Mr. Speaker, the one-year anniversary of the Canadian long gun registry's demise passed quietly eight weeks ago.
There is a reason hardly anybody noticed. Gun control advocates predicted that the scrapping of the long gun registry would increase firearms abuse, but there is no correlation. In fact, a CBC news story in April noted that shootings in the city of Ottawa plunged from 11 while the registry was still in place to just 2 for the same period this past year.
Responsible gun owners are not the least bit surprised at this result. We know that the registry was simply feel-good legislation that was never designed to increase public safety. It was nothing more than a political ruse to lull Canadians into a false sense of security. That is why I made it one of my priorities as a member of Parliament to get rid of the long gun registry.
While it took nearly two decades to get the job done, I believe it brings Canada one step closer to fairer firearms legislation for all.