Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Gun Registry is not Quite Dead.

On Monday of this week, Mr. Justice Marc-Andre Blanchard of the Quebec Superior Court rules that the Harper Government can not destroy Gun registry records. What was gathered in concert between the Federal and provincial governments can not be erased unilaterally.

The Harper government responded to the decision, stating

“I am disappointed with today’s ruling and will thoroughly review the decision,” Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said in a statement.
“The will of Parliament and Canadians has been clear. We do not want any form of a wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry.”
The above quote by Toews suggests that the Conservatives are likely to take this to the Supreme Court of Canada. When any government references the "Will of Parliament" especially in a Majority setting, it means the will of the government in power. I can see any Liberal saying the exact same thing after being confronted by the anti-gun registry protests and challenges. The Harper government will pursue the destruction of gun registry data because they think they are right, because a promise made, and they have a majority. 
The Harper Government's answer to the the ruling was not unexpected. They have spent 17 years working to get rid of that legislation, through three incarnations; The Reform Party; The Canadian alliance and finally the Conservative party of Canada. Conservatives are as deeply invested in the idea of a "scraped" gun registry as Liberal-Left was in implementing it. Stephen Maher's column "Let the provinces register firearms or not", pointed the underlying nature of the registry. It was an attempt to impose a single standard on a population with diverse needs and experience.
Until I read Maher's column, I hadn't thought about the Gun registry as an issue best addressed by the Provinces. I supported the Gun Registry and still do, not because I thought it would reduce Gun related offences. The protesters were right with respect that, legal gun owners were not responsible for the vast majority of gun relate crimes. After that salient point their position rested on the stridency of ideology. I supported it because it is useful to have information on weapons ownership. Not in order to confiscate them, but to keep track of them. Again not in order to humiliate Gun owners, to cast them as dangerous or turn them into second class citizens. It can be as difficult to argue the utility of such information to a gun owner as it would be the necessity of the Census to Good government, to a Libertarian
What Maher suggests is simple and it would have been good advice for the Liberals in 1995 as it would be to the Conservatives in 2012. Let the provinces decide. I most often favour nation wide standards and practices. I don't care much for asymmetry. Too much of that and all you get a patch work Canada. I support the notion that where ever you reside, your living conditions should be as similar as is reasonable to that of other Canadians. He argues that Canada is a diverse nation, her citizens are not uniform in experience, attitude or geography. In many cases a "one size fits all" piece of legislation is as uncomfortable as it sounds. In some cases it is better to let Provincial governments legislate because they benefit from proximity to their electorate and can be more agile in meeting their expectations.
It is a powerful argument. The only objection I can raise is how this effects the safety of citizens. It is imperative that no place in Canada be made substantially left safe due to a piece of legislation or lack thereof. Earlier I said that didn't believe you are much safer with the gun registry, than you are without, registering a weapon does not mean a crime can never be committed by the owner. There are very particular circumstances where it is important. Police knowing whether there are weapons present in a domicile they are making a call on is useful. Knowing if the subject of a Peace Bond has weapons is important. 
So I am left wondering whether it is reasonable to let provinces and their citizens decide the level of safety they are willing to accept. Lives lost will be be counted after the fact, and that is no comfort to the dead, lives saved will always be guesswork. 
I will fall back on pragmatism. Right now there is no gun registry. We have lost. As long as Harper perches in Ottawa, the registry is dead. It may never be resurrected on a federal level. owing to the contentiousness of the legislation. The court is all that prevents the destruction of valuable information. The only choice left is Provincial gun registries.Let Provinces respond directly to the needs of there own citizens. So at least some Canadians can benefit from what ever good there is in the Gun Registry. Over time more provinces are likely to adopt gun registries. This time not as a burden but as a needful tool.  I trust that good ideas survive bad ones fall away. 
In the meantime the Harper Government will fight as hard to eradicate the the Gun Registry information as the Liberals fought to get it collected. Harper will ignore that the Registry he fought against, as an unreasonable imposition, is little different than, from trying to make sure no one now can have a Registry. The Liberals ignored a small but vocal minority. Hard will oppose a large vocal majority. It would have been better if the Liberals had listened in 1995, it would be good if Harper listened now in 2012


                     

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