Grunter
05-25-2006, 12:04 PM
EDMONTON, AB—Canada’s newly elected conservative government took its first steps last week toward eliminating the country’s controversial gun registry by implementing a 1-year amnesty for those who haven’t yet registered their non-restricted firearms. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says the government will also soon introduce legislation to permanently eliminate the 11-year-old program.
But until that legislation makes its way through the Canadian Parliament, Day says a number of other measures will be put in place to “effectively gut” the registry while still keeping it law.
For starters, Day says long gun owners will no longer be required to pay a fee to register their guns and won’t be prosecuted if they refuse to register them at all. He says the government will also give refunds to those gun owners who have already registered their long guns.
Other registry changes announced by Day include:
- Responsibility for the registry will be transferred from the Canada Firearms Centre to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- The registry’s annual operating budget will be reduced by $10 million.
Since its creation in 1995, the total cost of Canada’s gun registry program reached $946 million in March 2005. Called a Billion Dollar Boondoggle by some, the program currently operates on an annual budget of approximately $83 million.
But until that legislation makes its way through the Canadian Parliament, Day says a number of other measures will be put in place to “effectively gut” the registry while still keeping it law.
For starters, Day says long gun owners will no longer be required to pay a fee to register their guns and won’t be prosecuted if they refuse to register them at all. He says the government will also give refunds to those gun owners who have already registered their long guns.
Other registry changes announced by Day include:
- Responsibility for the registry will be transferred from the Canada Firearms Centre to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- The registry’s annual operating budget will be reduced by $10 million.
Since its creation in 1995, the total cost of Canada’s gun registry program reached $946 million in March 2005. Called a Billion Dollar Boondoggle by some, the program currently operates on an annual budget of approximately $83 million.