OFAH Applauds Prime Minister’s Announcement on Long Gun Registry

For Immediate Release

OFAH Applauds Prime Minister’s Announcement on Long Gun Registry

Expensive, flawed long gun registry has failed – new approach needed

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH), with 100,000 members, supporters and subscribers, and 670 member clubs across Ontario, one of the largest nonprofit, conservation based organizations in Canada, strongly supports the recent commitment by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stand by his word to scrap the ineffective and wasteful long gun registry if re-elected.

“The OFAH has been a tireless advocate for the elimination of the long gun registry, which has failed in its mandate to save lives and prevent crime,” said Greg Farrant, OFAH Manager, Government Affairs & Policy. “It’s time for a different approach to the issue, and the creation of a more effective means of targeting gun crime. The long gun registry, introduced by a former Liberal government, has failed miserably, has cost taxpayers well over a billion dollars, and has proven totally inadequate as a means of addressing the illegal use of guns to commit crime. The only thing it has accomplished is to target licensed, law abiding firearms owners who are not, and never have been, part of the problem.”

Mr. Farrant went on to point out that other jurisdictions like New York, Baltimore, Virginia, New Jersey and most recently, Connecticut, have chosen instead to implement a registry that targets offenders. “The OFAH has repeatedly called for the creation of a Prohibited Offenders Registry, which would focus on those who have already demonstrated a propensity to commit crime with firearms. The introduction of this type of system in other jurisdictions has resulted in a decrease in gun crime, and shifted the focus from the law abiding to the law-breakers, which is exactly where it should be. Targeting legal firearms owners as a means of preventing crime has been a lost cause from the start, something the previous government never seemed to understand.”

The OFAH is the province’s largest nonprofit fish and wildlife conservation-based organization, and the VOICE of anglers and hunters. For more information, visit www.ofah.org.

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