Time to dump the gun registry

The Martin government is letting slip tantalizing hints that it might do something about Canada's $1-billion gun registry. We are told that this has nothing to do with the election expected on June 28. Still, we can't help but note that if there were a political dimension to this, we would be seeing just what we are seeing now: acknowledgement of a problem but no specifics of a solution. Any precise step might cost votes.

Something certainly has to be done about the registry. The government's own estimates show that the cost of this thing, first estimated at $2 million, will reach $1 billion by next year and could climb past $2 billion within the next few years. To date, about 7 million firearms have been registered, leaving an estimated 1 million unaccounted for.

Ignoring the election-year issue (campaign promises are rarely fulfilled), it's obvious to me that Canada has wasted a lot of time and money trying create a list of the people in their country using their guns properly. It seems to me that it would be much more productive to try to come up with a list of people using their guns improperly. However, this sort of promise could, if believed, sway a lot of people.