You can have my gun registry data when you pry it from my cold, dead hands

The Conservative government’s bill to scrap the requirement to register long-guns comes with a surprising clause: it requires the Commissioner of Firearms destroy all records of registered long-guns.

The clause in question:

29. (1) The Commissioner of Firearms shall ensure the destruction as soon as feasible of all records in the Canadian Firearms Registry related to the registration of firearms that are neither prohibited firearms nor restricted firearms and all copies of those records under the Commissioner’s control.

The legislation goes on to describe how this provision trumps the Privacy Act and the Library and Archives Act, which govern the retention of records.

The Tory spin on this passage of the bill is a bit misleading. The registry will not be destroyed. Rather, records of only non-restricted and non-prohibited firearms will be deleted from the database. The database will continue — and will continue to be updated with new registrations or de-registrations of restricted (mostly hand-guns and some rifles) and prohibited (mostly automatic and some semi-automatics) firearms.

But, personally, I find the destruction of any kind of government data utterly abhorent and contrary to the concept of open government.

In response, I’m posting publicly a copy of the gun registry database I received via the Access to Information Act in 2007.

We used this data in an Ottawa Citizen series called “Rapid Fire” that explored issues involved in gun ownership in Canada.

You can download your own copy for free from Toronto-based data sharing site Buzzdata.

The database of about 7 million records contains neither the name nor addresses of the registrant (except in some rare cases where the registrants built the guns from a kit and listed themselves as the manufacturers).  It does, however, have the first two characters of the registrant’s postal code.

The data is a bit stale, but with the government planning to purge its own records, this may be the last, best snapshot of federal gun registry.

A SIDE NOTE: The Access to Information Commissioner might have something to say about this, as her governing legislation specifically makes destruction of a requested record an offense.

67.1 (1) No person shall, with intent to deny a right of access under this Act,
(a) destroy, mutilate or alter a record;

 

I know of at least one person (not me) who today filed an ATIP request for the gun registry data, which should prevent its destruction while the request is pending. Of course, C-19 could be amended to trump the Access to Information Act, as the government did when it passed legislation to establish the federal registry of sex offenders.

UPDATE: This is a huge file and it’s taking a bit of time to get the complete data set online. Bear with me. Should have it up shortly.

160 thoughts on “You can have my gun registry data when you pry it from my cold, dead hands

  1. You lied to gun owners once before when you said you’d present a balanced view. Now you’ve revealed yourself as the duplicitous Liberal hack you are. You tried to screw us then, you’re trying it again, and you seem now to be suggesting that creating a sex offender registry is somehow bad, but a gun registry is good? Journalists like you have brought a once respected profession to it’s knees.

      1. So glen, what are you trying to accomplish by doing this? Do you think you’re the Canuck version of Julian Assange? Without names your database is meaningless, and if you publish it with names, you’ll be in some poopoo from the authorities. Retard.

  2. Inspired and thrilled you decided to do this, Glen. Our data gremlins are working hard to get the massive file all online as soon as possible, and we really hope that more journalists follow your lead in disclosing the full data (no matter how huge) behind complex stories in the future. If every journalist had the habit of doing this, the field of reporting and (and subsequent community engagement with the press) would be a very, very different animal.

    1. Do that and YOU WILL BE CHARGED!!! I promise you. I hope they put your ass in jail too. How does it feel to have the law against what you want? We’ve lived with it for years. Your turn.

      1. I have to admit, I *am* very curious: under what grounds is it illegal to publish this data?

        It’s been scrubbed of personal information, and under FOI was deemed “disclosed to the world” upon its release years ago, regardless of what Vic Toews has to say in a press conference.

        While I completely sympathize with people’s concerns about violation of privacy, to be clear: the published database has no personal infomation in it. And while some might consider said information thus of dubious relevance, other experts would disagree vehemently. For example, a recent comment about this by Canadian journalism professor Fred Vallance Jones:

        “Frankly, this decision to destroy the data is a terrible one because there could be so many valuable uses for that data in the future, including for historians who may wish to understand the registry at some future time. The move seems almost anti-knowledge, as if the government can somehow wipe all memory of the registry from the face of the land. It also sets an awful precedent that if a government doesn’t like some record that it holds it can simply destroy it and, “poof,” it’s like it never existed. ”

        Something to think about…

        1. It WILL BE illegal to have it let alone publish it soon as C19 is law. That’s what you need to think about.

          1. LOL — the press should be censoring its behaviour based on bills that are not law yet because you prophesize it “WILL” be law?

            Come ON. Fear-monger much?

        2. sweetheart..it is illegal that anyone but the government has access to this database.. the fact you don’t know the act is appalling..but then, the left aren’t that big on following the law!

        3. Momoko, no worries. This is expected from Conservatives. When there is something good that runs counter to their ideology, they cancel it and destroy everything about it. The last well known example is the attempted destruction of the Avro Arrow.

    2. Riiiight. So when are u Lieberal hack “journos” gonna get working on ADSCAM, and Shawenigate, And the untouchable,not subject to the AG slush fund your guys set-up???? I won’t hold my bretah for an answer.

  3. You don’t appear to understand one of the most fundamental facts of databases: they are useless unless maintained and updated. The information you have was of dubious value in 2007, due to rates of non-compliance and entry errors, while today it is simply useless. But nice try.

