Alphecca

Canadian Gun Registry Failure

I'm going to let the newspaper do the talking first. From the Toronto Star:

New questions are being asked about Canada's controversial and expensive gun registry, and why it didn't keep a high-calibre assault rifle out of the hands of a man who killed four Mounties in a cold-blooded ambush.

Despite the Firearms Act and its related programs — designed to keep firearms from people who are likely to be a danger to themselves or to others — local farmer Jim Roszko managed to obtain and keep the high-powered weapon, which he used Thursday to kill RCMP constables Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnston, Anthony Gordon and Brock Myrol before turning the gun on himself.
[...]
The controversial gun control program — licensing owners and registering guns — was originally projected to have a net cost of $2 million, but after 10 years in the works, it surpassed the $1-billion mark last year. Critics have condemned it for years, saying it lacks both accountability and effectiveness.

Roszko — a convicted child molester whom family and neighbours described as aggressive and in a lot of emotional pain — was known by local residents and police to have guns hidden on his farm. In fact, he faced numerous firearms charges over the years, and in 1999 a bailiff who was to visit the Roszko farm was warned by RCMP to wear a bulletproof vest.

Critics say Roszko shouldn't have had weapons in the first place — and, if the gun registry actually worked, wouldn't have had them.
[...]
One former Mountie called the registry "totally useless" because criminals don't register their guns.

"They've wasted $2 billion on what should have gone to front-line policing," said Dennis Young, parliamentary assistant to Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, a gun-registry critic.

"They've targeted law-abiding citizens instead of the 176,000 people (with court convictions) who have been prohibited from owning guns."

So the mutant Roszko was convicted of a felony. He was under court order not to own guns. He did anyway and the Canadian police knew it. And they even searched his home several times. He was still able to gun down four Mounties.

Over a billion dollars spent, a huge bureaucracy created, millions of law-abiding citizens aggrevated and in many cases penalized and yet Canada's Gun Registry program did nothing to prevent this tragic crime. Enforcing the pre-existing laws might have.

If Roszko was known to be a threat then he should have been locked-up again or committed or they should have bulldozed his home and property to find those guns. He was a known criminal known to illegally possess firearms. We're not talking about a law-abider or a suspect.

From Canadian Press Online:

RCMP were struggling Friday to explain how one man known for years as a violent police-hater with a short fuse and an arsenal of weapons was able to gun down four young Mounties.

James Roszko, 46, was notorious in the town and was feared by waitresses, high school students and community officials for his aggressive behaviour.

Roszko was well-known to police as a violent menace who laid spike belts on his property to discourage trespassers.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Wayne Oakes bristled at questions about the tactics the Mounties used on the fateful day.

He acknowledged the weapons the officers were armed with were no match for the "rapid-fire high-powered rifle" used by Roszko.

Oakes also said the RCMP can't get tough with someone just because of their criminal past.

"We treat people with respect. And while we have to be mindful of their past, if we see somebody walking down the street that we've had a past history with, we don't automatically take out our guns, and start pointing them at him," he said.

I think Dennis Young summed it up perfectly when he said the money should have gone to policing. Yes, imagine how many more police or equipment could have resulted from a billion dollars spent, instead of wasting it on a registry scheme that did nothing to protect the poor Mounties who were murdered.

And Al "The Inventor" Gore wanted to impose such a system here in the United States. And many currently in office still do.

When you create all sorts of licenses and registries all you do is punish the good people. The mutants will never obey such requirements because they are, after all, criminals.

Mayor Daley take note. San Francisco take note.