BILL C-391 PASSES SECOND READING BY 27 VOTES.

As you know, the CSSA/CILA has been heavily involved in both Bill C-301 (Garry Breitkreuz) and its replacement, Bill C-391 (Candice Hoeppner). We are very pleased to announce that we have a major victory under our belts as C-391 has just passed second reading in the House of Commons. This was possible due to the hard work of a lot of people and arm twisting of opposition MPs.

The CSSA/CILA played no small part in this victory and took on the antis face-to-face. The opposition was showing their desperation by releasing inaccurate and misleading information which was countered by our use of press releases, letters to the MPs and ads in the Hill Times (3).

Now the Bill goes to Committee and we will be there.

Following is a press release just sent out to the media. Many thanks to all who worked to end the registry fiasco. This is a good first step but there are many more to come.

On behalf of the Canada-wide membership of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, we would like to congratulate Candice Hoeppner, M.P., on the successful second reading passage of her private members Bill C-391 affecting the future of the detested Long-Gun Registry. Bill C-391 amends the Firearms Act enacted by the Liberal Government in December of 1998, by removing the requirement to register millions of common rifles and shotguns. The handgun registry and strict licensing provisions in the Act will be unaffected by this amendment and despite unsubstantiated claims otherwise, public safety will not be compromised.

"The long gun registry has proved to be a colossal failure and a total waste of hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars, that could have been used for more effective policing," stated Tony Bernardo, Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action (CILA).

"Furthermore, the elimination of this comedic attempt at crime control will free up millions of dollars that can be used to combat the growing threat of gang violence in our cities."

"There is no empirical evidence that the registry has prevented or solved any crimes," stated Larry Whitmore, Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association.  "While the police reportedly access the Canadian Firearms Centre database 10,400 times per day, virtually all the information they request will still be available to them through the continuation of the Firearms Licensing provisions."

The dissolution of the registry will also free up scarce resources to combat the ever increasing flow of illegal guns from across our borders. It is estimated that over 85% of the guns used in crime are smuggled in by drug gangs. This is where the police and government should concentrate their efforts and not waste time and resources regulating law-abiding Canadians.

This is a good first step towards bringing sanity to Canada's firearms control system. Canadians deserve simple, cost-effective firearms legislation that achieves verifiable public safety goals.

For more information, contact:

Tony Bernardo
Executive Director
Canadian Institute for Legislative Action
Ph: 1-888-873-4339
Direct Line: 905-571-2150
Email: abernardo343@rogers.com

Larry Whitmore                                                                    
Executive Director
Canadian Shooting Sports Association                               
Ph: 1-888-873-4339
Direct line: 519-254-7744
Email: l.whitmore@cdnshootingsports.org

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By unanimous consent, the House proceeded to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the motion of Ms. Hoeppner (Portage—Lisgar), seconded by Mr. Breitkreuz (Yorkton—Melville), — That Bill C-391, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry), be now read a second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following division:

YEAS -- POUR Abbott Ablonczy Aglukkaq Albrecht Allen (Welland) Allen (Tobique—Mactaquac) Allison Ambrose Anders Anderson Andrews Angus Arthur Ashfield Ashton Bagnell Baird Benoit Bernier Bevington Bezan Blackburn Blaney Block Boucher Boughen Braid Breitkreuz Brown (Leeds—Grenville) Brown (Newmarket—Aurora) Brown (Barrie) Bruinooge Cadman Calandra Calkins Cannan (Kelowna—Lake Country) Cannon (Pontiac) Carrie Casson Chong Clarke Clement Cullen Cummins D'Amours Davidson Day Dechert Del Mastro Devolin Dreeshen Duncan (Vancouver Island North) Dykstra Easter Fast Finley Flaherty Fletcher Galipeau Gallant Glover Goldring Goodyear Gourde Gravelle Grewal Guergis Harper Harris (Cariboo—Prince George) Hawn Hiebert Hill Hoback Hoeppner Holder Hughes Hyer Jean Kamp (Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission) Keddy (South Shore—St. Margaret's) Kenney (Calgary Southeast) Kent Kerr Komarnicki Kramp (Prince Edward—Hastings) Lake Lauzon Lebel Lemieux Lobb Lukiwski Lunn Lunney MacKay (Central Nova) MacKenzie Maloway Mark Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca) Mayes McColeman McLeod Menzies Merrifield Miller Moore (Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam) Moore (Fundy Royal) Nicholson Norlock O'Connor O'Neill-Gordon Obhrai Oda Paradis Payne Petit Poilievre Prentice Preston Rafferty Raitt Rajotte Rathgeber Reid Richards Richardson Rickford Ritz Rota Russell Saxton Scheer Schellenberger Shea Shipley Shory Simms Smith Sorenson Stanton Stoffer Storseth Strahl Sweet Thibeault Thompson Tilson Toews Trost Tweed Uppal Van Kesteren Van Loan Vellacott Verner Wallace Warawa Warkentin Watson Weston (West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country) Weston (Saint John) Wong Woodworth Yelich Young Total: -- 164

NAYS -- CONTRE André Asselin Atamanenko Bachand Bains Beaudin Bélanger Bellavance Bennett Bevilacqua Bigras Blais Bonsant Bouchard Bourgeois Brison Brunelle Byrne Cannis Cardin Carrier Charlton Chow Christopherson Coady Coderre Comartin Cotler Crombie Crowder Cuzner Davies (Vancouver Kingsway) Davies (Vancouver East) DeBellefeuille Demers Deschamps Desnoyers Dewar Dhaliwal Dhalla Dion Dorion Dosanjh Dryden Duceppe Dufour Duncan (Etobicoke North) Duncan (Edmonton—Strathcona) Eyking Faille Folco Foote Freeman Fry Gagnon Garneau Gaudet Godin Goodale Guay Guimond (Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques) Guimond (Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord) Hall Findlay Harris (St. John's East) Holland Ignatieff Jennings Julian Kania Kennedy Laforest Laframboise Lalonde Lavallée Layton LeBlanc Lee Lemay Leslie Lessard Lévesque MacAulay Malhi Malo Marston Martin (Winnipeg Centre) Martin (Sault Ste. Marie) Masse Mathyssen McCallum McGuinty McKay (Scarborough—Guildwood) McTeague Ménard Mendes Minna Mourani Mulcair Murphy (Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe) Murphy (Charlottetown) Murray Nadeau Neville Oliphant Ouellet Pacetti Paillé Paquette Patry Pearson Plamondon Pomerleau Proulx Rae Ratansi Regan Rodriguez Roy Savage Savoie Scarpaleggia Sgro Siksay Silva Simson St-Cyr Szabo Thi Lac Tonks Trudeau Valeriote Vincent Volpe Wasylycia-Leis Wilfert Wrzesnewskyj Zarac Total: -- 137

Accordingly, Bill C-391, An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Firearms Act (repeal of long-gun registry), was read the second time and referred to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.