Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
The GNWT has no plans to create a territorial long-gun registry once the federal government's program is abolished, according to the minister of Justice.

"When it comes to safety of our residents, we want to focus on the root causes of crime," said Minister Glen Abernethy. "We've been opposed to the registry since its very inception."

Bill C-19, the act to end the long-gun registry, passed its third reading in the House of Commons on Feb. 15. It will now be debated in the Senate and is expected to receive royal assent, after which all information from the database will be destroyed.

In a statement presented to the House of Commons on Feb. 7, Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington suggested local, aboriginal and territorial governments should decide whether they want to create their own registries.

Abernethy was adamant that would not happen in the NWT.

"The main reason the Government of the Northwest Territories is opposed to the long-gun registry is the vast majority of people in the Northwest Territories from the small communities who are hunters rely on these weapons for subsistence," he said. "It didn't seem to make any sense for the people of the Northwest Territories."

Abernethy said there will still be requirements to have a gun licence, and that the government would focus its efforts on crime prevention and rehabilitation.

Residents have to take personal responsibility for their weapons and know how to safely operate and store them, he said.

Barry Taylor, president of the Yellowknife Shooting Club, said he is "100 per cent" against any sort of new registry being established in the NWT, and agreed the money would be better spent on gun safety education.

Taylor said as it stands a 12-year-old can own a gun and go hunting with no training or supervision.

"I don't want to be in the bush anywhere near him," he said. "We need firearms training and safety education. It's the one thing all of us have no problem with."

Taylor said people with real gun expertise should be visiting schools to educate students, and that gun-licencing courses should be more comprehensive and involve hands-on training.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.