CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
TEAM CSSA NEWS RELEASE - Sept 11, 2012
Quebec trying to protect gun registry data that doesn't reflect reality
CSSA says injunction is just another political ploy and will double gun shuffle
The Quebec Superior Court decision to retain federal gun registry data to create a provincial registry is destined to fail as a public safety measure.
Long Gun Registry data is famously inaccurate and too outdated for any province that’s going to pretend it will increase public safety. The registry has never worked as a public policy safeguard for Canadians and Quebec's plan to reinvent a gun registry foreshadows a classic financial disaster.
“Quebec is taking bad public policy and preparing to build more of the same on a foundation of sand,” says Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action and spokesman for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA). “It's hard to believe that a majority of Quebec voters are willing to put lipstick on this public policy pig. It's brutally obvious that it will still be a pig.
“There are actually anti-gun groups out there who claim that this short-sighted court decision somehow proves that the data is useful,” he adds. “It does nothing of the kind. These are the same people who have not once been able to show how the registry works in favour of public safety. We have all witnessed the federal registry fail. If Quebec repeats this same wasteful misdirection of tax dollars, their new provincial government will get what they deserve.”
Keeping computer data on where firearms are located puts law abiding Canadians at risk. The RCMP admit that criminals have hacked into the registry data more than 300 times to see where law abiding gun owners live. For this reason, the CSSA created the Great Canadian Gun Registry Shuffle to illustrate even to anti-gun advocates that the data is useless for building a provincial registry. . This Quebec injunction gives sport shooters an added incentive to swap guns, and it's already happening. Quebec's injunction is breathing new life into our Gun Registry Shuffle.
“Quebec can't hope to renovate something that was long ago burned down,” explains Bernardo. “The RCMP estimates that 850,000 registered firearms change owners in any given year. So, at least 300,000 firearms have changed hands since the registry was scrapped last April. The CSSA gun registry shuffle has prompted tens of thousands more guns to be relocated across the country, including Quebec. If they want to build a new registry based on the statistical garbage left over in the federal registry from a decade ago, go for it. But, don't expect it to reflect reality, even remotely.
“Every Canadian from every province and territory should be outraged over Quebec's decision to burn what could be billions of dollars,” he adds. “We hope the federal government will oppose any province that spits in the face of Parliament. The Quebec government may enjoy the status as a distinct society, but the rest of the country feels the impact when equalization money flows just one way. Quebec's conscious decision to spend precious tax dollars on faux public safety measures is a matter of national concern.”
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