A text by Lise Millette
The president of the group All united against a Quebec gun registry, Guy Morin, believes that the registry will be expensive and will not allow the authorities to have the true portrait of the presence of weapons in Quebec.
According to him, the registry will be expensive and inefficient, as was the federal one. He adds that confusion is great among gun owners with all the successive regulations.
There are 500,000 firearms owners and more. There are many who do not know the registry exists, others that the Canadian registry still exists. Others think that there has never been a registry in Canada.
Every year, when they make roadblocks in the ZECS or Parks, there are people who are arrested in the last sixty years, and who go hunting for 20 or 30 years and who do not have their Permit possession of firearms because they do not even know that it takes one, says Guy Morin.
An important economic sector
For the President of the Témiscamingue Hunting and Fishing Association, Dany L’Heureux, information on the registration procedure was provided to the members.
We sent the information. We are not here to tell people not to register their firearms. It is a law in force, a law must be respected according to the Association, explained Dany L’Heureux.
On the other hand, we, the people, for the majority, will not do it. We will see what will happen with the new government in place.
We asked for adjustments to the law, but we did not really follow up. As for what will happen, the future will tell us, he adds.
Impacts on hunting?
The president of the Témiscamingue Association fears that this procedure will weigh on the hunting industry. He mentioned that this practice, which is part of the pursuit of family traditions for many people, is increasingly expensive. In particular, he cites the price of permits and lease costs for hunting camps. Despite this financial pressure, the succession is still present.
I am fortunate to be a bow and rifle instructor and it is really good in Témiscamingue. Hunting and fishing in Témiscamingue is a really important economic sector. It is still transmitted and the real values are there, insists Dany L’Heureux.
Until January 29 for registration
The law specifies that the information collected in the register is intended for public authorities who can “know the presence of firearms in the territory of Quebec and their owner. It also aims to support peace officers in their investigative work as well as in their interventions. ”
The law implementing the Quebec registry was passed in 2016, following a legal dispute with the federal government over data from the former gun registry, after it was dissolved under Harper’s Conservative government.
Several groups, including former students and survivors of the massacre at École Polytechnique, where the 1989 killing took place, called for better regulation of firearms.