  4. I have five guns. Two of the registrations have errors in them. Based on that ratio, 2,800,000 of the outdated records you possess were incorrect in 2007. Very valuable information you have there: worth sharing with the world. ;o)

  5. Vic Toews was VERY clear, several times, today. ANYONE who has this data MUST destroy it or be in violation of the law. Does your cause trump the law? No. Get rid of it, now. You WILL face charges as the entire gun community will force the law on your ass. How irresponsible you are.

  6. If I had a blog and openly vowed not to register my firearms I’m sure you’d be on the phone to the RCMP. Hence you keep this up and I will do just that on you, you hypocrit.

  7. The Tories ran on a platform of removing the LGR, they won. They are now removing the LGR. You are against it, therefore you are against democracy and choose to ignore the wishes of the majority of Canadians. You sir, are a useful idiot. If and when I find any of my private information on this list, you can gaurantee that I will see you in court.

  8. It makes me sick my countrymen died defending your freedom to infringe on the freedom of others you sick scumbag. I hope you go to jail for a long time.

  9. Glenn,
    Please don’t do this. I am a law abiding citizen who has a few firearms and I enjoy hunting with my sons and grandsons. We have no idea what the criminal culture can do with this information. Please reconsider your actions, not only for your own benefit but for all of us who have a stake in it.

  10. I find it interesting that you gun toting neandrathals talk about the “majority” of canadians, first, voted for the Harper government and by extention, secondly, voted to scrap the gun registry.

    News flash – the harper government was not voted in by the majority. Over 60% of Canadians voted against him and every major poll regarding our opinion about the gun registry had over 70% of us in favour of keeping it!

    Now your buddies want to scrap everything associated with the gun registry. A very conservative thing to do. Much like what the last neo-con Prime Minister did in the mid 1950’s – scrap as much of the Avro Arrow as possible.

    Shake your heads guys. Drivers licenses don’t stop stupid car crashes either…so lets scarp the drivers licenses!! Makes sense to me…sign me up. You neo-cons are super stars…

    1. Having a drivers license doesn’t set you up for criminal charges if you forget to renew it. Nor can the government come in and inspect your car, under threat of confiscation

      But I love the neo-con label, I shoot (PS, its therapeutic, I have PTSD) so I’m a neocon. I’m pro-choice, for UHC, a strong supporter of unions and an atheist.

      But I have firearms, yeah…clearly a neo-con.

      1. Sorry, perhaps drivers license is a pretty dumb analogy since must have a firearms license too.

        Oh, wait a minute, you must register your vehicle. That’s kind dumb too…lets do away with that. Think of the millions we will save by not registering our vehicles. Also, whenever I accidentally run over the neighbours kids or someone’s grandma in town, no one will be able to charge me criminally because they won’t know who the guy was in the unplated red Ford pickup.

        Very smart! Come on everyone! join the bandwagon and lets stop registering our vehicles!!

        1. Jim, first off the vehicle registry was designed as a way of garnering taxes. Not to stop crime.

          But let’s engage in a mental exercise for a minute; imagine that ALL the guns were outlawed. Now let’s imagine all the guns that were registered were destroyed.

          Now who do you think would still have guns?

          The ones who don’t care about the fact that all guns were outlawed. And how much safer would you and your family be? Right. You would not be. And simply because you prefer that your family be victims of police funding, level of interest, and response time, please don’t assume that I prefer the same for my family. Where I live, the police are more than 15 minutes away.

          You seem to have this irrational anger against persons who are law abiding and insist on calling everyone who happens to enjoy shooting a “neo con”. I would submit sir, that people like you are more dangerous to free and open debate than any true conservative. Remember the old adage; “you know when you are arguing with a liberal, because they are intolerant of any viewpoint except their own”.

          And, if the “enlightened” author of this blog entry wishes to publish my name and any personal information on the internet, I can assure him that I will seek swift and full legal retribution.

          1. Really??? vehicle registrations back in the early 1900’s was a tax grab??? Shame on them! Let’s do away with vehicle registrations then! I hate putting those plate stickers on all the time too…once we get rid of the vehicle registry we don’t even need the license plate! Fantastic!

            I enjoy shooting too…I’m a great marksman. I love taking out my old Enfield every once in a while too – but I’m not a “neo con”. Just a sensible person trying to make sense of you “non-liberals” (is that better?) Hahaha…you guys are too funny.

          2. @Jim Baxter

            Well Jim, since I can’t post to your comment, I will post to mine.

            If you really are a “great marksman” (and I believe that…) and have a legally registered firearm, then you are already a considered a suspicious person. Do you like that fact? That the police CAN search your house on reasonable suspicion? Without a warrant?

            And yeah, sorry – your comment about vehicle registration was so offside it is beneath rebuttal, but yes, taxation was the main purpose. There were many reasons given as to why – the technological challenges the new automobile presented needed paying for. And then gasoline taxes. Ad infinitum. Ad neauseum.

            But since you have refused to address the main point of my post regarding the mental exercise, it appears as though you are unwilling to discuss this point rationally.

            Too bad. I actually thought you might be willing to have a debate and we could both learn something. But you apparently already have all the answers.

        2. Don’t forget to register kitchen knives … baseball bats … Golf Clubs ’cause they can all be used in crime. Heck, most criminals run away after committing a crime – I think we should register their shoes too. That way we can track (no pun intended) them better. Get real. It’s not the long gun owned by Joe Farmer from Saskatchewan killing gangstas in Toronto … it’s your pathetic Liberal social programs and lack of consequences that create the ruthless youth of today. Instead of making Mr. Farmer a criminal, look in the mirror and see how your actions have hurt Canadians.

