ER doctors urge MPs to keep gun registry

[Azure]

OTTAWA—Emergency-room doctors are urging MPs to keep the long-gun registry.

The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians says it opposes a bid to kill the registry because it saves lives.

The doctors are the latest in a parade of organizations, including many police groups, to oppose abolition of the registry.

The association is urging MPs to vote against a Conservative private member’s bill which would shut down the registry.

The bill comes up for a vote Sept. 22.

The Commons gave the bill approval in principle last November, when 12 New Democrats and eight Liberals voted with the Tories to support it.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/g...p-gun-registry

Throw out the 'long-gun' part of the registry, and keep the rest if you want to keep anything. Otherwise can it.

[Hevishot]

What a crock. Everyone knows that ER doctors kill more people per year than guns in the hands of law abiding citizens.

[peter12]

This isn't legitimate opposition. Someone in a lobby firm made some calls to a contact list. This is all politics.

[burn_this_city]

The whole long gun registry is useless. Illegal guns flow across the border constantly and the registry does nothing to stop or catch the actual criminals.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

The whole long gun registry is useless. Illegal guns flow across the border constantly and the registry does nothing to stop or catch the actual criminals.

Police officers -- that is, people with experience stopping and catching actual criminals -- disagree with you and claim the registry helps them on a daily basis.

From wikipedia (consider the source):

In a Canada Firearms Centre (CAFC) survey, 74% of general duty police officers stated that the registry "query results have proven beneficial during major operations.".

[...]

Meanwhile, Edgar MacLeod, former president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police states that "while the cost of the registry had become an embarrassment, the program works and provides a valuable service. In a typical domestic violence situation, he says, investigating police officers rely on the registry to determine if guns are present. Onboard computers in police cruisers, or a call to central dispatch, alerts officers to any firearms registered to occupants of the house."

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police are strongly supportive of the gun registry, claiming that getting rid of the registry will make Canada less safe, and compromise the ability of law enforcement to deal effectively with gun violence.

[mykalberta]

nm dead horse issue

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Police officers -- that is, people with experience stopping and catching actual criminals -- disagree with you and claim the registry helps them on a daily basis.

From wikipedia (consider the source):

An online poll conducted on a police forum had 92% of respondents say the registry was useless to them.

[nik-]

I don't get the opposition to registering your gun if you own one.

[Agamemnon]

Is the opposition to the gun registry entirely based around the cost of the program?

Interesting to see (in general) that people who would normally be in the 'pro-police/law&order' camp are also often in the 'hate the gun registry' camp.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Police officers -- that is, people with experience stopping and catching actual criminals -- disagree with you and claim the registry helps them on a daily basis.

From wikipedia (consider the source):

Uhhh, why don't they just look and see if the owner has a firearm license? That would tell them if there is a good chance firearms are present too.

The 'long-gun' registry is a bloated waste of money, and I hope it dies.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

An online poll conducted on a police forum had 92% of respondents say the registry was useless to them.

Since when have online polls ever been considered to be statistically accurate?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Is the opposition to the gun registry entirely based around the cost of the program?

Interesting to see (in general) that people who would normally be in the 'pro-police/law&order' camp are also often in the 'hate the gun registry' camp.

I have no issue with the handgun/restricted weapon registry. My issue is keep tabs on millions of law abiding sports/hunting gun owners. Long guns are used so infrequently in major crimes. Typically gun crimes are caused by people using stolen/smuggled restricted weapons that are naturally unregistered.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by nik-

I don't get the opposition to registering your gun if you own one.

I don't see the reason why the government should force me to register my rifles.

Does it help prevent crime if my gun is registered?

[automaton 3]

The long gun registry has proven to be totally useless and a giant waste of tax dollars, all of which has been discussed at length in previous threads.

The registry does not save lives. There is no evidence whatsoever that demonstrates that it does anything whatsoever except annoy lawful gun owners and cost taxpayers money.

Perhaps the doctors should pony up for the cost of the registry if they think its so valuable.

Them and the police chiefs. You can bet if the cost of the registry came out of police budgets they would change their tune in a hurry. Every line officer I've asked says its useless and acutally potentially dangerous if an officer were to actually rely on it.

/rant

[Azure]

The performance report focuses on activities such as issuing licenses and registering firearms. The Centre does not show how these activities help minimize risks to public safety with evidence-based outcomes such as reduced deaths, injuries and threats from firearms.[11]

From the Auditor General.

We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them. None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives."[12]

From Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner in 2003.

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

Is the opposition to the gun registry entirely based around the cost of the program?

Interesting to see (in general) that people who would normally be in the 'pro-police/law&order' camp are also often in the 'hate the gun registry' camp.

Because the registry is a pain in the arse to people who actually abide by laws, and a cost to taxpayers, while having no effect on people that actually commit crimes.

[MarchHare]

The 'long-gun' registry is a bloated waste of money, and I hope it dies.

The long gun registry was a bloated waste of money that cost far too much to get up and running, but now that it's operational, the on-going annual costs are relatively low. Law enforcement officers have repeatedly said that they find it very valuable in conducting their duties. Harper wants to scrap it on ideological grounds because he campaigned against it as an example of Liberal largesse, not because it's useless or expensive to maintain.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by automaton 3

The long gun registry has proven to be totally useless and a giant waste of tax dollars, all of which has been discussed at length in previous threads.

The registry does not save lives. There is no evidence whatsoever that demonstrates that it does anything whatsoever except annoy lawful gun owners and cost taxpayers money.

Perhaps the doctors should pony up for the cost of the registry if they think its so valuable.

Them and the police chiefs. You can bet if the cost of the registry came out of police budgets they would change their tune in a hurry. Every line officer I've asked says its useless and acutally potentially dangerous if an officer were to actually rely on it.

/rant

I asked the person who looks after the police firearms here in town what he thought about it. He said that having to register long guns is ridiculous, but restricted weapons are a different story.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Azure

I don't see the reason why the government should force me to register my rifles.

Does it help prevent crime if my gun is registered?

Theres a alert beacon that goes off in New Brunswick that alerts the cops in Calgary to you holding up a liquor store with Grandpas antique 303.

[Azure]

nm.