WINNIPEG – A black X will be the target for gun enthusiasts in Manitoba during the next federal election. A leader of the gun lobby here said the ballot box will be used to fight a new gun control law they believe infringes on individual rights.
John Hipwell, of Virden, Man., who chairs the province’s wing of the National Firearms Association, said the deadline for registering guns will be set after the next election.
“The advice I’m giving everybody is passive non-compliance … do not register your guns, change the government. Because they’re not listening to reason … this is a political agenda, so we’re going to have to get political.”
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Hipwell said gun owners played a role in defeating the previous Conservative government, which tried to introduce tougher gun laws during Kim Campbell’s term in office.
Big expense
Garry Noto of the Brandon Wildlife Association said the bill, should it become law, will cause inconvenience and expense for rural gun owners. Hipwell listed many beefs with the bill:
- The Criminal Code will contain regulations for gun clubs, which Hipwell said have an “exemplary safety record.”
- People who own guns and have bought them legally will have them declared prohibited and will not be compensated.
- The law would give the government power to decide what fire-arms are reasonable for sporting and hunting uses.
“One day somebody’s going to go out there and commit a crime and he’s going to be using a pump-action rifle,” Hipwell said, adding that the government could then ban this common sport firearm.
“There’s still hunters out there who are saying, well, this isn’t going to affect me. They’re going to have to wake up.”
Enforcement is the key
On the other side of the spectrum, the president of the province’s association of women’s shelters said the bill is a step toward tightening the use of guns, but said registration won’t stop the problems she sees. Enforcement will be vital, she said.
“Anyone that’s bent on hurting or killing another person is going to find a way and a method of doing it,” said Waltraub Grieger, who works at a women’s shelter in Selkirk.
“I know that people who want to gain or purchase weapons are still going to be able to do that in spite of registration … (gun control) is maybe one of many things that we have to address in our society.”
The director of a community health centre in Winnipeg, who works extensively with suicide prevention and domestic violence, agreed gun control is a “piece of the picture” in reducing violence in society.
“We encounter firearms more and more in the work we do,” said Patti Sullivan of Klinic. “While someone may not be using them, just the very presence and sometimes the actual threat … have scared women not to leave situations and have been used to intimidate individuals.”
