Increased Support for Gun Registry Vexing

(Aired on September 8, 2010)

It's a head-scratcher that support for keeping the long gun registry has jumped over the past few months.  Back in April, 42% of respondents to a Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll thought it would be a bad idea to get rid of the registry.  Now, the number is up to 48%. 

That's a significant jump considering nothing has really happened to precipitate it.  As far as I know, there haven't been any dramatic jumps in gun violence during that time.  The Conservatives still want to scrap the registry, and the opposition parties are still largely looking for ways to keep it in place.  Police organizations have reiterated their support for keeping the registry, but that support has always been there.  They say it's incredibly helpful to know which homes have firearms registered to them before they knock on the front door.  That may be true, but the stated purpose of the long gun registry was to make guns involved in crime more traceable, thus leading police to the criminals more quickly and easily.  I have yet to see evidence that actually happens.

It's only common sense that people who would use firearms in the commission of a crime will avoid registering their guns.  And while the residual effects may be positive, the billion-dollar boondoggle doesn't seem to be effective at fighting crime.

On a philosophical, world view level, I'm not a fan of firearms.  In a perfect world, they would not exist.  But it's not a perfect world, guns are a part of society and we would be better served managing their possession and use than trying to rid the world of them.  Politicians need to come up with a better option than the ones we have today.