Go bye West

OK These comments are not needed. The best thing to do with gun Control is to blow it up and start from begining a simple plan. Which is you buy a gun from this date it gets on a list. Will it stop the crazy gun guys no. But it will make people happier and then charge people a fees of one time for each gun 10.00 bucks or so. Quick and Simple Will it work No because the polticians are to busy doing shit like this.

By Joan Bryden, THE CANADIAN PRESS,

Updated: April 20, 2010 10:38 PM

Tory MP apologizes for suggesting Ignatieff should be beaten 'black and blue' over gun registry

OTTAWA - A Conservative MP is apologizing for issuing a news release that compared Canadian police chiefs to a cult and urged Liberals to beat their leader, Michael Ignatieff, "black and blue."

Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz said late Tuesday that he did not write the release, issued under his name earlier in the day. "I want to apologize for the language in the news release. It was over the top," he said in a phone interview from his office.

"I don't know how that got out of here."

The release angrily denounced Ignatieff's decision to require all Liberal MPs to vote against a private member's bill that would scrap the controversial long-gun registry.

The Tories have launched an orchestrated campaign to ridicule Ignatieff's decision and to pressure eight Liberal MPs, who supported the bill at second reading, to stick to their guns when it comes up for a final vote next month.

But the missive from Breitkreuz's office went well beyond the official party line. Indeed, P.E.I. MP Wayne Easter, one of the eight Liberals the Tories are trying to court, called it "a tirade that's unbecoming of a member of Parliament."

In the release, Breitkreuz, a passionate, longtime gun registry foe, is quoted as saying Ignatieff is "a bully who may well be committing political suicide."

"With tactics like this, I doubt he'll be missed on either side of the House," the release said.

Breitkreuz was quoted calling Ignatieff's attempt to head off elimination of the registry "an act of desperation that insults the intellect of Canadians."

"His true colours are showing and, if his caucus has any integrity, those colours should be black and blue."

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police also wound up in the news release's cross-hairs as it mocked opposition MPs' claims that the registry helps save lives.

"It's like a cult that is led by organizations of police chiefs who pretend the registry helps them do their jobs. They should be ashamed."

The police chiefs association supports retention of the gun registry. But Breitkreuz was quoted as calling both the chiefs and the Coalition for Gun Control "politically motivated lobby groups that derive financial support from pro-registry sources."

"Their positions are tainted and suspect in my view because their endorsement can be bought."

In the later interview, Breitkreuz said he would never use words like cult to describe police chiefs or call on Liberals to beat their leader.

"This language is not me. I have kept this (gun registry) debate civil for 15 years and I want to keep it civil."

Before Breitkreuz's apology, Easter, who voted last November to scrap the registry, said the missive is "off the wall" and called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to disassociate himself from his backbencher's views.

Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas said the news release was "in poor taste and inappropriate."

"Mr. Breitkreuz has apologized. What Mr. Breitkreuz should have said is that Michael Ignatieff once again turned his back on rural Canadians by clearly stating he still supports the wasteful and ineffective long-gun registry," Soudas said.

Easter questioned whether Breitkreuz might have inhaled too much air on the Hill on Tuesday, which was redolent with the smell of pot during a protest against marijuana laws.

"Was he out there talking to the wacky tobacco groups or something? I think he must've got too much of that smoke up his nose and it affected his brain."

Grits move to modify gun registry
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News ServiceApril 20, 2010 StoryPhotos ( 1 )
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff speaks during question period in the House of Commons on Monday.
Photograph by: Chris Wattie, Reuters, Canwest News ServiceLiberal Leader Michael Ignatieff made a pitch on Monday to save the federal gun registry by proposing changes aimed to unify the party's fractured stand and satisfy opponents on the Liberal benches who voted to scrap the contentious databank.

Ignatieff said he would like to make it easier for firearms owners to register their long guns by streamlining the paperwork, removing renewal fees, and making it a ticketing offence, rather than a criminal one, for first-timers who fail to participate.

"It would be wrong to ignore the frustration and legitimate criticisms we have heard about the gun registry in rural Canada, in northern Canada, in remote Canada," Ignatieff told a gathering of the Canadian Police Association.

The Liberal party created the registry as a key element of an expansive gun-control package and the Harper Conservatives have repeatedly promised to scrap it.

Conservative backbencher Candice Hoeppner introduced a private member's bill last year to eliminate the registry and it passed by a 164-137 margin, with the help of Liberals and New Democrats, in a preliminary vote in the House of Commons in November.

The proposed bill now moves to the all-party public safety committee for hearings before returning to the Commons for a final vote. The committee holds its first meeting on the registry on Tuesday.

Ignatieff, who permitted a free vote among his MPs the last time around, said he will whip the vote next time so that his caucus is unanimous in its opposition.

It is unclear whether the forced unified stance would defeat the bill since only eight Liberals sided with Hoeppner last time, joined by 12 New Democrats and one independent.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said his party will also propose amendments to Hoeppner's bill, but he would not comment on whether he will whip his MPs to vote against the bill otherwise.

Hoeppner appealed to Liberals who supported the bill last year -- mainly from rural areas -- to vote with their constituents in mind, not their leader.

"I think if they personally oppose the long-gun registry and their constituents oppose the long-gun registry, they certainly should vote against it," she said. "I would think it only makes sense that they should follow through."

The bill would eliminate the need to register rifles and shotguns. The requirement to register handguns would remain in place. The registry is separate from gun licensing, which permits owners to have firearms, but does not require them to list their possessions.

The registry was introduced more than 14 years ago as part of a wider gun-control package, largely after lobbying efforts by the families of victims of the 1989 Montreal massacre, when Marc Lepine used a semi-automatic rifle to kill 14 women at Ecole Polytechnique.

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