AMAZINGLY, this past autumn during hunting season, my brother shot a deer in the
woods behind the old Wilson family farm.
Getting a supply of venison for the winter was not the amazing part. Most years, Bill shoots
a buck and tags out. The amazing part was that he still was able to indulge his passion for
hunting in the aftermath of C-68, the gun registration legislation.
To listen to him gripe and rant over the past few years, it would be easy to imagine the bill
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would somehow make the deer invisible or more devious and almost impossible to kill.
Apparently not. Deer are just as vulnerable to armed hunters with or without gun
registration and if last autumn is any indication, there are just as many hunters now as ever.
That likely will be true after Jan 1, when licences will be required, and after Dec. 31, 2002,
when guns will have to be registered.
And yes, despite the complaints, my brother is complying with the law of the land. The logic
here is simple.
In two federal elections, opponents of gun registration have made their case and both times,
the large majority of MPs elected actually support the gun legislation.
The legislation has been challenged all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada and
declared constitutional. And the government elected Nov. 27 will be in office long enough to
see all the provisions of C-68 implemented in this term.
The fight over whether to get a licence and then register is over. The issue can be debated
again in future elections when political parties promise to abolish the system, but by then it
will be in place.
Like free trade, it will be difficult to turn back the clock.
So for voters and citizens strongly opposed to the gun registration system, the last election
sent a strong political message. The majority opposes you.
Now, you have a choice: comply or not.
Citizens who choose to ignore or defy the law will be making an informed choice to
criminalize themselves, just as they would if they chose to defy other laws with which they
disagree …. say seat belt legislation, the goods-and-services tax or impaired driving.
That doesn’t mean C-68 is good law or bad. It just means it is the law.
This has been a curious political debate. It has been characterized as another urban majority
assault on a rural minority, but it is hardly that clear-cut. In my experience, there are many
rural supporters of the bill and many urban hunters who think it is an outrage.
During the last election, when farmers were suffering from Liberal inaction over low
commodity prices and unfair foreign competition, C-68 seemed to be the main agricultural
issue in many ridings.
There has been an underlying assumption in the debate that the real issue is confiscation.
Farmers argue that guns are a tool.
The bill doesn’t restrict a farmer from owning and using a gun and there are other farm
tools, including half tons, that the state licences without owner protest.
Then there has been the role of the Reform-Canadian Alliance. Many times, its MPs have
verged on counseling defiance of the law and they take great glee at gun owner threats to
make the system unworkable by swamping it with last-minute applications.
It has been an emotional, divisive and perhaps unnecessary debate.
Now, the last election suggests it is over. Gun owners will decide whether to comply or
defy.
Whatever they think about Liberal arrogance and injustice, they will not be able to blame the
government for their personal decision.
