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| EST. READ TIME 1 MIN.Misfire: Firearm Registration in Canada
In 1995, the Canadian government introduced universal firearm registration. The plan is to license all gun owners by January 1, 2001, and then register all firearms by January 1, 2003. It was claimed that firearm registration would cost no more than $85 million over five years. Freedom of Information requests have uncovered that firearm registration has cost at least $600 million over the past three years. In addition to concerns about mismanagement, the firearm registration has been criticized for its abuse of individual privacy and property rights. Few believe that forcing hunters and target shooters to register their firearms will actually reduce criminal violence.
The demonization of ordinary people who happen to own a gun lays the foundation for a massive increase in governmental intrusiveness in the lives of ordinary citizens. Firearm registration violates the basic principles of policing set forth by Sir Robert Peel, the father of the English Bobbies. Passive resistance to firearm registration is expected to be widespread as it has been in other countries. The history of gun control in both Canada and the United Kingdom demonstrates the slippery slope toward eroding personal liberties, a process that begins with even the most benign appearing gun control measures.
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Gary Mauser
Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser UniversityGary Mauser, Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute, is Professor Emeritus at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University.He received his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Irvine. He has taught at a number of schools including the Université des sciences sociales (France), l’Institut d’études commerciales, l’Institut d’études politiques, and Université Laval (Quebec City). He taught marketing research at Simon Fraser University from 1975 to his retirement in 2007. He has published extensively in academic journals, including, the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Consumer Research, Canadian Journal of Criminology, Government and Policy, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Applied Economics. He has been an expert witness on firearms and criminal justice issues in the Senate of Canada, the Canadian Parliament, the New Zealand Parliament, the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Ontario Superior Court. He is accredited as an expert in small arms control with the United Nations International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS).… Read more Read Less…
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