          1. Right…always the insightful regurgitated drivel from some conservative….”register knives, basball bats, etc”….blah, blah,blah….

            But really, Strathy, how about we do away with vehicle registrations? Huh? Its not the Hwy 401 pounding momma taking little Joey to hockey that kills people! It’s stupid drivers!

          2. You are the one bringing up the stupid analogies … I’m just taking them to their natural conclusion: over regulation. If you want to have to sign a form to wipe yer own butt, be my guest – but it’s not the Canada I want to live in. What purpose does the LGR serve? It’s been proven that it does not reduce firearm homicidal rates … like the Lieberals told us it would – so what purpose does it serve today? Why do I have to keep paying for it – and why should we allow it to erode our rights to privacy as Canadian citizens?

          3. For the record, the sale of knives IS regulated and restricted in the UK. And knife crimes have escalated, being named as the most serious issue facing law enforcement…even ahead of terrorism.

        3. Jim,

          Its funny, don’t you think, how some folks seem to have selective memory. I’m pretty sure that there has never been a sitting government that was elected by a popular majority. By your logic no government has ever by able to legitimately act upon its platform.

          However if you would care to look at the results of the last election, you will noticed that they do have a legitimate claim to a mandate. I took a look data for the last election to see if, for those seats the CPC won, whether they had an actual mandate. That is, how many of the seats won by each party were won by a simple majority.

          Of the 103 seats won by the NDP, about 65% were won by a plurality (30-40% of the popular vote). By contrast, of the 166 seats won by the CPC about 65% were won by a simple majority (50% or better). More over, if you look at the popular vote just in the ridings each party won, the CPC won its seats with an average of 54.5%, where as the NDP averaged 47.4%.

          Given our parliamentary system, the CPC has a better claim to an actual mandate than any other party. Appealing to the national popular vote is to appeal to an electoral system we don’t have.

          Your logic, with respect to licensing and registration, is utterly invalid as it relies on an equivocation on the words, “license” and “registration”.

          It is, in fact, not true that you MUST register a vehicle that you own nor that you MUST get a driver’s license in order to use it. You simply don’t and no amount of sophistry will save your ignorant argument.

          It is completely legal own and operate a vehicle without insurance, registration or license if you do so on private property (your own, that is). Its is only if I want to operate that vehicle on property owned by the state designated to that purpose (property commonly called “roads” or “highways”) that any of the 3 are required.

          That’s is where your logic falls down. In order to be analogous, either all vehicles would need to be registered and operators licensed regardless of where they were used, (in which case you will find the exact same arguments against such a registry from a larger group of people) or licensing and registration would be needed in order to operate firearms on crown land, then you might have a reasonable analogy.

          The analogy also falls down by virtue of the reasons given for registration. In the case of vehicles operated on public roads, registry ensures, among other things, that the vehicles being used are suitable for use on the road and meet certain criteria so that other users of the public road are not endangered, it also extracts payment for the use of that property.

          You do not need a license to own a registered vehicle, only to operate it. The licensing ensures that those who operate vehicles permitted use public roads can do so without endangering others.

          By requiring registration and licensing for simple possession of something, the government claims first ownership of that. It is more analogous to leasing of crown land, where you need to enter into a legal agreement with the crown in order to simply possess that land. The difference between the two is ONLY that land is illiquid and scarce compared to a consumer good like a gun.

          1. Adam, I respect your arguments as you have made many.

            In terms of a logical explanation for my argument that the Conservatives do not necessarily have the “majority”, I’ve simply deduced that the Conservatives ran on a platform of conservative ideology and no other party came close to running the same platform. On the other hand, all four of the elected parties had very similar platforms, in fact, its been said no one could tell the difference if it weren’t for their colours – this represents the majority. This will always be the majority as Canadians soundly reject Conservative values in every election since the Reform party’s inception.

            You, Adam, are splitting hairs with individual ridings. If that’s the case then we should be electing MP’s based on a proportional representation basis – such as in Australia. We’d be assured of zero chance of majority for Conservatives or Liberals or New Democrats…which would be alright, imo.

            Indeed my innate analogous comments are simplistic. It was to serve the purpose of explaining that while a vehicle can’t be easily taken in one hand, it certainly can be a dangerous tool and as such, if you wish to use it you must register it. Certainly true that you don’t have to register it, you could even take the hood off and throw a slow moving sign on it and use the roads. No different than a tractor or an ATV….but again, its splitting hairs and we can go on forever. While on the subject of licensing, I find it strange that a 12 yr old could shoot a gun legally but can’t even drive a lawnmower or tractor on a road until he’s 16 without a license! But that’s a digression I don’t want to entertain at this time.

            I have three guns and I didn’t mind taking the firearms course and using my PAL. I certainly didn’t mind the registrations either. Quite frankly, I’m not so sure why the fuss…is it really about the $60 every 5 years?

    2. Jim don’t you find it a tad hypocritical that someone who demands we abide by the laws is himself violating the law? Regardless of your stance on the LGR, this is totally irresponsible. Imagine if a home is targeted because of this, and firearms stolen, then used to kill someone? Would Glen be responsible? Damn right he would. Glen is making himself a criminal. You agree with that? Personally I don’t care what happens to him, I hope he goes to jail. Be asured if this site is still up when the LGR is history, I WILL call the RCMP. My concern is the welfare of firearms owners like myself from the criminal element who possess this information. Obviously public safety is not Glen’s concern, yet that is the very reason people like you want the LGR kept.

