them not to carry through quickly would be inconceivable.

The interview I did with him will be published in our next edition and I'm very confident he wouldn't make such a statement unless he sincerely believed that to be the case.

We've all waited a long time for the long-gun registry to die a necessary death and it's going to happen within a few months. Firearms owners like you and I have been waiting for 15-plus years. The day is coming soon. Good luck. Saskcoyote


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

I assume that probably does not change anything for non-Canadians although if memory serves,the reason I and many others came up and took your exams was due to this law.Any thoughts?


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

duckp, even when the long-gun registry is killed there'll still be some stipulations about ownership, possession and use. Anyone who wants to buy, borrow or use a firearm will be required to have a PAL. Obviously, you have one if you've taken Canadian tests and have brought firearms into Canada -- you'll be okay.

Even when the long-gun registry is eliminated, it will still be illegal -- unless under extraordinary circumstances such as law enforcement -- to bring handguns into Canada. After your question, I talked to a firearms instructor about the protocol for getting long guns into Canada after the legislation is changed.

Because there's still uncertainty about the new regulations, he couldn't say what the regulations at the border will be. You will probably still have to declare them, get the necessary paperwork and so on. Then, depending on what US customs decide to do, it shouldn't be much of a problem with inter-border firearms transport.

(Just as an aside, I've accountered fewer problems with Canada Customs bringing my firearms back into Canada from the US than I have with US Customs when I take my firearms into the US.)

Sorry I couldn't be of more help but up here in Canada, we're still not 100 per cent sure how the long-gun registry will unfold. If I come across more informaion, I'll pass it on. Good luck. Saskcoyote


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

That is good news. Now just to work on the rest of the stuff.

Chuck Norris once ordered a steak in a restaurant. The steak did what it was told.


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

OK,thanks.Hope it all unfolds favorably.


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## headshot (Oct 26, 2006)

I sure hope it happens. Garry is one of our best voices in Ottawa. I do not feel it makes much of a difference though, sask CO's are not checking for gun licenses. The last time i was checked he just wanted my wildlife habitat card and he made me verify my rifle was indeed unloaded.


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

People, when you say 'now just to get rid of the rest of the stuff' it was never the intention of the majority of firearms owners up here to completely get rid of all oversight on firearms.

Most of us agree with the Possession and Acquisition Licence (PAL) system (although we would have it liked it to be a little less intrusive) because this helps keep guns out of the hands of criminals and crazies -- and these are the types of people who create the problems for law-abiding gun owners. Groups who lobbied against the long-gun registry such as the National Firearms Association and the Canadian Association of Shooting Sports never called for the elimination of the PAL system.

Why the long-gun registry encounted such strong opposition and why so many of us fought it so fiercely is because we felt it was the first step toward the eventual confiscation of all privately owned firearms. We in Canada don't have anything similar in in Constitution to the Second Amendment that gives us the constitutional right to 'own and bear arms'.

The elimination of the long-gun registry serves a useful purpose in that a future government won't have the data to track rifles and shotguns owned by law-abiding citizens. Without that data, and not knowing who owns what type and how many, confiscation would be virtually impossible. Governments might in future pass a law to confiscate but it would be an unenforceable law. We saw that with the long-gun registry when many long-gun owners  didn't bother to register some or all of their guns.

It's been a long, drawn out battle to kill the long-gun registry while at the same time realizing that not every citizen should have automatic access to firearms. In the US, there are also curbs to firearms ownership such as if you're a convicted felony. I also understand there are, at least in some states, regulations that require background checks when purchasing a firearm.

I'd say the majority of Canadian gun owners wouldn't agree with having a wide-open system by which anyone can buy or possess a firearm. Once the long-gun registry is eliminated, the remainder of the regulations, at least in my opinion, are a reasonable compromise between individual rights and public safety.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

You are not thinking how the anti-gun groups think. Everything is a stepping stone to total confiscation. Sure a background check when you purchase a firearm is not the worst thing when you buy from a firearms dealer. Having to be licensed is not the worst thing either. (Thank god it is not that way in ND). The sad fact is you will never get all of the crazy's with out firearms. Rob a house, ask a cop nicely for their firearm with a bat&#8230; the list goes on for ways to get firearms.

Well give it time for everyone to get used to the new law then go after something else to get more freedoms. That way when the gov starts taking freedoms back they have to take one thing at a time away from you.

The gov can always just do what they did in Australia "Just turn them in or else." If we catch you with them you go to jail for a long time. It is just harder to do that when you have a bunch of firearms owners screaming to the top of their voices making life tough hard on the elected officials. We as a progun group have to use tactics that the antigun group has used to great effect.

There are only two things that can cut diamonds: other diamonds, and Chuck Norris.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I think many people have forgotten that our Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms kept records way longer than legal. Records that gun dealers called in, and records that they were to keep only for 30 days. If memory serves me they were found to have records back three years. 
I don't know about Canadian liberals, but the American one's lie through their teeth. Even our local liberal politicians get upset when they are called gun grabbers, but it is the liberals who have introduced and passed nearly every gun law in the United States, and it isn't anything to be proud of when you trample the constitution. Now we have a president who tramples our constitution, and a secretary of state who conspired with the BATF and the Mexican government to write a treaty that would trample on our second amendment. Then the BATF was caught with dirty hands letting guns go to Mexico. Guns that killed one of our border patrol. 
Kill every antigun regulation you can saskcoyote. Until you cut off the head the snake isn't dead.


