DCHP-2

long gun registry long-gun registry, longgun registry, gun registry, federal gun registry DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Administration, Politics

  a registry administered by a federal program to document ownership of sports and hunting rifles.

  Type: 1. Origin — Long guns are defined as non-restricted and non-prohibited firearms, i.e. firearms that are intended for sports or hunting. This definition includes most shotguns and rifles, but excludes handguns and most military firearms (see Canadian Encyclopedia reference). A man using a semi-automatic rifle killed 14 women engineering students at l’École Polytéchnique in Montreal in December 1989. In the wake of this incident (often called "the Montreal massacre"), the federal government began placing stricter restrictions on gun ownership, eventually passing the Firearms Act of 1995. Before the Act, only restricted firearms needed to be registered, but the Act required that all guns be registered. The implementation of the long gun registry has been a much-contested issue, with many people in the Western provinces opposing it, while other provinces, especially Quebec, seeking to keep the registry (see, e.g. the 2011 quotation). The program has also been criticized for its high cost. In 2006, the just-elected Conservative Party promised to abolish the registry, a promise they passed into law in 2009 (see the 2012, 2015 quotations and Maple Leaf Web reference).

  See also: restricted weapon