      1. Richard, I would agree with you if the person is actually giving out personal information such as name, address or phone number….but clearly, by what I see, there is no such evidence. You would have a difficult time proving your privacy has been violated. Like so what you may have a 303 Enfield…so do I. Oh wait, we’re in the same postal code!

        (actually not – but do you get my point? No private info has been breached in my opinion)

        1. Your not getting it. Soon as C19 is law Glen will be a criminal if he doesn’t delete this data. You agree that it’s OK to flaunt the law because of a cause? yes or no.

          1. I agree, yes. But in this case no law is broken. Go ahead, talk to a lawyer or police constable.

          2. Glen can do what he wants after the Bill passes. It won’t amount to a pinch of coon shit whether the list is published or not. There is no smoke, no fire. Its all just outdated untraceable drivel anyway. Who cares!

        2. Freedom of Information and Privacy Laws trump any other bill unless stated…(such as the Sex Offender Act)

          Does C19 trump the FOI Act and Privacy Laws? If so, then Glen would have to abide.

          1. Vic Toews was clear yesterday. ALL data in ANYONE’S possession MUST destroy the data.

        3. Jim

          Some place in this vast country have only one or two houses in a given postal code. Publish the info and you identify the owner. As well some home built firearms have been identified as having their owner as the manufacturer. Publish that informtion with the postal code and you are a Canada411 query away from an address. Plug that address into google maps and most likely you’ll have a high res sat picture of the person’s house and possibly even a street view. This information should not have been released to anyone and publishing it to the internet is irresponsible.

          1. Jim seems to think he is smarter than any “neanderthal” criminals. So if he can’t see any way it can be abused, means no one can.

    3. Now on your political rant. The Liberals never had the majority of Canadians either when they had their majority. But that is fine with you right. That’s a hypocrit. The fact is, the Conservatives got the MOST votes, period. That’s all that counts when there is more than 2 parties. If you don’t like it you can always go to the US where they have only 2 parties. We don’t and only will if the Liberal Party disappears. Then expect the CPC to get even more of the vote. The CPC is here, they rule, live with it. We have had to put up with Liberal socialism for 30 years. Time we “neanderthals” ruled for a while. BTW I’m conservative, have a tested IQ over 120, and also an atheist.

      1. Actually Richard, the majority of Canadians supported the long gun registry through 3 parties…excluding one, the Reform or CRAP at the time. Just so happened that the Liberals had a majority.

        Taking this country backwards doesn’t make it progressive. No wonder they dropped Progressive from the once proud and truthful Progressive Conservatives.

        Take a look guys, crime rates are as low as they have been since the 60’s…gun related crime is also down. Now we want to rid the gun registry & build more jails?

        1. Gun related crime is down, yes, but NOT because of the LGR. That started BEFORE the LGR started. The vast majority of gun crime is with ILLEGAL handguns, which has NOTHING to do with the LGR. Second, homicide is down because of firearms because today EMS can save people who have been shot, compared to the 1970s. Guess you missed that study. “progressive” isnt when a group of people are unjustly oppressed. The LGR had nothing to do with saving lives. Alan Rock was clear. He wanted total disarmament of all civilians. Want a picture of what that would look like? Go look what happened in Australia. Crime, violent crime, increased because of their semi-auto ban. Explain how that is “progressive”.

          1. I’m looking at the Stats from various countries, so in conclusion the more heavily regulated gun control the lower the homicide by firearm rate.

            USA 3.4 per 100,000 pop
            Canada .58 per 100,000
            Australia .22 per 100,000
            England .10 per 100,000

          2. “Right. So, having more guns makes our country safe as the USA? Correct?” Jim , do you really want to go down that path? FACT: Chigaco imposed a handgun ban. Gun deaths and gun related crimes SKYROCKETED! Soon as the NRA won the case against the city, and people could arm themselves, CRIME DROPPED! Australia: They imposed a semi-auto rifle ban and confiscated them all (so they think), CRIME SKYROCKETED! Want to compare us to a gun country? How about Swizterland. Just about everyone has a government issued rifle and handgun. Crime? Almost non-existant. So why do you fear LAWFUL gun owners? Why do you a priori assume we are all murderers?

          1. Oh thanks Richard! I didn’t know that poll was on too! I gladly said yes. But I’m sure you emailed all your other unsuspecting friends too.

            Simple media polls, such as the one you supplied here, can be altered by simply refreshing a browser or clearing your computer cache.

            I’m referring to the major polls completed by polling firms with some scientific accountability and the slimmest margin of error.

            Nice try though.

          2. But that tactic is on both sides isn’t it. So if anything if the antis were so many you’d think they would be winning these polls. And yes, the gun groups are voting on mass. So what does that tell you about how many people are in each camp.

        2. So repealing stupid and ineffectual laws is not “progressive”?

          Really? you might want to check that out a bit more. By your logic repealing the death penalty was not “progressive”

          proof positive Liberalisim really is a mental disease………..

        3. So Jim, how could gun crime have been so low in the 60’s then if there was no registration. You just proved that licencing and registration have sweet f— all to do with crime.

          1. You can’t be serious Mr T, could you?

            The population in the 60’s was around 19 million. Now, the Canadian population is over 36 million.

            Can you do the math, or shall I go further? I’m a busy man on this blog.

