SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Earl Evans sits in his log cabin-style home, which is adorned with mounted animal heads and a stuffed bear. He shakes his head when asked about the Canadian Firearms program.

Gun control in Canada falls into two categories: the Firearms Act, which controls who can possess and acquire guns, and the Criminal Code, which has specific guidelines for the handling of firearms. The licensing and registration process can be compared to a driver's licence and a car registration, people must pass safety requirements before they’re allowed to register a firearm. A 2002 Auditor General’s report found the government reported spending $688 million on the registry from 1995 to 2002, but said the actual cost was more. There are currently more than 7.4 million registered guns in Canada. As of June 2009, there were 19,459 registered restricted and non-restricted firearms in the NWT and 5,150 people in the territory had a valid possession licence. There are no official statistics on unregistered weapons, but a 1997 Environics study found there were 2.71 weapons per household in Canada. With 14,200 households in the NWT (according to the 2006 census), that amounts to nearly 40,000 unregistered guns in the territory.

"Guns are an everyday part of life," he says. "You ask the average aboriginal person 10 questions on gun laws, they might be able to answer one or two."

The Fort Smith hunter, who has registered his own firearms, estimates there are more than double the number of unregistered guns as there are registered guns in the NWT.

Evans suspects if the RCMP set up a roadblock during hunting season, nine out of 10 people stopped would have unregistered firearms in their vehicle.

After thinking for a minute, he says he has one friend who meticulously keeps a catalogue of all his licences and takes the laminated certificates out when he hunts.

"It's a hassle," he says.

Evans says it's difficult to know which guns should be registered and if the registration process is up to date.

His confusion may not be unique. In 2008, the Canadian Firearms Program's call centre received close to a million calls from people from the public and licence holders about licensing and registration.

The many guns in Evans's home are close by, but they're locked up and unloaded. He registered them - or most of them, he admits - because he was worried about the penalties if he didn't. He said it's hard to forget that getting caught with an unregistered could lead to jail time.

"For one gun?" he says, his eyebrows raised.

Unregistered guns are something Marty Cheliak, director general of the RCMP Canadian Firearms Program, wants to get rid of.

The RCMP can't keep track of the number of guns that aren't registered although Cheliak says "there's a lot of them."

"We're concerned right across the country. It's a public safety issue."

Part of the purpose of the legislation was to reduce the accessibility of firearms and the likelihood of them going off accidently, Cheliak explained.

He said the gun registry, first set up by the federal government in 1995, is a crucial policing tool, "particularly in the North where there are limited police resources over a vast area."

He says police officers access the registry online 10,000 times each year prior to attending calls.

RCMP officers in the NWT access the registry on average 52 times per day, more than three times the national average of 15 times per day. Cheliak says officers use this information when they're responding to calls, particularly domestic violence situations.

He says if police find there is a gun registered to a home, they take special precautions.

"Their response will be altered significantly," he said. "They may take steps to evacuate the neighbours in residences on both sides ... they'll take steps to ensure their own safety."

Emergency dispatch operators already ask people who report an incident if there is a firearm in the premises but Cheliak says that's not enough.

"Sometimes people don't tell the truth, this is a verification to police," he said.

Ken Hudson, president of the Fort Smith Metis Council, says police shouldn't need a gun registry to know people have firearms.

"I've heard arguments that the RCMP need this information if they get a call and they need to know if there are guns in the house. If you're living in the North, just assume there are guns in the house," he says.

Hudson openly admits he is one of the many people who haven't registered their guns and says he only thinks about it during the hunting season.

"It's just a pain in the ass thing to have to do, and for what?" he says.

On a recent trip to Edmonton, Hudson wanted to buy a gun but couldn't because he doesn't have a possession and acquisition licence. Without that licence, he can't even buy shells.

"I'm stuck either way, I've got to do something."

But he says the gun registry goes against traditional lifestyles in the North. He's torn between not wanting to get caught with an unregistered firearm and objecting to having to register them.

"I fought with the government over hunting rights, yet I'm too ornery to register my guns? Because of the gun laws I refuse to give my son a gun to go hunting? It bothered me after that."

Hudson says he's going to get his son to look up the registration process online and start the ball rolling. Even as he considers filling out the paperwork himself, but, he remains skeptical about the need for the gun registry.

He believes guns are central to Northern culture and says many aboriginal people will never register their firearms.

"I can't imagine people in a city having a real need to have guns, but up North, if people live up here, they likely do hunt," he says. "(Guns) are one of the most important things."

Hudson says that while gun laws may be useful in the south where hunting isn't an everyday part of life, he doesn't think they belong in the North.

Evans agrees and says the registration process has interfered with the way hunters handed guns down between generations.

People, like him, are reluctant to hunt because they're worried about not having paperwork in order.

"It discourages a lot of people from pursuing the traditional lifestyle. The most important tool someone can have in the bush is a gun," he said, adding that gun regulations are disrupting traditional teaching patterns.

"Kids aren't learning like they used to because firearms just aren't there," he said.

But Cheliak, formerly the Mountie's commanding officer in Nunavut, says living in the North isn't an excuse to avoid national legislation. He says there's no reason for people not to register their firearms.

"It's a very simple process," he says. "Gone are the days when we keep the gun at the back door loaded and ready to go."

He says the RCMP will continue educating people about firearm regulations through information campaigns, including communication with shooting clubs and hunting organizations.

He says enforcement will always be the RCMP's last resort when it comes to communicating the Canadian Firearm Program, but he said people know they should register and enforcement is taking place.

He encourages anyone with unregistered firearms, and those with unrestricted ones like long guns - currently under an amnesty until next spring - to register now.

People like Hudson and Evans may have to take note.

"If it comes into force, post-May 16, it'll be a violation of the Firearms Act," says Cheliak.