Why The Long Gun Registry Needs To Go

Since the Dawson College tragedy, many people are questioning the current government’s plan to scrap the long gun registry. But I have noticed the press is quite one sided in this.

To date there is story after story outlining the tragedy and displaying a view from the pro gun control lobby, yet the flipside is only flippantly displayed. The only thing that I have heard in defence of the government plan is that the current gun laws did not prevent the Dawson college incident.

Stephen Taylor exposes the one sided reporting by Julie Van Dusen of the CBC.

What I find quite interesting is the lack of news coverage on what the long gun registry exactly is and what it is used for and how much it costs. I think a layman’s cost analysis is needed here.

The gun registry is a database with information on every gun, who owns it, their contact info and the serial numbers of said guns or gun components. It is used by the police to search to see if an address they may be approaching has guns.

a) The database portion of the gun registry could have been set up for less than $500,000 which would have included a full blown database with top notch internet or extranet security depending on what is desired. The bandwidth limitations could have been made such that thousands of police officers could have accessed it simultaneously without any problems.

b) The maintainance could have been managed by 5 to 10 workers to enter the paper registrations at a nice salary of $75K a year for a further $500K.

c) The advertising aspects could have been the biggest cost. But when it comes to paying Liberal ad agencies to sway the minds of people who do not want to spend a billion dollars, cost was apparently not a factor.

The bottom line is that this gun registry is a expensive joke. Most people have not registered their weapons, the cost to set it up and operate it have been ridiculous compared to what a business would pay for such a database. It makes me sick thinking of how many people’s pockets were lined for this program.

I have a simple solution to add fairness to the MSM stories. For each and every story that discusses the Tory plan to scrap the gun registry, please just repeat the following two points.

a) The Liberals said it would cost 2 Million to set up and then be self sufficient

b) Under Liberal majorities, cost increase after cost increase was approved so that the program has now cost tax payers between one and two BILLION dollars.

It’s as simple as that. Just add these two points when you get on your soapboxes defending this farce of a registry.