    4. Did the Liberals get over 50% of the vote when they brought the gun registry in? Nope. So what is your point? The Conservatives have a majority of MP’s in the House of Commons. That makes a majority. Not hard math – that….

      1. Andy, see my point above about the liberals intro of the gun registry.

        The only reason Conservatives received a majority of SEATS is because they bullshitted their way without scrutiny. No one could ask them a question! There Ministers were trained to never speak! Neo Con candidates never attended all-candidate meetings! They also twice brainwashed the citizenry with mindless personal attacks, character assassination, defamation of character (take your pick) against the liberal leader…thereby creating voter suppression.

        Andy, there was only one party that represented the “right” wing spectrum of Canadian politics (ok, there could be 1-2% of right wing “fringe” parties) Unfortunately for most of us, this represents a MINORITY opinion. On the other side of the spectrum, we have 4 parties – of which all similarly represents the MAJORITY of Canadians by an aggregate PERCENTAGE sum.

        1. Tell me – why DO we register our cars? As I recall, it’s to provide money for road maintenance. Why DO we register our guns – especially as, in a desperate effort to get people to actually do it, the gov’t offered free on-line registration?
          I am utterly, entirely, tea-totally against ANY purposeless government activity, because I know who pays for it. So, trot-out your statistics showing me that gun registration actually accomplished something, ANYTHING of benefit to the nation.
          Oh wait – you can’t. There are no statistics, anywhere in the world, showing that gun laws combat crime. And we know this is fact because if there were such statistics, Johnny Cretin would’ve shoved them up our nose ad nauseam during the fractious debate on the long gun registry.

          1. I would suggest a large part of the gun registry funds that I helped grow with my registration of three guns went toward policing costs.

            That would be the same logic as the vehicle registrations fees went towards “road maintenance”.

          2. No Jim it didn’t. That money goes to run the registry, that’s the salaries of the people running the registry. Not one dime went to any police force.

          3. – And besides, if the money was actually planned to go towards supporting policing, don’tcha think we’d be required to register a lot more often?

            And if it DOES go toward supporting policing, could you please supply an itemized breakdown of funds supplied to police forces from the registry, and benefits to the assorted communities provided therefrom?

            I for one, would feel a whole lot better about the whole thing…

        2. Funny Jim, without the word Conservatives, I’d swear you were refering to Liberals. By calling us “neaderthals” you clearly have a bigoted view of us. Very typical of socialists. “Don’t agree with my view, you must be mentally inferior!” Hardley someone worth listening to.

        3. It’s so interesting to see the left champion the current system when their side wins, but when they lose, suddenly the system is fundementally flawed. That’s “progressive”!

        4. Really? and the Great Crouton didn’t BS his way into his majority? Blinders on much?

          The most famous lie:I’ll scrap the GST.

    5. Only 43% of voters supported Chretien when he set up the registry in the first place. According to your logic the existence of the registry itself is illegitimate since a majority didn’t support the government that set it up.

      Virtually every government has won power with less than 50% of the vote. As far as I recall the only one to ever break 50% was Mulroney’s first term.

      1. Cory, you missed the point i made earlier (read above). The Harper gang only represents the “right” and the other parties combined represent the “non-right”…which is the majority of Canadians.

        This logic even holds when Chretein introduced the LGR. he had only a minority % of votes, but, the majority of votes were against the Reform or CRAP party at the time…they were the only ones against the LGR.

        To this day, a majority of Canadians and voters wish the LGR would stay.

        1. Point to a poll that shows that. Every poll I’ve seen, yes the correct polls, say otherwise. The vast majority of people think it’s a waste and does nothing to stop crime.

          As for non-right being the majority. That’s strawman argument, because there is no “non-right” as in a united left. There are degrees of left, and those degrees of left hate each other as much as they hate the right. You have no idea how people will vote should there be just the CPC and NDP. I can bet a large number of people who were liberals would vote CPC because they see the NDP for what they are, socialists near communists. So your argument falls apart because we do not have a system of just “left” and “right”. As noted, I vote CPC but firmly in the middle of the political plain.

    6. Actually you do not have to register a vehicle. In fact I have two. One is an old 5 ton dump truck we use on the farm to move barn waste. The other is an old 1 ton Ford flatbed used to move hay wagons around. All very legal. You only need to register a vehicle if it is to be used off your property.

      Oh and one other thing. The great Crouton did not have much more popular support than Harper when his then justice minister Alan (it’ll cost 2 million trust me) Rock ignored all of the evidence that gun registration does not and has never ever reduced gun crime, theft or suicide and foisted this expensive and useless registry on the innocent people of this country.

  11. Such a brazen and wanton disregard for individual privacy and security should not go unpunished. Those in possession of registry data should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Have you no considerations for those who will be victimized by the jackals of society when they get a hold of this information, which in a criminal’s eyes, is a list of households with guns which they can steal?

    In doing this, you will force the hands of law abiding citizens to protect themselves from such scavengers when they decide to burglarize law abiding gun owners. Make no mistake, there is, has, and will be blood on the hands of gun control supporters.

    1. Blah Blah Blah…good lord, has anyone really seen what was posted? I dare anyone to find me and my 303 Enfield…anyone?

      I’ll pay for your next gun registration if you can find me.

