CONSERVATIVE BILL TO SCRAP GUN REGISTRY PASSES FIRST HURDLE

OTTAWA, November 4, 2009 – The Conservative government is one step closer to scrapping the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry tonight, after several Liberal and NDP MPs rebelled against their parties and voted with the Conservatives to send Bill C-391 to committee.

"After four years of obstruction from the opposition parties in the House of Commons and the Senate, the end of the gun registry is finally within sight," said Scheer.  “Canadians know that the time has come to finally put an end to this billion-dollar boondoggle.”

The legislation, a private member’s bill from Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner, would amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act to repeal the requirement to register non-restricted long-guns.

The bill will now be sent to the Justice Committee for debate and possible amendment, then sent back to the House of Commons for another vote.  If passed by the House of Commons, the bill will then have to survive the Liberal-dominated Senate in order to become law.

"We are not out of the woods yet.  NDP and Liberal MPs have promised to try and block this Bill at the committee stage.  Canadians should watch very closely to see if procedural tricks are used to block this important Bill," said Scheer.

Since taking office in 2006, the Conservative government has introduced legislation on two separate occasions to scrap the gun registry, first in June 2006 and again in November 2007.  However, these Bills were blocked by the opposition.  The Conservatives also introduced an amnesty for long gun owners who have yet to register their firearms, has waived fees for licence renewals, and allowed eligible holders of expired licences to apply for new ones.

“Previously the opposition coalition has blocked every attempt by the Conservative government to scrap the gun registry,” said Scheer.  “Today enough Liberal and NDP MPs felt the pressure to support our Bill, and they voted with us.  Now, we will work to make sure they follow through on their commitment."

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For further information:
Office of Andrew Scheer
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On the Web: www.andrewscheer.ca