When’s a door not a door?

So here’s the deal.

A bunch of years ago, some shortsighted city-folk decided it’d be a Good Use of our money to create a massive database that served as a repository of information about law-abiding citizens. No, I don’t mean all that crap that McCarthy got up to. I mean Canada’s gun registry laws.

They’ve been around a long time, you know. Since sometime in the 1800s. Canada has always restricted firearms use, but usually it’s the sort of “you need a permit to have this and special permits to carry it around on your person…or to buy one of these” thing. But then in the latter part of the following century, it became more of an “I don’t really trust you with this, permit or no, not to shoot someone in the face, so I’m going to make it MORE illegal for you to have illegal weapons” kind of thing.

And then there were a bunch of people who were all, “screw you, government.”

Which it’s okay to say in Canada, which is a nice thing.

Anyway, there was an exception made to the super intense firearms registration and licensing regulations, that made it less mind-numbingly bureaucratic to own and operate a shotgun or rifle. That exception ends this coming spring. Which is, coincidentally enough, an election year.

Now, there are some people…probably about as many people in all of Canada as there are in two Canadian cities…who are Really Upset that the government of Canada is asking them to register their shotguns and rifles. There are a number of arguments against the whole thing, from the claim that the legislation doesn’t prevent crime and doubles up on existing legislation to the argument that the new laws are more or less unenforceable. I don’t think any of that matters.

For once in my life, and possibly for the *only* time in my life, I agree with this dingbat. He’s basically saying that Stephen Harper is pulling another typical Stephen Harper and is throwing something out for the plebes to tussle over while quietly going about his lever- and button-pushing behind the big curtain. Harper wants people to get all riled up over this long gun registry thing so that he can divide and conquer. With domestic politics, the guy’s pretty clever.

He’s a dick, but he’s pretty clever.

So yeah, I kind of agree with the dingbat here. Screw the long-gun registry debate. The fact that it’s being made a big deal of right now means there’s something else Harper’s trying to bury. Also, please don’t tell my mother that I agreed with the dingbat. They’d bet terrible disappointed.

Huh. ‘Disappointed’ is a strange word. It appears to mean “having had your socio=political station removed”. Oh! Look at that. It *does* mean that. I love etymology.

A door, in other words, is not a door when it is ajar. Check behind the door, youse guys who want to participate in the election. There’s something back there.



  1. My boss, surprise surprise, is one of the people in this country who is so incredibly outraged by the gun registry that he froths at the mouth when it is brought up. Also? He brings it up *ALL* the time lately, so there’s a lot of frothing going on at the coffee table these days.

  2. I am one of those “red-neck hicks” who are frothing at the mouth.
    So much so that I have deleted everything I just typed about it.
    A majority of Canucks, urban and rural, want this thing scrapped.


    So scrap it. It’s a huge waste of money on something that does nothing except give politicians something to play with.
    I actually tip my hat to Layton for not whipping his Party into line…even though he flogged them behind the scenes. Either way, it’s debate instead of “rule from on high”, so I begrudgingly respect him for it.
    Getting angry…must stop now. :-p

    1. I don’t care either way about the stupid thing. I really, really don’t.

      The point of this post wasn’t to rehash the debate about the long gun registry and whether it’s a good idea, useful, or whatever; the point of this post was my saying that I agree that bringing it up now is a red herring that’s meant to whip people up.

      I’m pretty sure there are just as many DINKs living in inner-city Toronto who would be just as frothy (although perhaps in a more restrained way) that the damned thing be continued.

      I mean, I get the arguments against it. I think it’s rather a silly thing. But ultimately, I really, really don’t care. And ultimately, it doesn’t matter out here. Western Canada doesn’t matter in Parliament. Harper might want to stir up the plebes out here and get the rednecks frothy to try to curry favour for his MPs, but ultimately, if all of the MPs from Western Canada were Harper’s brothers, they still wouldn’t defeat the MPs from Central Canada in a vote, so it doesn’t matter.

      My point was that I thought it was wise of the dipshit to tell Layton to more or less drop the discussion while he’s in the province. Because Layton isn’t going to win any favour with his ridiculous policies out here. In the cradle of socialism.

      1. Oh I got the point, but I just like watching Smarty Pants froth. Especially in his ‘I’m a red-neck hick’ uniform. :) I’m pretty sure Harper is the master of the bait’n’switch.

        ‘Defeat gun registry debate *yoink* Buh-bye health care funding!’ What, where the hell … when did that … uhm? Why does my ass hurt? Or some similar nefarious situation.

        Like how the whole ‘we have to work together’ prorogue lead to the dismantling of various offices that dealt with complaints about the behavior of the the government in relation to First Nations issues. Good stuff.

  3. I was essentially agreeing with you, Ceno. It is a red herring in the sense that it has become a political plaything. As such, wrap the registry in newspaper, toss it in the trash. Done.
    Then we can move on.

  4. What about the chiefs of police, the actual people in the front lines against gun crime, and their position on the Registry? Why don’t we hear the yahooletariat addressing that little inconvenience? The registry works, it’s important, as a symbol and as a practical measure. That’s why the law-enforcers support it. Face it, the real inefficiencies with the registry are ACTUALLY caused by all the five-year-old mentalities running around shouting “you’re not the boss of me!” So let’s just grow up and stop being tricked into distractions like this. And tell Stevie Harpoon once and for all that his wedgie politics are just a pain in the ass.

    1. Yes the Association of Police Chief’s of Canada, who actively have petitioned against the original bill of human rights. The same folks who told all the chiefs who didn’t agree with the gun registry to shut up or they might find extra funding requests or resource sharing scarce if they were vocal about it. Yar, there’s a group worth supporting.

      See the thing is the gun registry does something that the Chiefs should have done themselves a while ago, which is co-operate. An actual registry of specific firearms is not entirely needed. All gun sales must be recorded and police departments have access to all those records. If the departments themselves wanted to turn those records into electronic databases, that were then accessible outside of specific jurisdictions it would make the system much more managable, AND usable, on a local level. A centralized gun registry does not equate to less gun crime.

i make squee noises when you tell me stuff.


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