Long gun registry debate misses the point

1. Long Gun Registry Debate Misses the Point http://www.edelsonlaw.ca/

2. The following article appeared in the August/Sept 2011 issue of The Landowner.Long gun registry debate misses the point Solomon Friedman The failure of Bill C-391, which proposed the scrapping of the federal long gun registry, has drawn renewed interest to a subject which has lain virtually dormant for much of the last decade – gun control. The new Conservative majority government, which has promised to end the registry once and for all, has further enflamed debate on this controversial topic. http://www.edelsonlaw.ca/

3. The long-gun registry is the least offensive portion of the Firearms Act and related legislation and regulation, introduced collectively in 1995 as Bill C-68. Of course, it is overly expensive and wasteful. Of course, it is virtually useless. $2 billion later and supporters of the registry are unable to point to one life saved or a single crime averted at the hands of the registry. But at least its constitutional. Other provisions of the Firearms Act are far more problematic and seem to run directly counter to the most fundamental freedom at the heart of our democracy. http://www.edelsonlaw.ca/

4. I recall a comment made to me by a fellow who has been involved in shooting sports for nearly three decades. “All I want, as a law-abiding gun owner,” he told me, “is to have the same rights as any convicted criminal”. New to the shooting discipline and equally new to its politics, I was, needless to say, taken aback. The right to silence. The presumption of innocence. The right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. The right against self-incrimination. These are all rights that Canadians take for granted. They are enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. These guarantees are centuries old, the product of hard-won struggles and well-established jurisprudence. http://www.edelsonlaw.ca/

5. Thank You http://www.edelsonlaw.ca/