Another Useless Exercise!

I don't often get on the political band wagon, particularly that of a foreign country, but I feel compelled to have a say.

It is with with sadness that I watch the United States go down the path of long gun registration and confiscation that was tried , and failed, in Canada.

About 10 years ago, the government in power (the Liberals),patooeie, decided that all handguns were required to be registered (they already were) and that some with a short barrel were deemed prohibited, with a grand father clause. This meant that anyone that owned one, could keep it, but could not sell, or use it or pass it on to a son or daughter . Now, a lot of those guns were in the .32 caliber or less, which would not be effective against almost anybody. War time Lugers with a short barrel and .32 Smiths etc were in that category ,plus a whole bunch more.

All long guns including rifles and shotguns had to be registered, or their owners were subject to Criminal Prosecution. In other words, legitimate hunters, trappers, and shooters had to register or risk being denied access to the States  and other activities due to the criminal conviction.

The result of this was that a lot of people registered and a lot didn't. Very few criminals ( I wonder why) registered. It meant, when you asked around, that an unregistered fire arm sold at about twice it's normal price, while the registered ones dropped significantly in value.

After 10 years of this nonsense, the Conservative government won the election by a solid majority with a lot due to the pro gun lobby. In effect, the incoming government won by promising to do away with the Long Gun Registry and destroy the registration records. I questioned my member of parliament and was told that the registry was in fact destroyed. Of course, I believe him.  In Quebec, the Provincial Government is trying to keep their part of the registry active, which is the Province taking over Federal responsibility. To be fair,there were other reasons also that got the Liberals kicked out of power, including extreme arrogance and disrespect of the voting public.

However, the prohibitions on calibers below .32 and  on barrels below a certain length remain in effect.

The Long Gun Registry was proposed originally to cost $120 million. The costs approached $3 Billion by the time it was scrapped. You had to re-register every 5 years to keep an Acquision and Possession certificate. The last two times that renewal came up, they waived the fee because of its severe unpopularity. Now, in a country with a population of around 130 million, that $3 Billion could have done a lot of good had it been applied elsewhere.

The registry did no documented good in the 10 years that it was in effect! Criminals still had guns, Mentally challenged folks could still access guns, knives or whatever. Policemen still took suitable precautions ( if they were smart), whether a residence had a registered gun on location or not.

My words of advice to the US of A are "Don't do it, it can't work. (proven). Make criminal use of fire arms punishable by serious time in jail. Don't make criminals of your good citizens! and  learn from a failed attempt."
Finally " Wake Up America!"

I don't promote or condone the following, but the link gives the best summary of what is at stake that I have come across.

The D.C. Clothesline