Polls show Canadians despise gun registry
Angler & Hunter Hotline - August 2005

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters welcomes the support from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), the national voice of municipal government that shares our repulsion for the Liberals' gun registry program.

Recently the FCM passed a resolution that read: "Be it resolved that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities call upon Parliament to abolish the unworkable National Firearms Registry for long guns; and be it further resolved that the tax dollars being spent on the registry be redirected in support of municipal infrastructure, health care, education, and local law enforcement."

About two years ago, the O.F.A.H. was responsible for outlining a similar resolution that was supported by the majority of municipalities in Ontario. Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director, said that this national resolution from the FCM reinforces the fact that the vast majority of Canadians, from big cities to small towns, feel the gun registry is nothing more than a worthless piece of bureaucracy.

"Considering this significant resolution from FCM, which represents Canada's largest cities (including Toronto) as well as small urban and rural communities, one would think that the Federal government might finally start listening to Canadians and stop the bleeding of the gun registry. On the contrary, they keep pouring more of our tax dollars into this financial black hole," said Reader noting that, last month, another 64 million dollars was budgeted by the Feds to prop up their gun registry fiasco.

O.F.A.H. in the media again

In the past two years, most public opinion polls have demonstrated convincingly that Canadians despise the gun registry on the basis of its spiralling cost (over $1 billion and rising), its ineffectiveness, or both.

Following the tragic death of four R.C.M.P. officers in Alberta, the Globe & Mail conducted a timely poll whereby 76 percent of respondents sent the message that the gun registry is a complete and abject failure and should be scrapped.

In the past several months, the O.F.A.H. has been featured on radio talk shows and other media programs to share our members' disgust with the Liberal gun registry. Reader said that it's extremely sad that it has taken the tragic death of four R.C.M.P. officers to once again focus media attention on what the O.F.A.H. has been fighting against all along.