O.F.A.H. calls to scrap gun registry in favor of real action to end gun violence

O.F.A.H. calls to scrap gun registry in favor of real action to end gun violence

It’s extremely sad that it has taken weeks of gang violence and bloodshed on the streets of Toronto to focus attention on what the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has said all along: the federal gun registry is a dismal failure.

“The federal gun registry is nothing more than a $1 billion administrative exercise that harasses law-abiding farmers, weekend hunters, target shooters and collectors. It has done absolutely nothing to reduce crime in the country’s largest cities, or for that matter, rural Canada,” said O.F.A.H. Executive Director, Mike Reader.

For several years, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, taxpayer’s organizations, frontline police officers, local, provincial and federal politicians, as well as the federal Auditor General, have all condemned the gun registry on the basis of its spiraling cost, its ineffectiveness, or both. The O.F.A.H. is demanding that, effective immediately, the federal Liberal government abandon the gun registry and redirect funding to support social service programs, increased border security, as well as more police officers on our streets. Instead of keeping tabs on farmers and duck hunters, the government should legislate mandatory sentences with no chance of parole or plea bargains for anyone who is found guilty of using a firearm to commit crime.

Mr. Reader went on to point out that the firearms registry has not decreased the proliferation of handgun violence, and that, according to police, a flow of cross-border illegal handguns has made it easy for gangs to access their weapons of choice.

“The registry for handguns has been in place since the mid-1930’s, but this has done nothing to stop the flow of illegal handguns into Canada or the use of these firearms by criminals. The bottom line is that only law-abiding firearms owners register their guns, criminals do not. If the registry worked, we would not be seeing the increasing amount of carnage on the streets of Toronto and other major urban centers. Even ardent opponents of firearms ownership like Wendy Cukier of the Coalition for Gun Control have admitted that current measures have failed to keep handguns out of the hands of criminals, so why not use the money to increase enforcement and target the root causes of crime instead?”

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is the province’s largest fishing and hunting organization with 78,000 members and 640 member clubs.

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