O.F.A.H. reaffirms its call to halt funding to national gun registry

O.F.A.H. reaffirms its call to halt funding to national gun registry

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.), like all Canadians, were shocked and saddened by the recent death of four R.C.M.P. officers in Alberta, and offer condolences to their families. Given the circumstances involved in the shooting, it is inevitable that the federal firearms registry and its failure to protect police and the public will be condemned. Unfortunately, renewed scrutiny of the system will reveal nothing new, nothing that we didn’t already know – it is a complete and abject failure and should be scrapped.

Over the past two years, taxpayers’ organizations, police associations, front line officers, many police chiefs, members of the outdoor community, local, provincial and federal politicians, and the federal Auditor General, have all criticized the federal firearms registry either on the basis of its spiraling cost (over $1 billion and rising), its ineffectiveness, or both. Most public opinion polls taken in the past two years have demonstrated convincingly that the public feels that the firearms registry has failed, a position reconfirmed last week by a poll in the Globe & Mail where 76% of respondents sent the message that they don’t believe that the firearms registry is an effective tool for controlling firearms.

It is profoundly sad that it has taken the death of four police officers in Alberta to once again focus attention on this issue, and prompt renewed calls for the federal government to do something about this ill-fated and unworkable system. We are reminded that licensed, law-abiding firearms owners play by the rules and register their firearms, while criminals and those who shouldn’t have access to firearms don’t.

Canada has had a handgun registry since 1934, but this hasn’t prevented criminals from obtaining handguns, which they use to commit crimes on our streets and in our communities on a daily basis. They are not your neighbor down the street who duck hunts for two weeks in the fall, turkey hunts in the spring, or target shoots on weekends — they are criminals whose sole purpose in obtaining firearms is to threaten, to intimidate, and to hurt.

“The Jim Roszkos of the world are not hampered by a bureaucratic system which penalizes legal, law abiding, licensed firearms owners while allowing criminals to continue buying firearms on our streets and using them to terrorize the communities in which we live,” said Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director. “Prior to the last federal election, the government reviewed the firearms registry and promised us that the review would result in significant changes, which, unfortunately it did not. The government has seen the evidence, but failed to act in a meaningful way. They should immediately stop all funding for the firearms registry, and direct the money toward law enforcement and support for police officers, push for stiffer sentences in the courts, and increase border security to prevent illegal handguns from flowing into Canada, instead of harassing every farmer, weekend hunter, or skeet shooter who poses no threat to public safety.”

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