An internal R-C-M-P evaluation being released today calls the federal gun registry a “useful tool” for police.
It says the registry prepares officers for urgent calls, helps them trace weapons and helps keep guns out of the hands of the mentally unstable.
The reviewers want the program to stay, noting most firearms in Canada are long guns — and most firearm deaths are caused by long guns.
The evaluation comes just weeks before Parliament resumes debate of a Tory private member’s bill that would kill the long-gun registry.
Bruce Grey Owen Sound MP Larry Miller dismisses the RCMP evaluation, and the call by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to keep the long-gun registry.
Miller feels the two organizations are on “the wrong side of the issue.”
He says 84 per cent of his constituents want the registry killed, and Miller says all the front-line officers he has talked with agree.
Larry Miller believes the Chiefs of Police Association is being swayed by Urban officers who he admits have a different stance on the issue.
The Bruce Grey Owen Sound MP also dismisses claims that the long-gun registry is checked thousands of times a day, saying it automatically kicks in when drivers are pulled over and it’s being accessed by police worried about guns in every case.
The Federal Conservatives say the registry is a wasteful imposition on farmers and hunters, while many opposition M-P’s argue it helps keep the streets safe.
