Yellowknife (Sep 22/06) - The NWT's Member of Parliament said he's willing to defy his party and vote against the national gun registry.

The registry is a hot topic right now, following the tragic shootings in Montreal last week.

The Conservative government wants to dismantle the registry. However, the Liberal and Bloc Quebecois parties have both vowed to vote against any such move, according to Dennis Bevington, MP for the Western Arctic.

Bevington said his party, the NDP, will most likely vote to keep the registry operating, he said.

Nevertheless, he said he's prepared to vote against them as the majority of NWT residents he has spoken to want the gun registry abolished.

Hunting with guns is an important part of Northern life, he said.

"It's part of our economy, very much a part of the culture of the North," he said.

Scott Cairns, membership officer for the Yellowknife Shooting Club, agreed.

"In the North, guns are largely perceived as a tool," he said. "The attitude towards them here is quite a bit different than in the south and more accurate, in my opinion."

Yellowknife residents who frequently use guns have mixed feelings about the registry.

"I'm for it," said Gary Steele, a sales associate at Wolverine Guns and Tackle. "I like to know where the guns are."

However, it's not that simple, according to Roy Rempel, federal policy advisor for the Minister of Public Safety.

"You're trying to track 6.2 million firearms and that has just not been a very cost-effective thing to do," he said.

Cairns believes the system is seriously flawed. He calls the gun registry a "fiasco".

"It does absolutely nothing towards public safety, which was it's initial intent," he said.

However, Cairns stressed that regardless of the gun registry, the firearms licensing program is very important for gun safety.

The licensing system involves background checks so that people with criminal records or histories of violence are not allowed to own firearms. It requires that safety courses are taken. The gun registry, in contrast, attempts to keep a record of every individual gun.

The Conservatives want to keep the licensing system, said Rempel; it's the gun registry that they think needs revamping. The Montreal incident - where one young college student was killed last week and 19 others were injured - has returned the issue to the political forefront sooner.

Cairns said the incident demonstrates the uselessness of the registry.

"It did absolutely nothing to change this tragedy, which to me would reflect strongly on its complete ineffectiveness on improving public safety."

However, Steele says the gun registry cannot be blamed for the shooting.

"That's a blip in society," he said. "That was such a mixed-up kid, you can't prevent that."

According to Bevington, Minister of Public Safety Stockwell Day has said that he was going to introduce gun registry provisions in the current session of Parliament, but it hasn't happened yet.