Garneau on the long gun registry

While we’re sorting out everyone’s position on the gun registry, here are Marc Garneau’s comments to reporters after QP yesterday.

… the long-gun registry had a lot of very good points and some bad points.  On the good side, it was supported by the great majority of police associations in the country, by the RCMP, by victims’ groups and many others. On the other side of the coin, it was opposed by many Canadians in rural communities in this country. There’s no question about it, it was an extremely divisive issue. It’s gone now. The Conservatives have killed it. Let’s move on to other things. It is not my intention to spend more money to bring it back.

However, I will work on measures that will ensure the protection of Canadians such as much more severe penalties for anybody who commits a crime with a gun, particularly a long-gun, prohibiting people who have a history of spousal violence or people who have joined gangs. We’ve got to make sure that they don’t get access to the guns. Strong interdiction at the borders. Taking measures to prohibit certain guns that could easily be turned into assault rifles. Those are the measures that I will put in place.