In July, Quebec's Public Safety Minister Robert Dutil told reporters that his government was considering a "Plan B" in the (highly probable) event that the federal Tories scrapped the long gun registry -- the creation of a provincial registry. Quebec is particularly sensitive to crimes committed by firearm, and has been more wedded than most provinces to the faulty notion that registration provides public safety benefits. The Supreme Court has already ruled that firearms registration is a federal responsibility due to the public safety nature of gun control, but Quebec could theoretically try to establish a registry for firearms that treats them as simple property, no different than dogs, cats or boats. It would be a political stunt only -- but then again, that's all the registry has been since the beginning: A costly act of political theatre in which politicians impose burdensome red tape on lawful firearms owners and proclaim society somehow safer as a result.
Read Original at: The National Post (Canada)