C-391 Passes 2nd Reading in the House of Commons
 
OTTAWA, ON – Greg Rickford, MP for Kenora, is pleased that Private Member’s Bill,  C-391, An Act to Amend the Criminal Code and Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry), passed its second reading in the House of Commons last evening with a vote of 164-137.  This means that Bill C-391 will now be referred to the Public Safety and National Security Committee for review and study before being brought back to the House for 3rd reading vote.
 
“Bill C-391 is about making sure that we continue to preserve and enhance measures which work to reduce crime and protect Canadians while ensuring that we do not unnecessarily penalize hard-working, honest, law-abiding citizens. This bill retains licensing requirements for all gun owners while doing away with the need for honest and law-abiding citizens to undergo the burden of registering their non-restricted rifles or shotguns; a burden which has had no impact on reducing gun crimes in Canada,” stated Rickford.
 
The great Kenora riding consists of more than 320,000 sparkling square kilometres of beautiful terrain, often used by first nation communities and sports hunters for traditional and recreational hunting purposes.
 
Last week Rickford had the opportunity to speak in the debate on this bill, “Outside of the serious impact of the global recession and the work that we needed to do around that, I don’t think there is a single bigger issue than dismantling the long-gun registry. I have heard it at the doorsteps of thousands of constituents throughout my riding as I have canvassed and campaigned.”
 
The long-gun registry was initially put in to place by the Liberals as a means to fight crime. It has not accomplished this goal.  The fact is that virtually all acts of gun violence are committed with restricted handguns.
 
This government has and will continue to be committed to protecting Canadians by making our streets and communities safer for all. We have introduced and passed the Tackling Violent Crime Act which contains tough measures to battle gun-related crime. There are now mandatory prison sentences for criminals who commit crimes with guns, tougher bail rules to make it easier to keep people accused of serious gun crimes off our streets, and provisions that make it easier to keep the country's most dangerous, violent repeat offenders behind bars where they belong.
 
Northern Ontario Opposition MPs including Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty, from neighbouring Thunder Bay ridings, voted in favour of C-391. Rickford looks forward to their continued support as this bill moves forward and ultimately comes up for its final vote.
 
“The long-gun registry is not the solution to ending gun-related crimes.” concluded Rickford.