—it gives the provinces, territories, and aboriginal governments time to think about the ramifications of having no process of registration, no process by which gun ownership can be clearly identified within their own jurisdictions. That is a big problem.
I appeal to the Conservatives. I have supported the efforts you have made to remove the gun registry from the Criminal Code for many years. I appeal to this committee to consider this amendment. It's a reasonable and rational amendment, which will allow other jurisdictions across the country to make decisions about how they should deal with the data that is in place.
Registered gun owners have paid to put their guns on the registry. In some ways, Mr. Chair, the gun owners themselves have a right to the data within the registry. They have paid for it. They have done the work to register their firearms. So I think the government should really....
I appeal to the Conservative Party to support this amendment, because this amendment will act in a spirit of cooperative federalism. It will act in a spirit that we do have different points of view across the country about how we deal with property. Once the guns are removed from the Criminal Code, they become property. They are simply property, and that comes under the jurisdiction of provinces and territories and aboriginal governments.
Why should we not be accommodating to those jurisdictions? Why should we not give them the opportunity to react to the laws that we have changed in this country? Why should we not have that spirit of understanding and respect for those other jurisdictions?
With that, I'll leave the amendment as is, and I trust you will find it does meet with your accord.