Gun Registry Scrapped: Increased Risk for Women, Youth and Police Officers

Parliament Violating Mandate to Protect All Canadians by Ending Long-Gun Registry, MP Olivia Chow Deplores

February 13, 2012

OTTAWA – Scrapping the long-gun registry has been at the heart of the Conservative agenda for ages and it’s now a reality with the passing of Bill C-19. But it is a step that puts people in Toronto and elsewhere at risk.

Women living with abusive partners, children and youth that are bullied and law enforcement officers entering a suspect’s house are all at an increased risk, MP Olivia Chow argued in a speech on Monday.

Since its establishment in 1995, suicides involving rifles and shotguns have decreased by 60%. Sadly, this number is likely to go up again once the registry is abolished. Likewise, police officers will not be able to tell if and what weapons are stored at a house when searching for a suspect, making their jobs more dangerous.

Quoting various police chiefs who spoke out against scrapping the gun registry, Olivia made a fervent case for keeping the invaluable database on gun ownership. With more than 10,000 queries a day, it has proven to be an effective tool for a broad range of policing tasks.

The Conservatives’ expensive prison agenda does nothing to make Canada safer and with the information on eight million registered guns being deleted, our country will be less safe and our police more vulnerable. This Conservative government has forgotten its core responsibility: to ensure the safety of all citizens, as Olivia Chow pointed out.

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