Ontario Landowners’ Association to MPs: Abolish Long Gun Registry Or Else

We spied a news report at canadafreepress.com on the ongoing battle to abolish Canada’s long gun registry. The Ontario Landowners’ Association wrote an open letter to MP’s requesting their vote to abolish the government program. The article didn’t include the source document, so we called the Association for a copy [posted below]. Member Gerry Jette launched a long yet fascinating diatribe about the Canadian government’s encroachment on land owners’ rights, including the news that one of the Liberal MPs has expressed his intention to “do the right thing”—despite the whip imposed on their votes. Seems our neighbor to the north is experiencing the same big government backlash sweeping The Land of the Free. Well, except for California, whose legislature is bound and determined to put a long gun registry bill on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk. Go figure. Meanwhile, a more “candid” comment after the letter . . .

On behalf of the 17,000 members of the Ontario Landowners’ Association – Canada’s largest property-rights advocacy group – I am writing you to express our desire that you continue to support Bill C-391: an act to abolish the long-gun registry.

Bill C-391 is a simple and straightforward piece of legislation that does one thing: scrap a useless program that has been an abject failure from any objective viewpoint. It does not touch the licencing of legal gun-owners; it does not eliminate the mandatory background checks; and it does not affect the registration of restricted and prohibited firearms. And it does not change the requirement for mandatory firearms safety courses or the safe storage and transportation provisions of the current legislation.

It is the intent of our organization to closely monitor the voting records of all MPs on this issue, and, should the bill be defeated by the opposition parties, to hold the respective parties and their members to account during the next election campaign.

On the other hand, we will give full public credit to those opposition MPs who display the courage of their convictions and vote to abolish this hated long-gun registry.

We simply ask that you truly represent the desires and wishes of the majority of Canada’s rural residents and law-abiding gun-owners. Please do the right thing and get rid of this hated long-gun registry system.

Yours truly,

Jack MacLaren

President, Ontario Landowners’ Association

Big Mac was less reserved in his comments to the paper:

“It is the intent of our organization to closely monitor the voting records of all MPs on this issue, and, should the bill be defeated by the opposition parties, to hold the respective parties and their members to account during the next election campaign.

On the other hand, we will give full public credit to those opposition MPs who display the courage of their convictions and vote to abolish this hated long-gun registry.”

“Rural Canada will keep the actions of the Liberal and NDP parties under the microscope” said MacLaren. “I know the public mood on this issue. Farmers, hunters, loggers and gun-owners across the country will get their retribution if the Liberals and the NDP sell them out on this.”