          1. Yeah, I’m not buying it. I don’t see any full name or address or anything close to knowing who is who.

      1. Once again you miss the point. When the regisrty was introduced once of the lies used to sell it was that the data would be kept secure at all times and not released. Now we find that data from the registry was not only accessed imporperly more than 300 times but that copies of the entire registry were given to the media. Even if the identifying data was removed this is an abuse of trust that firearms owners placed in the registry to keep their information secure.

        It was also one of thebig reasons firearms owners were so agaist the registry. A central registry of what and where was just to open to abuse. Now we see our fears were not misplaced. Only our trust in the CFC to protect our info.

  12. I look forward to the RCMP showing up at YOUR door to take you away once the LGR has died. Having that data in your hands at that point will be illegal.

    PROVE that you are a law abiding citizen at that point Glen. I double dog dare you.

        1. Are you willing to take that chance? Guess you must not care if some criminal uses the list and figures out an address from it. That FACT is once C19 is law, all how hold this data will be criminals, and I hope they go after every one of you.

          1. Just because you cant see it doesnt mean some criminal can’t figure it out. You are playing with fire. And you people get on our case about safe use and storage of firearms based on “what if”, geeze. Bottom line is this data will be illegal. I have emailed Bizzdata informing them, they replied that they will be checking into this. They in no way would want to be in violation of the law.

        2. IT’S NOT ILLEGAL! Can’t you read or see? If the Information Commissioner has decided there is nothing illegal about the list, then it’s legal.

  13. Clearly I’m missing something.

    What exactly do you think releasing this will accomplish? The data is 4 years old, and quite frankly was filled with errors back then and is even more useless now. For the most part, it has no personal information such as name and address (unless the person built a firearm themselves) and is arranged by the first three digits of a postal code.

    It is a snapshot of firearms registrations on a particular day. People sold guns. People moved. People passed away and their firerarms may have been sent for destruction.

    An example of the type of registry errors:

    I did an FOI request on my own CFC file. It had 3 firearms still registered to me (despite me having confirmation from the CFC that the transfers had been completed) that I had sold between 2 and 3 years earlier, and it also showed a firearm registered to me that I have NEVER owned as it was a prohibited 12.6 handgun and I don’t have a prohibited licence with the 12.6 class designation.

  14. Post it.

    I’m serious Glenn. I’m a gun owner and I WANT you to post it.

    Let Canada see how ‘accurate’ that information was (it wasn’t). How concise that $2 billion was spent to get that information(it wasn’t).

    Let them see how many records contain errors, misinformation, empty fields, even duplicated records. I’ve had experiences dealing with Schrodinger’s guns (guns registered twice and to more then one owner). How many guns are registered to the dead (has happened). How many guns are not even guns (There’s a record for a black and decker heat gun in there somewhere).

    So go ahead. Let them see what their $2 billion dollars has wrought.

    http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/ErrorRatesLicencingRegistration.pdf

  15. I’ve sent an email to Gerry Nott, OC editor in chief. He will also be liable for anything you do. Some have also sent notes to Vic Toews. The pressure is just starting. Do the right thing and pull this, and all of you antigun people delete what you have before someone gets hurt, like killed from a stolen firearm. Or is that your goal?

  16. Mr. McGregor is, quite simply, helping the cause of gun owners. He is demonstrating why the LGR is so dangerous.

    As for Mr. Jim Baxter’s assertions, that gun owners are “neanderthals”, instead of bringing forth any real arguments, just indicates that he has run out of race track.

    1. Absolutely. It will just help us show how dangerous such databases are in the wrong hands and the only option is to not collect the data in the first place. Then we can do away with the useless restricted registry as well. It hasn’t saved a single life since its inception either.

    2. Neandrathals and Neo-Cons don’t like to bring forth any real arguments. They just grunt and groan and avoid all scrutiny during an election.

      1. Are you claiming you are mentally superior to “neo-cons”? You know what that is called when one group of people consider themselves superior to another. It’s called racism. You are a policitical racist.

        1. I didn’t claim any superiority over another class. I’m simply stating that particular class avoids any scrutiny at all times. They don’t want to listen to any cogent thought or argument at all. It’s their way or no way.

          Remember, Mr Harper makes the rules around here. No one else. He said so himself.

          1. But you did make a claim by calling us “neanderthals”. Image if you had use that word when refering to Africans. So why is it racist in that case, but not against us? It is, you used it specifically to put us down as inferior.

          2. Perhaps there are behavioural issues I was referring. Not some sort of class assessment.

  17. So Glen, is it ok if I dig up your address and post it on my blog? How about a Google map and a StreetView of your house too? And maybe a list of your major appliances and more expensive possessions, you know, just in case anybody’s interested?

    Love to hear your opinion on that little undertaking, dude.

    1. As I’ve posted earlier, I dare anyone to look up myself and properly registered 303 Enfield. Go ahead, see if you can find me on this list. I’ll pay for your next gun registration if you can.

      You can’t. Because my name, address, phone number and my area code is not posted. The same as you’re not.

      DO you honestly think, the Freedom of Information Officer would actually release such personal information as he/she must abide by the Privacy Act?

      1. I can tell you this. Nothing of mine is in that list. I didn’t even have a licence in 2007. So what’s the point of this attempt to flaunt the law?

      2. Not really the point Jim. Glen is busy releasing everything he can get his hands on to the general public about what’s in Canadian’s gun cabinets. He has stated he just can’t stand the thought of that information being destroyed.

        Hence my interest in how he’d feel about having his possessions listed the same way he’s trying to list mine.

        Turn about is fair play, I’m sure you’ll agree.

