Gun registry useless

To the editor:

I have heard stupid remarks in my time, but the one that police need the gun registry to see if it’s safe to approach a crime scene wins the cup.

I would not want such people to be in charge of our troops in Afghanistan. Do such people really believe crooks register their weapons, especially if they are illegal or stolen? Some years ago a man got into a heated argument with his neighbour, got his gun, shot his neighbour dead. Did it matter if the gun was registered, locked up if he had the key?

If you want to kill someone you will find a way. How many people have been killed by long guns as compared to knives, beaten to death, strangled, etc.? There are around 700 or 900 people a year killed by drunk drivers. I don’t hear any calls to ban alcohol. Perhaps because the government would lose too much money.

Gun control works they say, but for who? Kennesaw, Georgia passed an ordinance requiring heads of households (with some exceptions) to keep at least one firearm in their homes. After the law went into effect, the 1982 crimes against persons plummeted 74 per cent compared to 1981 and fell another 45 per cent in 1983. It’s simple to understand why the crime rate dropped – the simple knowledge the entire community was armed.

These crazies that go on a killing rampage never attack a police station or an army rifle range.
They go after people they know are completely defenseless. The news media’s big write-ups only encourage copycat killings.

Ignatieff or any political party leader has no right to force our MPs to vote the way they are told. These MPs were elected by us to serve our needs, not some power-made party leader.
A law is needed to take away such power from party leaders. This is a dictatorship; such party leaders are a bigger danger than guns. People have lots to say about Harper but nothing about Ignatieff.

We pay the bills and should have the say.

Wesley Rogers,
Thunder Bay