Sure, it can be easy to poke some good-natured fun at our neighbors to the north occasionally. Yes, they have some unusual culinary traditions. Their football fields are funny looking. And they’re not always as nice as everyone would have you believe. But when looking at Canada and the US, what we have here are two countries moving in opposite directions. At least in terms of federal gun control policy…
Canada’s ruling Conservatives have indicated that they’ll move to kill their hated long gun registry by this fall while the Obama administration is adding a long gun registry by executive fiat in border states. And it’s a good bet that it will expand from there.
The Canadian registry was estimated to cost only $119 million annually. Actual cost: over $1 billion in 2004-05. The Obama administration hasn’t released cost estimates of the border state registry. But with the booming American economy and the efficiency of US government agencies, cost really shouldn’t be an issue.
Canada enacted their registry after Marc Lepine, their version of Seung-Hui Cho, shot up the Ecole Polytechnique using a rifle. America’s registry has been justified by a mythical “iron river” of (ATF-enabled) guns flowing to Mexico.
By now, it’s painfully clear that Fast and Furious was never designed to trace guns back to Mexican drug cartel higher-ups. It was implemented, at least in part, to show guns moving from retail gun dealers to the cartels as a not-so-stealthy justification for expanding gun control and appeasing Obama’s far-left base.
There’s no denying the ongoing advancement of gun rights at the state and local levels in the US. And no one will mistake Canuckistan for a gun rights nirvana any time soon. But it’s certainly good to see them moving toward more freedom and reducing gun regulation. Even incrementally. Now leave me alone while I dig into these Timbits.
If the American Federal Government wants to waste a large amount of money in a short amount of time the Canadian Long Gun Registry is an excellent template.
Canada isn’t moving toward less regulation, it’s moving toward more efficient regulation. Too bad, so sad. Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. Empty handed, of course, because guns are too scary.
Ditching the gun registry, a balanced budget and a solid Conservative majority. I never thought I’d see the day when my native country would be more conservative than my adopted country.
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