REJOICE! The Canadian long gun registry is DEAD!

[LAGC]

Wednesday was the day the long-gun registry died. It was too intrusive, unfair and onerous of a burden on law-abiding Canadian firearms owners to continue to be imposed upon them.

There is another burden, as intrusive, unfair and onerous as the registry, to which the federal Conservatives must now turn. That burden is the minimum sentencing law on gun crimes, which was enacted four years ago. It's not working because, like the gun registry, it is unfairly catching in its wide net people who do not deserve to be entangled in the mesh.

This week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Malloy bravely threw down the gauntlet when she refused to sentence 27-year-old Leroy Smickle to the minimum three years in prison for the "crime" of posing for his own Facebook photo, alone in his apartment late at night in his underwear, holding a gun. Malloy, who gave Smickle a one-year sentence of house arrest as a sop to the law, said given the circumstances, sending him to the slammer for three years would be "unfair, outrageous, abhorrent and intolerable."

She's absolutely right, but she could have gone farther. She could have thrown the case out of court, as there was no reason for the police to charge Smickle with any crime. They burst in on him looking for his cousin, frightening Smickle so much that his laptop and pistol fell to the floor. True, he had been holding a restricted, loaded weapon, but he was endangering no one and wasn't actively engaged in committing any crime.
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http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Shooting+down+laws/6161214/story.html

Good to see our neighbors to the north becoming more free...

[Johnny Rico]

1. Good news, and about time.

[ileus]

2. one small victory for our friends to the north...

[Atypical Liberal]

3. Still has to go to the senate. n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Meh.

Canada is free to throw away their money if they want to.

[DWC]

5. Congratulations Canada! N/T

[one-eyed fat man]

6. Best quote from the story

Data provided last fall by the Library of Parliament

"The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Chiefs of Police have not yet provided a single example in which tracing was of more than peripheral importance in solving a case. The problem isn’t just with the long-gun registry. The data provided above cover all guns, including handguns. There is no evidence that, since the handgun registry was started in 1934, it has been important in solving a single homicide."

A $2.2 million bonfire, just in time to inspire Rahm to demand Illinois do the same with his calls for a state wide registry.

[Atypical Liberal]

8. Wow, so even the handgun registry didn't accomplish anything!

"There is no evidence that, since the handgun registry was started in 1934, it has been important in solving a single homicide."

Wow! Almost 80 years of registering handguns and no evidence that it has been important in solving a single homicide?!?!

That's pretty damning.

[Atypical Liberal]

9. As the story changed?

I can no longer find that quote in the story linked.

[one-eyed fat man]

10. There was a link with the story, that is not there now.

It quoted a part of the report issued by the RCMP to Parliament.

Another source has this:

The statistics speak for themselves. From 2003 to 2009, there were 4,257 homicides in Canada, 1,314 of which were committed with firearms. Data provided last fall by the Library of Parliament reveals that the weapon was identified in fewer than a third of the homicides with firearms, and that about three-quarters of the identified weapons were not registered. Of the weapons that were registered, about half were registered to someone other than the person accused of the homicide. In just 62 cases — that is, only 4.7 percent of all firearm homicides — was the gun registered to the accused. As most homicides in Canada are not committed with a gun, the 62 cases correspond to only about 1 percent of all homicides.

To repeat, during these seven years, there were only 62 cases — nine a year — where it was even conceivable that registration made a difference. But apparently, the registry was not important even in those cases. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Chiefs of Police have not yet provided a single example in which tracing was of more than peripheral importance in solving a case.

The problem isn’t just with the long-gun registry. The data provided above cover all guns, including handguns. There is no evidence that, since the handgun registry was started in 1934, it has been important in solving a single homicide.

Looking at just long guns shows that since 1997, there have been three murders in which the gun was registered to the accused. The Canadian government doesn’t provide any information on whether those three accused individuals were convicted.

[Atypical Liberal]

12. I'm really interested in the 1934 handgun registry angle.

80 years of handgun registry and no leads! I'd love a cite for that.

[mazzarro]

7. Hmmm - didn't know that Canada has been under oppression until now!

"Good to see our neighbors to the north becoming more free..." - glad you informed us --

[rl6214]

11. Well done Canada

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. fucking Eh! Eh!