Like many others, I am sick with some kind of flu but this is an emergency so I am posting the fact sheet from the Coalition for Gun Control.  On Wednesday November 4 just one month short of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre when a single gun man slaughtered 14 women shouting, “you are all a bunch of feminists” the Conservatives are hoping to pass a private member’s bill that will gut the gun registry, What’s worse is that the NDP and Liberals could defeat it if they would impose party discipline on their members, but they won’t.  You can make sure they do by flooding Layton and Ignatieff with emails and phone calls between now and then.  Here are the facts:

“As astonishing as it may seem, weeks from the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre, the dissolution of Canada’s firearms control system is imminent. On Wednesday November 4, it seems that private members bill C-391 will pass, with the help of Liberal and NDP members. This Bill will eliminate the need to register rifles and shotguns and will require that the records on more than 7 million guns be destroyed. Without information about who owns guns and the guns they own there is no way to reduce the risk that dangerous people will have access to guns, to hold legal gun owners accountable for their firearms, or to reduce the risk legal guns will be diverted to illegal markets.

Although it was introduced as a private member’s bill, Conservative Bill has the support of the Prime Minister’s Office and a media campaign costing hundreds of thousands of dollars behind it. It is for all intents and purposes a Government Bill. NDP members have been saying that this is just a vote to “study the Bill” but in Parliamentary process that a vote at second reading is a vote to support in principle.

Just a few months ago, both the NDP and Liberals voted for Gilles Duceppe’s motion to support the registry (April 22, 2009). Both opposition leaders attended a screening of the film Polytechnique on (April 21, 2009), made speeches reiterating their support for gun control, embracing Suzanne Laplante-Edward whose daughter was killed December 6, 1989. As the 20th anniversary of the Montreal massacre approaches, however, it seems that the Conservatives will pass the law will the support of Liberal and NDP members.

Virtually every public safety organization in the country opposes the efforts to dismantle our gun control system — the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canada Safety Council, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians as well as over 300 provincial and local organizations who are united in opposing any efforts to water down the legislation.  Research has shown that the law has been effect – that firearm death and injury has declined by over 40% with stronger gun laws and differentiated analysis shows, for example, that murders of women with firearms and suicides with firearms have fallen much more rapidly than murders of women or suicides by other means. Indeed, international studies have maintained that Canada’s gun law has saved billions of dollars in reduced injury costs and is a model for others around the world.”

For more information on gun control.

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick

Judy Rebick is one of Canada’s best-known feminists. She was the founding publisher of rabble.ca , wrote our advice column auntie.com and was co-host of one of our first podcasts called Reel Women....