Guns and nutters

Bill C-391, the ''private member's bill'' to scrap the gun registry, has been in the news these past few weeks.

That's because the head of the RCMP firearms program Marty Cheliak was inexplicably dumped, the nation's police chiefs had a convention where they unanimously endorsed the registry, emergency room doctors have spoken out and political types finally noticed that the pro-gun government has been suppressing yet another positive report on the registry.

Meanwhile, pressure's on NDP leader Jack Layton to whip his caucus members' votes or otherwise the bill may pass when Parliament resumes next month.

I have lots more to say on all of these matters but I'm holding my fire for a few more days as I am working on a major piece for the weekend paper.

That said, I did want to bring this story to your attention. It's about why Sault Ste. Marie's police chief Bob Davies supports the long gun registry. I added the boldface.

City police officers checked the registry 2,853 times in 2009.

Those inquiries included responding to a 911 call about a suicidal man. By checking the registry, police learned he owned eight weapons. They were removed to protect the man from harm.

When police executed a search warrant at an apartment, they found stolen property including two weapons. Because they were registered, the long guns were returned to their rightful owner who lost them during a break-in.

"Without the registry, we would have no way of knowing whether or not they were stolen," said Davies.

"Without the registry we'd have no proof, and no authority, to seize the firearms from that residence."

Most often, the registry is used when domestic assaults go to court. If an accused appears likely to reoffend, police will request the Crown attorney ask for weapons to be surrendered while the person is on bail.

"They won't volunteer that information," said Davies.

"Without the registry we wouldn't know if they had firearms." 

Now let's consider those last few lines, shall we?

It's true that domestic homicides have been declining for years, even before the gun registry came into effect in the mid-90s. That's mostly to do with how women have gained greater independence, gaining the resources to get out of a bad situation. Also, the legal system has recognized the problem and deals better with it. There are more shelters. There's greater awareness.

But the statistics tell another story about guns.

Femicides by long guns have declined while, by handgun, they are fairly flat. This signals that the registry has had a major effect. In fact, the murders have dropped drastically since 1996.

It's also true -- and this will surprise many Canadians -- that you're more likely to be murdered in the country than in the city. And, if you're a woman, the risk is even greater in rural areas.

More guns plus more isolation equals more bang bang.

Now, given that more people in the country have long guns -- and more of them too -- than people do in the city, the long-gun registry appears to be saving women's lives out in the hinterland.

According to the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women's Equality,

In 2008, in Ontario the RCMP’s Annual Report on the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee (DVDRC) stated there were 165 women and children were killed in domestic violence. The figure increases to 230 when you add male victims of domestic violence – the majority of which were suicides by the domestic violence perpetrator.

A woman is 12 times more likely to be murdered if a gun is in the house.

Not that the HarperCons seem to care about women's lives, unless they are female fetuses.

Just saying, you know?

Image: By Botero, of course.

Ooopsy Date: Almost forgot this bang-on op-ed by The Montreal Gazette's Peter Wheeland!

Comments

[broostertoo]

Right on, sister...unfortunately, you may be preaching mostly to the converted (urban Star readers).

The consequences of failure to sustain a long gun registry will be felt in the hinterlands where rifles continue, in many households, to be casual objects kept around for common activities like pest control and tragically available when emotions rage.

[Robert McClelland]

But a few deaths is a small price to pay for not inconveniencing gun nutters with a bit of paperwork and a small fee. ;-)

[Connie Donoghue]

Central Canada still hasnt learned that we out in the 'hinterland' of non-Toronto (in my case Calgary, AB) we all dislike being called "hinterlanders". We still associate it with the CBC spots about wildlife, and think it colours your perceptions of the larger part of Canada.

I actually bristle less about being called any kind of a 'nutter' by a Torontonian, than a 'hinterlander' sister.....that being said....

The whole focus on the gun registry and its polarized politics has meant that there's been less overall focus on domestic violence generally out here. And it means that the horrid/lurid domestic incidents are, or seem to be, on the rise. And those incidents involve knives, cars, and disappearances. And everyone of course says that there's "no warning at all" about any of them, even when there's obvious warning signs.

Calgary's police chief Rick Hanson, who by the way has never rounded anyone up without cause or constitutional power, has enunciated the majority moderate view from out west. That hinterlander brother said that the problem with the gun registry wasnt the existance of the registry per se that he saw as problematic. Rather, it was the politics that promoted the registry as *the* big policy response to domestic violence and mass violent incidents. It's everyone's problem when it's the big legislative effort (or the only legislative effort because of political wrangling/bogged down parliamentary agendas) towards gun control generally.

So long as gun registry proponents keep enunciating a stereotypical and one-dimensional view of non-urban gender relations, there will be many many people who oppose the registry. Why dont you guys just come out and say that you want those rural conservative 'traditional' types to all register themselves so the police can scan thru their files when a violent incident occurs anywhere in Canada. ?

