Ottawa

Mulcair on the long gun registry

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

The NDP’s position on the gun registry is that we favor the rgistration of guns. There were irritants in the former system. That doesn’t mean that you roll back public protection. Registration of guns helps protect the public, period. That’s why every policy force in Canada except Calgary’s is in favor of the registration of guns. The NDP favors the registration of guns, especially this week which is the week that contains the anniversary of the terrible tragedy at Polytechnique. We will continue to say clearly that we favor the registration of guns, period…

What we’ve said is that the registration of guns is essential to help protect the public. We would bring back a form of registration. We would be certain to avoid some of the pitfalls of the last version. For example, the police have said clearly that they never asked and it wasn’t necessary that the only possible treatment of an offence was under the criminal code. They said that that went too far. For example, if someone had simply skipped a beat administratively, not only were their guns seized during a hunting trip, they were subject to a huge fine and they had a criminal record. The police have said “You should just give us the option of treating it criminally or administratively”. That’s the type of thing that you could do, but every police force in this country with the exception of one has said that it helps protect the public and it helps protect them. A young police officer going to the door of a home where there’s been a signaling of a domestic dispute should know whether there are guns or not on the other side of that door.

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