Rod,

You make good points, especially with regard to the gun dealer point of view. And I'm glad customers are getting better service. But shouldn't that be the least the system should do?

I don't doubt the system should be able to efficiently register the day-to-day sales of firearms. Where I believe it will fail is in the registration of the seven to 20 million firearms that are not yet in the system. Many owners will not comply, or will register them incorrectly. The police will not use the system because it will not provide accurate and up-to-date information. And we live next to a country where firearms are not registered and our border with it is as leaky as a collander.

I agree with you about Stockwell Day, the Alliance, and any other political party that may take power. I'm sorry to see the opposition to registration go so party-political. That alienates a bunch of gun owners who may not wish to support certain parties for reasons other than gun control (and gun control is not an issue that will elect or defeat a government). And, who's to say party X will change the system. Once in power, they will be subject to the same pressures the Liberals are.

I also agree we may be stuck with registration. What I fear is that we may be stuck with it regardless of its failure, as has happened elsewhere. Because registration allows a government to say it is doing something about gun-related crime (when registration doesn't), they may tempted to keep it, despite soaring crime, lack of police confidence in the system, and a large black market in unregistered guns among people who otherwise aren't criminals.

Don H. Meredith