scooter
03-25-2009, 03:12 PM
Toronto Sun - March 24, 2009
Sportsmen take aim at long-gun registry By BRETT CLARKSON http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/03/23/8848496-sun.html
The things people at the Sportsmen's Show said yesterday about the federal long-gun registry weren't flattering: boondoggle, fraud, a $2-billion sinkhole, and a waste of time and money.
It's why many of the gun enthusiasts at the country's largest fishing and outdoors show -- which wrapped up yesterday at Exhibition Place -- applauded Prime Minister Stephen Harper's call on Saturday night for gun owners across the country to pressure their MPs into supporting the elimination of the contentious registry.
"The long-gun registry has been a $2-billion boondoggle to Canadian taxpayers," said Tony Bernardo of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
"It's never solved a single crime, it's never prevented a single crime. It's been a fraud perpetrated on Canadians since it's inception and it has to go."
PRESS MPS
On Saturday in Mississauga, Harper implored members of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to press their local opposition MPs to support a private member's bill aimed at scrapping the six-year-old registry. "We are looking to unite a majority of MPs in repealing the long-gun registry," Harper said in his speech. "The leaders of the opposition parties continue to be against this. But there are MPs in all these parties that know what we know, that law-abiding hunters and farmers are not part of the crime problem."
In an interview on CTV's Question Period, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said he needs to see more details of Conservative backbencher Gary Breitkreuz's bill before deciding whether to vote for it. "I don't know quite what I'm being asked to vote on, and I'm not going to commit myself until I've seen the fine print," Ignatieff said.
The Liberal boss acknowledged there's a distinction between sport shooters and criminals who use firearms illegally. "No sensible Canadian thinks the problem is the shotgun on the barn door," Ignatieff said. "No sensible Canadian thinks the problem is the target shooter or the legitimate licensed gun owner."
Although NDP leader Jack Layton doesn't support the bill, he wouldn't rule out letting NDP MPs vote as they wish on the issue. At least one NDP backbencher, Jack Rafferty, has publicly campaigned against the long-gun registry.
At the sportsmen's show, meanwhile, Peter Edwards of the Toronto Sportsmen's Association said the problem isn't long-guns like rifles or their owners -- the problem is illegal guns being smuggled in from the United States.
"Registering a long gun really does no good," Edwards said. "They told us it was going to cost $2 million. It's well over $2.3 billion now. It's a waste of taxpayers money."
Diana Cabrera, 25, a competitive target shooter, said she is proof that gun owners can't be stereotyped or all lumped into the same group. Cabrera, who owns a .22-calibre rifle and an air rifle, said she often inspires disbelief when travelling to competitions with her firearms. "I don't look like your stereoptypical shooter," Cabrera said. "I'm very, very prissy and I'm a very girly girl and when I go through customs, they don't believe me that I own these guns."
Sportsmen take aim at long-gun registry By BRETT CLARKSON http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/03/23/8848496-sun.html
The things people at the Sportsmen's Show said yesterday about the federal long-gun registry weren't flattering: boondoggle, fraud, a $2-billion sinkhole, and a waste of time and money.
It's why many of the gun enthusiasts at the country's largest fishing and outdoors show -- which wrapped up yesterday at Exhibition Place -- applauded Prime Minister Stephen Harper's call on Saturday night for gun owners across the country to pressure their MPs into supporting the elimination of the contentious registry.
"The long-gun registry has been a $2-billion boondoggle to Canadian taxpayers," said Tony Bernardo of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.
"It's never solved a single crime, it's never prevented a single crime. It's been a fraud perpetrated on Canadians since it's inception and it has to go."
PRESS MPS
On Saturday in Mississauga, Harper implored members of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to press their local opposition MPs to support a private member's bill aimed at scrapping the six-year-old registry. "We are looking to unite a majority of MPs in repealing the long-gun registry," Harper said in his speech. "The leaders of the opposition parties continue to be against this. But there are MPs in all these parties that know what we know, that law-abiding hunters and farmers are not part of the crime problem."
In an interview on CTV's Question Period, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said he needs to see more details of Conservative backbencher Gary Breitkreuz's bill before deciding whether to vote for it. "I don't know quite what I'm being asked to vote on, and I'm not going to commit myself until I've seen the fine print," Ignatieff said.
The Liberal boss acknowledged there's a distinction between sport shooters and criminals who use firearms illegally. "No sensible Canadian thinks the problem is the shotgun on the barn door," Ignatieff said. "No sensible Canadian thinks the problem is the target shooter or the legitimate licensed gun owner."
Although NDP leader Jack Layton doesn't support the bill, he wouldn't rule out letting NDP MPs vote as they wish on the issue. At least one NDP backbencher, Jack Rafferty, has publicly campaigned against the long-gun registry.
At the sportsmen's show, meanwhile, Peter Edwards of the Toronto Sportsmen's Association said the problem isn't long-guns like rifles or their owners -- the problem is illegal guns being smuggled in from the United States.
"Registering a long gun really does no good," Edwards said. "They told us it was going to cost $2 million. It's well over $2.3 billion now. It's a waste of taxpayers money."
Diana Cabrera, 25, a competitive target shooter, said she is proof that gun owners can't be stereotyped or all lumped into the same group. Cabrera, who owns a .22-calibre rifle and an air rifle, said she often inspires disbelief when travelling to competitions with her firearms. "I don't look like your stereoptypical shooter," Cabrera said. "I'm very, very prissy and I'm a very girly girl and when I go through customs, they don't believe me that I own these guns."