Long-Gun Registry politics

We now have NDP MPs, who at a previous reading, voted in favour of scrapping the registry, are now lining up to vote down in final reading.

Some journalists have said whichever way the vote goes, it's a win for Conservatives.  On one hand, if opposition parties do not have enough votes, the bill passes and the registry is done.  On the other hand, if the bill is defeated, it's possible that registry-turncoat rural NDP MPs are in the sights (pun intended) of being blown out of their seats (definite pun) to Conservatives in the next election over this issue. 

Conservative radio and billboard ads in these ridings have been popping up (pun?) and has possibly been the reason why these NDP MPs are changing their tune.  But perhaps that was the Conservative strategy to win either way.

While normally I would say voter memory is almost non-existent, this long-standing issue (pun intended) is much more contentious. 

So I have two questions for you:

1.  Did non-partisan farmers, duck hunters, and libertarians in these ridings vote for the NDP candidates in their riding because of their stance on the long-gun registry?

2.  Are these same folks going to vote against the NDP candidate and for the Conservative candidate?  Are the radio ads and billboards going to affect their view of the NDP candidate?  (Don't forget that the NDP began out of the CCF in rural Western Canada, so there are some deep roots there folks.)

Note that all the Conservatives need are 12 more seats to hold a majority.  They can win these next election in Western Canada (especially BC) and Northern Ontario to get there as long as they hold their current seats.

However close the votes in the House of Commons for or against the gun registry is irrelevant.  If the Conservatives get to the promised land of majorus parliamentus, they'll just shoot it down with a double barrel shot gun with no problem.

Long Gun Done Gone

At tonight's vote in the House of Commons, the Canadian government's long-gun registry program, could see its demise.

Introduced by a Conservative MP as a private-member's bill, the proposal has the support of up to 8 opposition MPs, making it 143 (Conservative MPs) + 8 (opposition MPs) = 151. Four more votes are required, but if everyone doesn't show up on the opposition benches, then it could pass, and the long-gun registry would be fini. All of the Bloc MPs are voting against it.

Apparently it was introduced as a private member's bill because the Conservatives knew that the Liberals and NDP, by tradition, would have a free vote on the issue.

Keep in mind, this is on long-guns and not hand-guns. I can't stand getting into the whole gun control debate. This issue has seen innocent farmers jailed for no bloody reason other than keeping a novelty rifle in a display locker.

This law has flown in the face of property rights (which we still don't have in Canada, by the way).

Despite that, I don't like guns. I don't like hunting. They're only used for killing and I don't like killing (yeah, I eat meat, but let's not go down there, k? ..lol..) If a criminal was going to get a rifle or shotgun, do you think he's going to buy and register it in the first place?

And even despite all that, what the implementation of the registry showed was that it was overblown in costs and inefficiencies ($2 billion!!!), proving once again that gov't bureaucracy just plain sucks.

So scrapping this registry was long overdue.

Read more here.

UPDATE:

Just as I published my post, I received word that the bill to scrap the long-gun registry was APPROVED in the House of Commons by a vote of 164-137.