Now I must say categorically that I personally hate guns / weapons of any kind. I'm not proposing the proliferation of guns whatsoever. We need to address the common problem of social violence in a common language and truly community effort.

Oh ya, and while I acknowledge the statistics you've quoted, I also urge you to look closely at the types of data that were compiled to make those claims. Sometimes the data on one side of the equation is longitudinal (taken over years or decades) and used to make results that support a political argument. (I work for a public opinion research company so I'm increasingly sensitive to the use of statistical data....we dont do stuff like that but it happens).

[Connie Donoghue]

Antonia, nobody out west - generally speaking - thinks the gun registry is a joke. And the worst of it really is that the extreme right wants registries for all kinds of offenders, not guns.

I'll be very blunt here. In the last 5 months or so in Alberta, there's been several gun slayings and almost all of them (ok all that I can think of but I'm sure I'm forgetting some) almost all of the gun slayings have involved police or other local officials.

In early July, an RCMP officer shot his wife with his service revolver (even if it wasnt the service revolver it was a legally issued arms). A couple of weeks later the family of a small city-councillor had a blow out that escalated into an 'armed' standoff with the husband of the councillor and police. That man was shot dead by the police when he left his surrounded house and knelt to 'cock' an umbrella. ! !~! He knew the police would kill him because of the incidents of the day and because he owned several registered guns.

I am as feminist and as leftwing as it gets, and I'm against the gun registry. I'm against the registry becoming a 'feminist' issue, instead of overall gun control and supportive rather than paramilitary policing, because it doesnt address the root problems. The debate over the registry has derailed many very large social issues across Canada, and the superheated politicized debate displaces many much-needed discussions about policing.

Mr. Big Registry Spokesman Blair should be on suspension pending investigation for his actions regarding the Summits. He shouldnt be any kind of policy spokesman, for example.

Appropriate policing response across the West is still a HUGE police/political issue, with so much unspoken that Albertans cannot now even thoroughly question their investigatory involvement in the suspicious disappearance of an older, Edmonton-area couple. In that incident, things have gotten so tense and awkward with policing and domestic issues that we as the public are constrained in the questions and responses we pose publicly. Nobody, not the police, media or the public have even remotely suggested the possibility of a murder/suicide in a remote place. Even though the circumstances in that incident are increasingly looking like thats a possibility. There were no 'prior' warnings, no registered firearms, no 'priors' per se, and nothing that neighbours and family picked-up-on.

But then that's most often the case here in Alberta nowadays: all of the recent horrid violent incidents happen without any 'real' warnings to the family/etc. about the real danger involved.

Personally, the gun registry is such a huge albatross, and the rightwing are so tenacious, that I think a strategic backdown on the long gun registry is the smart move. We put our policy weapons down; admit that it was a failed social experiment. Then ask the rightwing to backdown on its whacked-out policy stances. In short, I think we should all backdown from this policy standoff before more people get hurt.

[Kitty Lebeouf]

I'm not sure I understand why long gun registry is a feminist issue. Guns kill people, not women.

I also don't understand why it's such a big deal either. Owning a gun is a privilege, not a right (thank god for that one!). We register our cars. We pay fines if we don't. Cars can be destructive, and a registry helps match the destruction to the perpetrator. A car is for transportation. A gun is a WEAPON. It may be used for hunting or self-defence, but you don't shoot a gun without knowing it's primary purpose is to kill.

Why is a small fee and a bit of paperwork too much to ask for? To buy a gun, don't you need a license? Do get a license, don't you need to pass a test? (I'm not sure, but I sure as hell hope you do). If you really want a gun, for legitimate purposes, one more hoop isn't a big deal.

[Mary Soderstrom]

How to convince those NDP guys to vote against the private member's bill?
It may help to show just how broad support for the registry is. Here are the email addresses of the 12 who voted with the Conservatives earlier:

Ms. Niki Ashton: Ashton.N@parl.gc.ca
Ms. Carol Hughes: Hughes.C@parl.gc.ca

Malcolm Allen: Allen.Ma@parl.gc.ca
Dennis Bevington: Bevington.D@parl.gc.ca
Nathan Cullen: Cullen.N@parl.gc.ca
Claude Gravelle: Gravelle.C@parl.gc.ca
Bruce Hyer: Hyer.B@parl.gc.ca
John Rafferty: Rafferty.J@parl.gc.ca
Peter Stoffer: Stoffer.P@parl.gc.ca
Charlie Angus: Angus.C@parl.gc.ca
Glenn Thibeault: Thibeault.G@parl.gc.ca
Jim Maloway: Maloway.J@parl.gc.ca

I've also started a FaceBook page, in hopes that might help an email campaign.: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=110673205655870&ref=mf