  18. I cannot believe someone would release such sensitive information to the public, just to prove a point or out of spite. Why are you treating gun owners like criminals when no crime has been committed? If the simple fact of owning a “weapon” makes someone a criminal, then any household that has knives in them should be treated the same, no? What you are releasing is private information that has the potential to cause harm (monetary or physical) to the individual gun owners, and I sure hope that nothing ever happens to them because you will be held accountable for your actions – accessories to crime!

  19. Many years ago, when the liberals first proposed this registry, I had many long discussions with friends and colleagues who were hunters (I am not). Our conclusion was that as soon as you collect a database like this, it will just about instantly leak into the criminal underworld and anyone who has a registered weapon can look forward to getting it stolen. I see that our predictions have come true with a vengeance. In our wildest cynicism, we did not imagine that the police would broadcast the information over the shortwave radio everytime they visited an address for whatever reason. Good luck with your principles, Mr. McGregor. I do not share them.

    1. The registry has been breeched more than 300 times by people unauthorized to access it.

      That is fact. The Canadian Shooting Sports Association has the Access to information details to prove it.

      A member of the Hells Angels was arrested, and had printouts of registry information including names, addresses, and all firearms registered to those addresses in his possession.

      1. Big deal. So has the Ontario car registration bureau. Good lord, maybe they’ll find my black pearl beemer next to my prized shiney red ford pickup.

        1. “Big deal. So has the Ontario car registration bureau. Good lord, maybe they’ll find my black pearl beemer next to my prized shiney red ford pickup.”

          Right, and while you’re at it, why not leave your beloved registered 303 Enfield out on your driveway next to your shiny vehicles (with a trigger lock of course). See what happens.

          Suggesting that having to register your vehicles is somehow analogous to having to registering firearms is incredibly silly. You don’t have to register vehicles in order to own them, you register vehicles to operate them on public roads. If you choose not to put it on the road, you don’t have to register it, and you will not be in violation of the criminal code if you a vehicle’s registration lapse.

          As for Mr McGregor if he really is vile enough to publish registry data, he should be locked up for a very long time.

          1. And you don’t have to register your gun if you don’t want to use it. Just properly disengage and leave at home.

            Same as an unregistered vehicle. If it’s not road worthy you leave it in the back field.

          2. …and actually, yes you do require a proof of ownership for your vehicle (car or truck) regardless of whether you wish to make it road worthy or not.

          3. Jim that is not true at all. You can get a licence for your lapsed car and drive it. Once you PERMINENTLY deactivate a fire arm, which is the ONLY way you can decertify it, you CANNOT make it active again. This is your logic? Bad indeed.

          4. Yes, it is true! In Ontario anyway, you require proof of ownership before getting a license plate or plate sticker.

          5. My proof of ownership of my firearms is my personal licence. With it I can own any long gun, unregistered firearm I want.

  20. Canadians had to register their long guns during WWII. After the war, the registry was done away with and all records destroyed because the existence of such information was deemed unacceptable in a democratic society. The government of the day was Liberal. My, how times have changed.

    1. Realize also that the military issued people with rifles, especially along the east and west coasts. The north rangers STILL have their Lee Enfields from that issue. The majority of those rifles were actually Ross No3’s because there wen’t enough Enfields. So yes the government registered those to keep track of them. In the end, most were just “forgotten”. My father brought home a No2 Ross he bought while stationed in the UK, didn’t have to register it when he got home.

  21. What’s wrong with the database Glenn?

    I’m waiting to download and see if my personal information is on it to sue you if need be. Otherwise I’ll definitely be throwing in money to help out whoever is. I can afford it, I hope you can too.

  22. “But, personally, I find the destruction of any kind of government data utterly abhorent and contrary to the concept of open government.”

    Glen, ‘open government’ precludes this kind of government data.

  23. You are endangering people with your reckless actions.
    The data you intend to release will give thieves and home invaders a shopping list.

    You are acting an an accessory to criminals. This is the reason the registry should never have been created.

    1. Thats what he wants…an increase in legal firearms being stolen…so they can then say that the registry would be able to track them. Who’s up for a class action law suit against this guy for release of private and personal information?

      1. Don’t need to. Soon as the data is illegal, the RCMP will be at his door, and any organization that supports him, including Buzzdata and the Ottawa Citizen. Think they want this on them? Not a chance. This will be shut down, and all you cowards with this data will have to hide in a corner afraid to bring it forward. You will have turned yourselves into criminals. Must be a nice feeling.

  24. Mark, thank you for your post. That is the exact, proper response to the nonsensical driver’s licence/vehicle registration analogy.

    To restate: If I fail to renew my auto insurance, the police will NOT come to my house, they will NOT threaten to arrest me, they will NOT threaten to file criminal charges against me, they will NOT threaten to throw me in jail and they will NOT confiscate my car.

    If I fail to keep my firearm registration up to date, the police WILL come to my house, the WILL threaten to arrest me, they WILL threaten to file charges against me, they WILL threaten to throw me in jail and they WILL confiscate (without renumeration I might add) my privately owned property.

    (post note: I do not have a firearm nor do I have a permit to own or purchase one).

    1. You forgot one. If you fail to register your car the police WILL NOT show up with a heavily armed SWAT team bust down the door, hand cuff you and put you out on the street in you underwear. While they ransack your house infront of your terrified wife and children.

  25. Over your dead body, huh?

    I’m good with it.

