General

Guns are bad and a registry won’t make them less so

A new survey shows a majority of Canadians wants to do away with the long-gun registry

A new poll suggests Canadians outside Quebec are ready to do away with the controversial long-gun registry. The Canadian Press/Haris-Decima survey found 61 per cent of Canadians outside Quebec believe the registry is not helpful in stamping out gun crimes. However, within Quebec, it’s a different story; 56 per cent oppose abolishing the registry. Doug Anderson, senior vice-president of Harris-Decima says that, in general, Canadians still feel that “too many guns in society is a bad thing.” But many are convinced that the registry is simply a billion-dollar waste‹one that targets well-intentioned farmers and hunters as opposed to hardened criminals. Anderson speculates that the 1989 massacre at Montreal’s École Polytechnique, which left 14 women dead, may have influenced Quebeckers’ reticence to do away with the registry. In the House of Commons, the Bloc Québécois voted unanimously against abolishment.

CBC News

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