REGINA – Most Saskatchewan residents don’t think proposed federal gun laws will make their communities any safer, a poll released by justice minister Bob Mitchell indicates.
But an Alberta poll shows most people in that province favor gun registration, a key element of federal justice minister Allan Rock’s package.
“Numbers are bouncing around all over the place. They’re contradictory and they’re almost impossible to reconcile with each other,” said Mitchell.
Won’t control crime
Mitchell’s poll, and a Maclean’s magazine poll published in January, both said Canadians generally don’t think gun registration will do much to control crime. But other polls touted by Rock said Canadians support gun registration.
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Most people, at least in Saskatchewan, want an evaluation of present gun laws , Mitchell said.
“Just stop for a while; cool it. Before we go any further and add any further layers of gun control, we should stop and ask ourselves the fundamental question: are these laws doing us any good?”
Three-quarters of the people who answered Mitchell’s poll said they thought an evaluation should be performed before any changes are made to existing gun laws.
When Saskatchewan people were asked if the proposed gun law would reduce crime, 86.4 percent said it would not. Sixty-three percent said they would not be any safer if the new gun law passes.
The Alberta poll, commissioned by provincial justice minister Brian Evans, showed 64 percent of respondents supported registration and 50 percent thought it would reduce crime.
Mitchell said he didn’t know what to make of the Alberta numbers, but did not dismiss them.
“I acknowledge the Alberta poll is out there,” he said. “But it has to be read in the context of this (Saskatchewan) poll.”