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## so_let_it_be_john (May 14, 2011)

saskcoyote said:


> duckp, even when the long-gun registry is killed there'll still be some stipulations about ownership, possession and use. Anyone who wants to buy, borrow or use a firearm will be required to have a PAL. Obviously, you have one if you've taken Canadian tests and have brought firearms into Canada -- you'll be okay.
> 
> Even when the long-gun registry is eliminated, it will still be illegal -- unless under extraordinary circumstances such as law enforcement -- to bring handguns into Canada. After your question, I talked to a firearms instructor about the protocol for getting long guns into Canada after the legislation is changed.
> 
> ...


And how the long-gun registry will unfold has me on the edge of my chair saskcoyote . Like you said there'll still be some stipulations about ownership, possession and use. I,m 65 years old next month, and had everyone i knew put up a Conservative sign in their yard and drove them to the polling station to vote. I have 7 guns that i own and did regester although i was going to go to jail first. If they do away with the regestry i still won,t be able to buy a rifle, borrow one,without taking a course after 53 years of hunting. :******: I had to register my guns just before the election and got in a heated fight over the phone with the mounties who sent out the forms i had to fill out, and get my picture taken again. I hope they go farter and let you buy a gun if you already have seven for goodness sake. :roll:


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## alleyyooper (Jul 6, 2007)

Regan and Brady were liberals? I never knew that.

 Al


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## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

> (Just as an aside, I've accountered fewer problems with Canada Customs bringing my firearms back into Canada from the US than I have with US Customs when I take my firearms into the US.)


Here is a story along those lines.... A friend of mine came to the US to go on an elk hunt with me. He is a police officer. He was not allowed to bring in his hunting rifle because of some issues of the background checking by the ATF. So the US needs to lax on some of its restrictions as well IMO. When a peace officer can't bring in a hunting rifle....something is wrong. He said it would have been easier for him to bring in his service weapon than his rifle.

Please our friends to the North please keep us informed on anything that arises on this issue....ie if we need to still fill out the gun forms or what needs to be done.

Thanks in advance.


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

Chuck Smith I also think we need to relax some of our firearm laws.

It sucks that we have our gov haiting us to have firearms and they want those same firearms for their personal use. I say cops have to folow the same rules as the state and fed rules for regular citizens. If you state is limited so are your cops.

Chuck Norris once ate four 30lb bowling balls without chewing.


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## MidwestMike (Jul 27, 2011)

First of all, gun registry serves only 1 purpose, and that is the purpose of the Government knowing what is in your home. Secondly, criminals don't go to Jerry's Gun Shop and buy handguns or long guns, so that is moot point. Here in the lame State of Michigan, the city of Detroit has this brilliant "no questions asked-gun buy back program" almost every year. This is to "get guns off the street"? They announce it on the news for a couple of weeks before the date, and then after houses north of the border are broken into, and many a deer rifle, shotgun, and handgun are stolen, the city buys the guns for $25.00-$75.00 each....No questios asked? Now how many of Tyrone Jones' crack dealing buddies are turning in their Mac-10's or stolen Glocks for $75.00?? I'll go out on a thin limb, and say...right around NONE. Thank God we have the NRA, SCI, and other groups here in the U.S.A. because the poor SOB's in Australia didn't, and now criminals just kick in their neighbors door, and have their way. Gun control laws ONLY affect the honest people. That is a fact. eace:


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## duckp (Mar 13, 2008)

Any update on this from our Canadian friends?


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

Here's an update. Just this afternoon,the Conservative government tabled legislation that will eliminate the long-gun registry. There's no word on how long it'll take to pass through the House but it shouldn't be too long considering how the Conservatives have made it known for years how vigorously they opposed the registry and how they pledged to their supporters that eliminating the registry would be a top priority on their law-and-order agenda.

Included in today's legislation is not only eliminating the requirement to register rifles and shotguns but there is also provision for the elimination of all the information that's been collected since registering rifles and shotguns became mandatory a decade ago. The Conservatives also have made it clear no provincial government will be given any of the registry information, thus preventing provinces (like Quebec and Ontario which oppose the elimination of the long-gun registry) from setting up their own registries.

Many of the provisions of BillC-68 remain. Anyone wanting to buy firearms or ammunition must have a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL). Handguns and restricted weapons must still be registered. By and large, Canada's firearms groups such as the National Firearms Association are quite pleased with the steps taken by the government today.


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## Sask hunter (Sep 11, 2008)

Here is the link
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/...-registry.html


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## saskcoyote (Dec 30, 2006)

The legislation to eliminate the long-gun registry is irreversible but there will still be a few bumps in the road. Quebec is adamant it wants a gun registry and is considering legal action to prevent the federal government from destroying the data base that's been compiled so far.

Great. Even if Quebec would win a possible court action, a Quebec legal victory wouldn't apply to the remainder of the provinces and if all Canada's province's aren't on board, it simply results in a patchwork -- and totally ineffective and useless -- registry.

We in Saskatchewan don't really care much what the anti-gunners in Quebec have to say. They can set up whatever registry they choose but it won't change the facts on the ground -- that is that the long-gun registry did nothing to prevent gun crime, it only penalized the law-abiding gun owners.

Oh, and by the way, the threat by Quebec over the last 50 years about seprating because of the lack of respect the rest of Canada shows them, the ongoining humiliation they suffer, the 'two solitudes', the gap between English and French, ad nauseum, ad nauseum, has run its course.

To an ever increasing number of us in Western Canada, the sooner Quebec goes, the better for everyone. We in the West are tired of being held hostage to Quebec and if they want to perpetuate useless and expensive registry, that's fine, but at least we won't have to subsidize it.


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