Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the École Polytechnique Massacre, too...
Gunning for the Gun Registry
November 2, 2009 4:32 PM |
By Alison Crawford, CBC
According to my own informal survey of rural opposition MPs, it looks like Candice Hoeppner's bill to abolish the long gun registry is well on its way to becoming law.
The vote on second reading is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 4.
And because C-391 is a private member's bill, it'll be a free vote. That means MPs are freed from the usual requirement of voting along party lines.
Despite holding almost all of northern and rural Quebec, a spokesman for the Bloc Quebecois says every one of its MPs will vote against Hoeppner's bill.
But a number of Liberal and NDP MPs from rural ridings say they're in favour of ending the registration of all shotguns and hunting rifles, as well as destroying the records of roughly seven million people who had previously registered their non-restricted weapons.
Among those supporting Hoeppner's bill are New Democrats Nathan Cullen, Dennis Bevington, Charlie Angus, Niki Ashton, and Carol Hughes, and Liberals Larry Bagnell, Wayne Easter and Anthony Rota.
Even so, the Conservatives have targeted several of those "friendly" opposition MPs through an agressive lobbying campaign. (...)