Publié par la sénatrice Mobina Jaffer le 21 septembre 2010
Cet blogue est disponible dans la langue dans laquelle il a été redigé.
This blog is available in the language in which it was written.
Did you know?
- On average, one in three women killed by their husbands in Canada is shot.
- In 2007, about 15% of known firearm homicides in Canada were committed with a long gun.
- In 1994, the same year the gun registry was introduced, a total of 91 women across Canada were killed by guns as a result of spousal abuse. In 2008, a total of 9 women were killed as a result of spousal abuse.
Canadians across the country feel the long-gun registry is an important tool in crime control and prevention, a sentiment shared by police authorities nationwide.
This registry is not about duck hunters, nor is it about men or women, nor even the $4 million in carrying costs (12 cents per person a year); it is simply about making our society safer.
The long-gun registry’s function is simple: it registers guns and informs the authorities of the status of registered firearms and their license holders.
Police across the country access this registry on average over 11,000 times a day – 2,800 of which involve community safety incidents. With the registry being accessed by police more than 4 million times last year, the registry has clearly shown its worth.
The value of spending the money to preserve the registry is almost too obvious, especially when we look at what it costs to investigate murders. A complex murder investigation can routinely run in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars as was seen in the Collingwood murder investigation, which cost tax payers $2 million.
The fact is that gun violence is an issue in Canada. It is thus only logical that we at least know who owns a firearm in this country. Having this knowledge is invaluable.
We should not forget the massacre in Montreal wherein 28 people were shot, including 14 women who died as a result. Worse still would be if we dishonored the work that has been done as a result of this tragedy to deal with gun violence by removing the long-gun registry.