It's constitutionally impossible to change the long-gun registry as the New Democrats suggest, says a local member of Parliament — Canada should get rid of it instead.
Parliamentarians voted 153-151 Wednesday in favour of a motion to scrap Bill C-391, a Conservative private member's bill that, if passed, would have killed the federal long-gun registry.
Conservative members, including Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber, voted in favour of the motion (which would have allowed the bill to go to third reading), as did six NDP members. The Liberals, Bloc Québécois and the rest of the NDP voted against it.
Rathgeber, who is a lawyer, said he was disappointed by the vote. "This issue ought to be easy to resolve," he said. "No one has ever proved to me that the registry has ever prevented a crime."
This is the fourth time in four years that the Conservatives have tried to eliminate the registry. It will also be the last try for this session, Rathgeber said, as parliamentary rules prevent MPs from tabling the same bill twice. "I think this matter has been dealt with not only for this session, but for this parliament."
The NDP have proposed changing the registry by removing the criminal penalty for non-registration, Rathgeber noted, but that could get it ruled unconstitutional. "Take away the criminal penalties for non-compliance and all you have is a registry and registries are the constitutional purview of the provinces," he said. "Alberta would be the first out of the gate to challenge it."
Registry useless, say locals
The RCMP and other groups have defended the registry as a useful law enforcement tool, with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police saying that it gets used about 10,000 times a day.
But it's been a total joke for members of Sturgeon County's Pioneer Gun Club, says club president Norm Suvan. "It's cost about $1 billion, and it hasn't taken one gun away from criminals or whackos."
Suvan, who has registered his guns, noted the registry allows police to jail hunters who inherited unregistered guns. "That's hard to swallow." It also does nothing to stop licensed owners from lending their guns to others and does not improve safety training for gun users.
"It serves next to no practical purpose and that's why it should be disbanded," Suvan said. The money used for the registry should instead go towards safety training and education, he added.
Provincial justice minister Alison Redford also criticized the registry in a statement released shortly after Wednesday's vote. "We need to devote our law-enforcement resources where they will do the most good," she said. "That means real and effective programs and initiatives that will make our communities safer instead of a registry that front-line police officers across the country agree adds little value for its cost."
Political consequences
Many anti-registry Liberals and NDP members actually voted to keep it Wednesday, Rathgeber noted, a move he predicted would cost them dearly at the ballot box. "There's going to be a significant political backlash."
Grant MacEwan University political scientist John Soroski wasn't so sure. There are about 20 Liberal and NDP seats that could be swayed by disappointed registry opponents, but most of those opponents have already aligned themselves with the Conservatives. "It's quite unlikely you'd have a large contingent of anti-gun registry constituents voting for the NDP in the first place."
The Conservatives will win points from loyalists for their opposition to the registry, Soroski said, but could alienate urban voters if they push too hard. "It would be a strategic error for the Conservatives to make too much of this."
