OPPOSITION VOTES TO END GUN AMNESTY

April 24, 2009

Conservatives vote to extend amnesty

OTTAWA – Today, Ted Menzies, Member of Parliament for Macleod and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance expressed serious disappointment that the Opposition, and specifically the NDP Members of Parliament that promised during the past election to vote to end the long-gun registry, have betrayed their constituents, and broken their promise and have voted to end the gun amnesty. 

Rural NDP members voted with the Bloc and Liberals on a Motion that will make law abiding citizens criminals simply due to the fact that they own a long-gun.

“Our Government’s position has always been clear:  we support the repeal of the of the long-gun registry because it unfairly targets farmers and hunters, not criminals,” said Menzies.  “Clearly, the opposition supports wasting more money on a long-gun registry that the Auditor General reported, has wasted taxpayers’ money and contains data that is unreliable.  That is not our position.  Our Government will continue to fight for effective gun control that targets criminals, not farmers and hunters,” concluded Menzies.

On April 1, 2009, the Government introduced a bill in the Senate to eliminate the requirement for Canadians to register their non-restricted long-guns.

The legislation introduced will:

• Repeal the requirement for individuals and businesses to register non-restricted long-guns; and
• Require firearms retailers to record all sales transactions of non-restricted firearms, as was the case prior to the imposition of the long-gun registry.