While there were undeniably management issues with the implementation of the long gun registry, the Liberal government was responding to the horrific events of the Montreal massacre and wanted to take substantive efforts to reduce gun violence.  No Liberal should ever apologize for that.

However the reality is the registry is now abolished. What does the data indicate?  What is the impact of the registry’s cancellation? What has been the experience of law enforcement? Would increased effort and regulation around the licensing and safe storage of firearms be more effective than requiring hunters and farmers to register every long gun? The hunters and gun owners I have met do not object to strict regulation around licensing and safe storage; in fact, they support this strongly.

We must let the evidence guide our future gun control policy and the course it takes, and do a better job of bringing both rural and urban Canada to the table.