OTTAWA – Leon Benoit, Member of Parliament for Vegreville-Wainwright, is pleased to inform the constituents of Vegreville-Wainwright that the Ending the Long Gun Registry Act is making its way through the House of Commons. At this time, the legislation has been passed by the Standing Committee on Public Safety, having already passed the first two readings in the House of Commons. When the House of Commons resumes for the new year, the Ending the Long Gun Registry Act will have one more reading to pass before moving on to the Senate.
“I am happy with the rate at which this legislation is proceeding through Parliament”, said Mr. Benoit. “Our Government has introduced many important Acts during the past session including the Senate Reform Act, the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, the Safe Streets and Communities Act, and the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act, among many others. Each Act must go through the same process of debate and amendment to ensure they are in Canadians’ best interests.”
The Conservative Government has always opposed the long-gun registry, and made its abolition a top priority. The registry has wasted taxpayer dollars and targeted law-abiding farmers, hunters and rural Canadians across the country for far too long. Mr. Benoit feels that this is money that could go towards preventing actual crime, through putting more police on the streets, fighting organized crime, introducing mandatory minimum penalties for serious gun crime and combating gun smuggling.
Once passed the legislation will:
- repeal the requirement to register non-restricted firearms (long-guns);
- provide for the destruction of all records pertaining to the registration of long-guns currently contained in the Canadian Firearms Registry and under the control of the chief firearms officers; and
- maintain controls over restricted and prohibited firearms.
