We will soon see the first step in dismantling of the Long Gun Registry. I among others are working towards the end of the firearms control program.
Bill C-68 which became our firearms control program was created out of hype and hysteria; furthermore it was an overt act of fraud when it was put through Parliament to ensure passage. It divided the Country along geographic and urban/rural lines. In short everyone took leave of their senses.
The net end result of the Firearms Control program; it is a criminal offence in Canada to possess a firearm bottom line; regardless whether you have owned them for years. Like all criminal offences in Canada the statute must provide a defence to the charge; it does so in the form of a licence; you must have a licence to possess firearms in Canada lest you face the full force of the statute. What is not commonly known though is that this defence provided must be available to the accused. Which presents an interesting proposition.
Say that I was a career criminal with a lengthy criminal record including assault. I am found in possession of a firearm; I would be undoubtedly be charged under section 91 and 92 of the criminal code of Canada. This would be the bare minimum the Crown usually uses a scatter gun approach to prosecution(pardon the pun) lay as many charges as possible in hopes of intimidating the accused into a plea bargain. Be that as it may however the main charge could be beaten and the net end result would be that section 91 and 92 become of no force or effect because they are unconstitutional (R. v. Morgentaler) provided that there was not a pre-existing court ordered prohibition for possession. I would wager that any charge where an authorization of some form that is dependant upon having a valid licence would be considered null and void. I believe it will be only a matter of time before a sharp ambitious criminal lawyer hits upon this and defends one of these thugs with this defence and wins.
I say thug only because no legitimate firearms owner would ever get a fair trial in Canada. This is why I haven't challenged the Criminal Code on this basis; though hypothetically I could obtain a black market prohibited firearm either handgun or other type of prohibited firearm like a sub machine gun and invite the authorities to arrest me. Not having the magic grandfathered status to have a licence for such I could not possibly ever have a valid licence for them; since the defence is a licence that I could not obtain the defence is "illusionary" the statute is invalid. Though I would not risk such a venture solely because the "good guys" don't play by the rules of fair play. I would find myself defending 50 charges stemming from the single offence. Given my activist activities on the internet this too would be used against me. This isn't paranoia I have been witness to such activities by our "good guys" I have also studied the case law over the past 4 years it never ends well for the challenger.
All this notwithstanding I put to you a question and an appeal to logic and reason. The cost of implementing the firearms control program has cost in excess of 2 billion dollars the true costs of the program will never be known because the Chretien Government made them Cabinet secrets; further more the cost of operating the program runs in the neighbourhood of 130 million dollars per year. It has stripped all firearms owners of their constitutional rights and safeguards simply because they complied with the program; whereas your average street thug has all his intact simply because he did not comply with the firearms program and is free to obtain whatever firearm their heart desires completely illegally and authorities would have to obtain a search warrant even to find their firearms. They can't get a search warrant for known drug houses why would they be able to get one for this? 2 million firearms owners out of 7 million complied; 7 million out of 21 million firearms were registered; this does not include criminals because criminals are not troubled by such things as obeying the Criminal Code.
So I put it to: The firearms act was intended to end all gun violence it has not. People still get shot whether the firearm is registered or the shooter has a licence or not. DEAD is DEAD this is one statistic that no one can argue with. The firearms Control Program has failed to end this; it has failed to save "one life" Therefore is it not time to scrap it and start from scratch?
Is it not time to really look at the real problems like organized gangs, rather than ordinary citizens who own firearms? Is it not time to put our tax dollars into effective community programs to eliminate criminality, rather than chasing honest people for paper crimes?
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