Supporting the registry
Posted Sep 15, 2010 03:44:24 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Waterloo Region’s Crime Prevention Council (CPC) is among the latest organizations to speak out in support of Canada’s long gun registry.
The CPC says it is endorsing the call of the Canadian Association of Police Boards and observing today as National Day in Support of the Long Gun Registry.
“It stands to reason that if the very people who are using it are saying this is a tool we need to keep in Canada, from a prevention perspective, we need to support it,” Christiane Sadeler, Executive Director of the CPC, states simply.
But the issue from the CPC’s perspective goes much deeper than just following the lead of police services, which say the registry keeps both officers and citizens safe. Sadeler says we have to remember the roots of the registry, which can be traced back to the so-called Montreal Massacre of 1989, when 14 women were gunned down at Ecole Polytechnique.
“Relatives of the women killed were successful in expanding control on handguns to the control on long guns,” Sadeler points out. “And we certainly think that the reasons they had at the time still stand.”
Statistics show that police across Canada accessed the registry more than four million times last year, while officers with the Waterloo Regional Police Service made use of the registry an average of 31 times every day, or more than 11,000 times in the year.
Sadeler believes this makes the registry a cost-effective tool at an estimated $4-million per year.
“We’d certainly be very sad to think that we got rid of a registry that, at the end of the day, is really quite inexpensive (only to have) another tragedy such as the one in Montreal before we rethink that (position),” notes Sadeler.
The CPC also points to evidence that suggests more than police are interested in keeping the registry alive.
“In addition to police, physicians have come out and emergency workers have said it is a very valuable piece of information that they would be loathe to do without,” Sadeler says.
And beyond those who would use a gun to harm others, Sadeler reminds us to be aware of those who would use a gun to harm themselves, something that often happens where issues of mental health arise. The CPC, says Sadeler, wants to be a part of a community that is free from the dangers of a device that has the sole purpose of hurting or killing someone.
As a vote looms in the House of Commons next week, another NDP MP said today he would vote against a private members bill to scrap the registry. In our area, regional council will tonight hear from a handful of delegations in support of the registry, including former Kitchener-Waterloo Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi and police union boss Ray Massicotte.
While no doubt buoyed by the support, Sadeler still thinks this is a debate best left out of the political arena.
“It shouldn’t be political at all. This isn’t about any one partisan statement,” she insists. “It’s really a question of what has been shown to be working and whether this is something we can reasonably afford in Canada. And I believe we can.”
