Long Gun Registry and Deregulation
Cote Gauche pretty much nails the central purpose of eliminating the Gun Registry, but I’ll expand on the idea: this is the tip of the Harper Deregulation iceberg.
It sets precedent and justifies ripping apart every bit of fabric that Canadians have spent the last 143 years knitting together.
By failing to support the Gun Registry, the NDP aren’tfailing their few constituents out in various rural ridings. They’re failing the basic premise of their core belief structure: government can and should be an active participant in some aspects of the regular citizen. I’m not saying it always has to be there, but it serves a purpose.
So go ahead … vote against the registry. Vote against your belief system.
When you do, maybe you’ll wake up and realize that THIS is why you’re failing in the polls and why current representatives of the NDP have ruined any chance of ever being in control of this country.
Regulation or deregulation done purely for ideological reasons is the problem.
Regulation of the telecommunications and airline industry monopolies in the 1930’s was appropriate to incentive the massive investment in infrastructure required to grow these industries from scratch. Deregulation of the same industries in the 1980’s and 1990’s was also appropriate to create competition and drive innovation and new services.
A long gun registry in Canada, up until the 1980’s would have been impractical, unnecessary and an onerous burden our our still largely rural population. However, our nation and culture are changing. Over 80% of us now live in cities where firearms (whether handguns, rifles or shotguns) have no practical, legitimate purpose and where, in fact, it is already illegal to discharge a firearm.
Deregulation of long guns serves no purpose. It might have been expensive to implement, but it is not expensive to operate. The burden it imposes on gun owners is hardly noticeable. This is (like the census issue) a purely ideological move driven by a cynical and self serving “fear” of big government.
Jack Layton needs to figure out where is values are and make the difficult choices for the public good. In this, he is no better than Harper – pandering to his party’s rural base.
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