From its inception, the gun registration bill has been punitive.
It was conceived in a knee jerk reaction to a terrible day in Montreal, and led Allen Rock to believe he might make political gain from the death of 13? women.
We (gun owners) were led to believe it would be an easy, fast, way to "help police" and society by putting the serial numbers of our long guns in a registry.
Well, it was neither fast, nor helpful. I did everything right when registering my existing guns at that time, and had to do it twice. Go figure.
Then, we were told it was going to cost us $80.00 PER GUN every FIVE YEARS, to keep legal and keep our guns registered. To a gun collector with modest means this sounded a death knell to his collection. At the time I had 10 rifles and shotguns, all safely kept in a locked metal safe which was built into a closet. Not being prepared to spend $800.00 every five years just to be a good guy, I sold them all but one.
Some just refused to register and became criminals, subject to fines and jail time, and some handed their guns in to the police for destruction. This, I believe, was the reason behind the fee in the first place.
In theory, the registry is supposed to help police by letting them know if a person has guns in his house, if the cops are investigating a "domestic" or what have you. I thought they were supposed to ASSUME every situation was potentially dangerous and act accordingly.
The long gun registry can be hacked, to let crooks know who has the guns and where they live. It's been done. So much for security.
In short this has been an expensive exercise in boondoggle, and a potential launching pad for Mr. Rock, who has since been relegated to the boondocks; where he rightly belongs IMHO.
I would have no problem with a QUICK, FREE, SECURE, long gun registration. Impossible to get in any top heavy bureaucratic government, where political expediency trumps personal freedoms.
Hoping this bill gets quick passage and becomes law. Too much to ask for I'm afraid.