freespirit
5th May 2012, 05:40 PM
The Ontario Provincial Police say a system that tracks gun sales is perfectly legal, even if the federal government has done away with the long-gun registry.
http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/ontario_police_keeping_track_of_gun_sales/1570f930
Ontario's provincial police force is keeping tabs (http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/02/ontario-provincial-police-accused-of-maintaining-backdoor-gun-registry/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+%28National+Po st+-+Top+Stories%29) on sales by gun vendors but the cops say the data will not be available to officers on the street.
The federal long-gun registry has been dismantled by Stephen Harper's Conservatives despite comments from police departments that the registry was a useful tool for officers. The Ontario system keeps a record of all gun sales and the name of the purchaser. Police will be able to access the information in those ledgers with a search warrant.
The fact that a large provincial police force would be willing to draw criticism and put resources into a gun tracking system says police officers think this is valuable information. In fact, it could be a life-saver if someone barred from buying firearms is one day arrested because their name appeared in a gun store ledger.
A spokesman for the Ontario's chief firearms officer said the system is not an attempt to re-create the long-gun registry scrapped by the federal government. He said it's not a registry in the same sense as the federal one.
"It won't be a central database and it won't be digitized," OPP Staff Sgt. Steve Rideout told a reporter.
Critics say it's the same thing as the old federal registry, calling the Ontario strategy a "backdoor" manoeuvre. But just as the federal government used its authority to shut down the long-gun registry, the province is well within its authority to create a made-in-Ontario solution. Ontarians should be proud that their government is willing to do what's right.
The province's chief firearms officer sent a letter to all gun dealers in Ontario in April, informing them of the ledger process. The books will record the make, model and calibre of guns sold, along with the name and firearms licence number of the person buying the gun.
That process seems like common sense. It ensures there is a proper check of the buyer's paperwork to confirm they hold a licence. Police officers will perform an audit of the ledgers every two years: not an onerous burden on gun store owners.
Given that some municipalities have registers that track who buys spray paint – an effort to cut down on graffiti – gun buyers aren't facing a major inconvenience.
Firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman says the Ontario process "subverts" the federal law. He accuses the Ontario firearms officer of "using his control over firearms business essentially to extort them into complying with a registry that the federal Parliament has rejected."
Friedman is also concerned that police might use the data from ledgers as an investigative tool. That means he's out of touch. Crimes being solved is a result we should all wish for.
Should Ontario ramp up the tracking process to include all gun owners? If police officers say a tracking system help them do their job, why should Ontario hold off?
http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/ontario_police_keeping_track_of_gun_sales/1570f930
Ontario's provincial police force is keeping tabs (http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/05/02/ontario-provincial-police-accused-of-maintaining-backdoor-gun-registry/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+%28National+Po st+-+Top+Stories%29) on sales by gun vendors but the cops say the data will not be available to officers on the street.
The federal long-gun registry has been dismantled by Stephen Harper's Conservatives despite comments from police departments that the registry was a useful tool for officers. The Ontario system keeps a record of all gun sales and the name of the purchaser. Police will be able to access the information in those ledgers with a search warrant.
The fact that a large provincial police force would be willing to draw criticism and put resources into a gun tracking system says police officers think this is valuable information. In fact, it could be a life-saver if someone barred from buying firearms is one day arrested because their name appeared in a gun store ledger.
A spokesman for the Ontario's chief firearms officer said the system is not an attempt to re-create the long-gun registry scrapped by the federal government. He said it's not a registry in the same sense as the federal one.
"It won't be a central database and it won't be digitized," OPP Staff Sgt. Steve Rideout told a reporter.
Critics say it's the same thing as the old federal registry, calling the Ontario strategy a "backdoor" manoeuvre. But just as the federal government used its authority to shut down the long-gun registry, the province is well within its authority to create a made-in-Ontario solution. Ontarians should be proud that their government is willing to do what's right.
The province's chief firearms officer sent a letter to all gun dealers in Ontario in April, informing them of the ledger process. The books will record the make, model and calibre of guns sold, along with the name and firearms licence number of the person buying the gun.
That process seems like common sense. It ensures there is a proper check of the buyer's paperwork to confirm they hold a licence. Police officers will perform an audit of the ledgers every two years: not an onerous burden on gun store owners.
Given that some municipalities have registers that track who buys spray paint – an effort to cut down on graffiti – gun buyers aren't facing a major inconvenience.
Firearms lawyer Solomon Friedman says the Ontario process "subverts" the federal law. He accuses the Ontario firearms officer of "using his control over firearms business essentially to extort them into complying with a registry that the federal Parliament has rejected."
Friedman is also concerned that police might use the data from ledgers as an investigative tool. That means he's out of touch. Crimes being solved is a result we should all wish for.
Should Ontario ramp up the tracking process to include all gun owners? If police officers say a tracking system help them do their job, why should Ontario hold off?