For the Conservatives last week, front-line police officers like Murray Grimmer and Randall Kuntz were the face of why the government is killing the long gun registry.
Det. sgt. Grismer, a firearms specialist and instructor with the Saskatoon Police Service, told a House of Commons committee studying Bill C-19 that the registry is an ineffective crime-fighting tool with unreliable and incomplete data.
“Police across Canada cannot and must not place their trust or risk their lives on inaccurate, unverified information contained in the registry,” said Grismer. “From my perspective, if doing away with the registry saves one of Canada’s front-line police officers, it is worth it. Retaining the registry at the risk of one police officer’s life is too great a price to pay.”
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Kuntz, a police officer from Edmonton, said he polled fellow officers and more than 2,400 of 2,600 who responded wanted the registry gone.
It supports the government argument that the registry does not help police stop crime and that police chiefs who say it does are out of touch.
Public safety minister Vic Toews, who appeared at the committee meeting to make the government case for the bill, said Manitoba NDP premier Greg Selinger is the provincial face of the registry’s flaws.
While under attack from NDP committee members who support the registry, Toews assured them he has worked with provinces on the file.
“Your colleagues in the NDP government in Manitoba have clearly indicated this is not an effective gun control measure,” said Toews.
For opponents of the bill, the face of the opposition were victims of crime and several shooting sprees at Montreal schools.
Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, told the committee that the registry has been effective no matter what Conservatives and some front-line police officers say.
“Rates of firearm death and injury have significantly declined with stronger gun control and the registry is an essential part of the mix.”
Opponents also raged at the government decision to destroy data collected through the registry.
Quebec public safety minister Robert Dutil was in Ottawa Nov. 17 to demand that Ottawa turn over Quebec data to the provincial government, which plans to create its own registry.
He had Quebec police support. Yves Francoeur, president of the
Montreal Police Brotherhood, told a Parliament Hill news conference the records should be kept.
“On the Island of Montreal alone, there are about 75,000 weapons and 60,000 are long guns,” he said. “You cannot seriously claim that losing track of 60,000 weapons has no impact on public safety.”
Toews stuck to his guns. The data is information collected on law-abiding gun owners and is increasingly out-of-date and inaccurate, he insisted.
“The registry is the data,” he said. Toews accused the opposition of misleading Canadians by confusing gun control with the gun registry.
He said strong gun control will continue, including licensing, background checks, gun safety courses and tough control over guns crossing the border.
Committee hearings continue this week.
