Why a Quebec Long Gun Registry Would Fail

Stephen Harper's Conservatives have abolished the federal long gun registry which was brought in by the former federal Liberal government to track and restrict access to guns that may be used in public shootings such as the ones that occurred at the University of Montreal and Dawson College. While many across the country held vigils for the victims of the massacre at the University of Montreal, the Quebec government announced it would follow through with an announcement the former provincial Liberal government had made to establish a long gun registry for Quebec to replace the federal one that had been dismantled, but given the scope of such legislation, it is easy to see how the new registry will fail in its tracks and become yet another of the cash burdens that exist in Quebec society.

As a country-wide registry, gun regulations could be enforced at the borders - although nothing really stopped the black market that got guns legally from the United States - but a Quebec-wide registry would be ineffective as people with intent to cause harm can easily cross the border into Ontario to get such weapons and return without declaring a single thing. This would mean that Quebec would spend billions of dollars to implement and maintain a system that would be virtually unenforceable and we all know that people with the intent of committing a crime won't play nice and follow this new registry when accessing their weapons of choice.

On top of that, with plans to use federal data as a base, one can easily argue that Quebec's share of the data is outdated and will be inaccurate by the time the Quebec government receives it.

Another argument is that while the registry may prevent a law abiding citizen from going on a rampage - which is rare - it doesn't prevent someone who is not registered because the weapon wasn't obtained through enforceable means which in essence raises the question of how many lives the registry can actually save if it can be bypassed by powers that are beyond the control of law enforcement.

In the end, the idea of implementing a provincial gun registry is doomed to fail - unless the Quebec government is ready to build a fence around the province and have border inspectors all around Quebec - which wouldn't send a good message to Canadians and would still face the same problems that the Canadian border had with the black market that gets its weapons from the United States and again, doesn't report a thing. Plus, good luck negotiating a border security plan with Ottawa.

It would be nothing more than another huge expense and another excuse to raise taxes on an already overburdened Quebec population and the worst part is that the registry wouldn't do a thing to protect Quebecers. Quebec needs some sort of gun protection for its population but a provincial gun registry will only create more problems than solutions and fail to protect Quebecers. What do you think the Quebec government should do? Follow us and let us know: Facebook, Twitter, Google +