Glenn Thibeault, Sudbury's MP, announced Sept. 7 he will not support Candice Hoeppner's bill to abolish the long-gun registry.
This marks a change from November 2009, when Thibeault voted in favour of the bill, which was introduced by Hoeppner, MP for Portage-Lisgar. He said he voted in favour of the bill originally not because he wanted to see the gun registry dismantled, but because he hoped Hoeppner's bill could be amended to address problems with the bill.
At a press conference, he compared the long-gun registry to a car.
"When you buy a car, you put a lot of money into this," Thibeault said. "If something's wrong with the car, you don't throw the car away completely. You try to buy the necessary parts, you try to fix it. It's the same thing. We have billions of dollars invested in (the registry). Here's an opportunity to fix it."
The November vote, which passed, sent C-391 to committee for amendment and study, a process Thibeault said he hoped would result in changes and amendments to the registry, not its abolishment.
"Unfortunately, when (the bill) came to committee, it was all-or-nothing and there was no opportunity to make this thing work for northerners, northern groups, for hunters, for sportsmen," he said.
People supporting the abolishment of the long-gun registry often rally behind the statement "Criminals don't register their guns." However, this statement was proved false by a report released by the RCMP's Canadian Firearms Program in late August.
In the report, it was shown that between 2003 and 2008, 35 per cent of the long-guns used in 152 homicides in Canada were registered in the long-gun registry.
"The Long Gun Registry is a valuable tool to keep Sudburians and our police officers safe," Frank Elsner, Greater Sudbury Police Chief, said. "I commend Glenn in looking past the politics and trying to find a practical solution that preserves the registry while addressing the real concerns of gun owners."
Elsner joined Thibeault, OPP superintendent Scott Todd, Sudbury Regional Hospital chief of staff Christ Bourdon, YWCA executive director Marlene Gorman, and other members of the community for the announcement, held at Sudbury police headquarters on Brady Street.
"There are so many things that have become divisive between rural Canada and urban Canada, between small city and big city, farmers and big city dwellers," Thibeault said. "At the end of the day, we're all Canadian."
After spending his summer break speaking with his constituents, chiefs of police, police associations, paramedics, doctors,
women's groups and local unions, Thibeault said he decided abolishing the gun registry would not serve northern Ontario, or rural and urban centres in Canada, and could continue to drive a wedge between Canadians.
"The average folk in Sudbury, in rural Canada, know there is a need for gun control, including the long-gun registry. Urban Canada also now needs to respect the fact this is our way of life up here. People hunt, people fish, people sport shooting. We need to have those rights respected."
Thibeault lists gun owners having to pay to register, facing criminal charges for not registering long-guns, and a lack of respect for aboriginal rights as three major issues with the long-gun registry that need to be addressed.
The NDP, of which Thibeault is a member, has been taking fire from both the Liberals and the Conservatives for its stance on the gun registry.
NDP leader Jack Layton has said he won't force his party to vote in a certain direction in the bill, though he has said he will vote against it. Many of the NDPs ridings are in rural locations that oppose the long-gun registry, but Layton's seat of power is in Toronto, the largest urban centre in Canada.