    It seems like our leftwing media scum have forgotten which end of the political spectrum has the guns. (And actually defends the freedom of speech, come to think of it…)

  26. hahaha you can keep your 4 year old list of firearms!! Its already useless!!! The second the registry is scrapped, your list will be null and void. You wont be able to prove who has what, because I can trade, sell, or buy whatever I want. Enjoy your useless, non-updatable database libtard.

  27. Wow, I figured journalists were mostly creepy-boys, but I never figured they’d stoop this low. What’s next? A listing of rape victims?

  28. Well now if there was ANY doubt about the history of duplicitous bias from this supposed “reporter” who was breast fed on NDP leftwing hyperbole; this has to be it.
    The public disclosure of private information purloined through shady channels has to have some variety of tort associated with it.
    This so-called “reporter” uses the privileges of being a member of the fourth estate, who purport to be totally objective and unbiased, to hide in the weeds and attack the duly elected government like some sort parallel fifth column of soft totalitarians who are in a distinct minority.
    Democracy be damned and to hell with the political will and best interests of the people of Canada to creatures like Mr. MacGregor.
    This man is NOT a journalist, he is an ACTIVIST and typifies the one sided bias encouraged by the Ottawa Citizen these days.
    Cancel your subscriptions!

  29. Pretty clear that the registry’s only use is for beaurocrats, Liberal shills trying to capitolize on the death of 14 women years ago…..and people who consider themselves “journalists”……after they have figured out they really have nothing interesting to write about that people want to read.

    I’m sure that McGregor…like his co-hort Aaron Wherry of Macleans……is only familar, or favourable to the “guns” attached to those who dress in leather chaps and dance atopp the floats at the Pride parade in Toronto.

    So pathetically predicatble.

  30. “But, personally, I find the destruction of any kind of government data utterly abhorent and contrary to the concept of open government.”

    Well if that’s your personal opinion then go ahead and kill some kids for your blind worship of the STATE. What’s a few dead punks; you have to be true to your high morals? Oh, and that old possession charge you had expunged from your record, mere trifle.

    The best you can hope for is that you go to jail for just stealing my personal information and NOT being an accessory to some kid with his guts blown all over a living room wall because you posted an on-line shopping list for your fellow pieces of shit.

    Go Journalism!

  31. “Any press is good press” definitely applies here. This is the last ditch resort of some blogging fool to gain publicity…someone who has never accomplished anything meaningful in his life. You can’t make it in the real world, so you attempt you bring misery to others that do. How pathetic is that?

  32. I shall take advantage of the death of the LGR by purchasing a couple surplus chicom SKS’s and an M14 from Marstar Canada. (I am not an adbot but I figured this would drive the lefty host of this blog cuckoo to plug a gun shop’s website) They are a good bang for the price.
    People who speak seriously of taking liberties with others lives in order to further their politics are sick. I was afraid to buy my weapons before the repeal of the registry for precisely reasons like the author of this blog is advocating in his above article.
    I know that it is a bombastic John Milius penned fantasy, and I know you high falutin’ edumacated Eastern Canadian types shall mock the reference……BUT in the movie “Red Dawn” There is a scene where the invading army commander states: “Go to the hardware store and bring me the gun registry forms.” (I am paraphrasing as I can not recall the exact wording, but here is a link. Watch it and remember! If you make fun of it, you are making fun of Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen…..yeah that’s right…REAL tough to make fun of a dead guy and someone with substance abuse issues. Lefties! Always so cruel and heartless!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mWKqhLzJQo
    Spooky eh? Well it is for me. I understand that you and your fellow travellers probably feared the Soviets less than I did.
    Chump.

  33. It’s because of abuses like this that so many otherwise law abiding citizens either chose not to register their long guns or chose not to register them all. There are far more unregistered shotguns and rifles out there than registered ones.

  34. A) Section 67.1 only requires the government not destroy data in an effort to refuse access. Bill C-19 already trumps this as the data will be destroyed with the intent of complying with legislation.

    B) Publishing an uncredited photo taken from your own employer and data that is, according to the Citizen’s own website not to be redistributed, is the move of a stupid, stupid individual. Never mind lawsuits, I’d worry about keeping my job first, if I were you.

  35. James Baxter is correct. With the last 4 characters blacked out, it would be statistically very difficult to identify him and his Enfield 303. Given that the sample size was only 200, one would need to scour similar sized data sets 37,500 times to be able to identify any of the 7 J Baxters identified in Canada 411 as living in Ottawa. At the same time there were some 11 303s, which if extrapolated would mean some 42000 in Canada.

  36. Useless move of an attention whore. Go ahead Glen. This info was inaccurate back then it’s even more irrelevant now.

  37. So you support the law when you agree with it and then circumvent it when you disagree with it? You should be ashamed of your hypocrisy.

  38. Go to it young man.

    We’ve been trying to find a compelling argument to definitively state why this data needs to be destroyed. You’re doing all the work for us.

    Go to it…

  39. You do realize that now criminals can cross reference postal codes of certain prohibited firearms and of movie weapons prop companies that possess them. Giving them a fairly good shot at a truck full of machine guns. Greg you claim interest in public safety however you’ve given organized crime an x marks the spot map of where they can steal some of Canada’s biggest weapons collections outside a Law Enforcement Stations, Canadian Forces Bases, and Armouries.

  40. You do know the data is FOUR YEARS old, and contains no personal information, right? What is your point in doing this? I didn’t even have my gun licence back then, so I am not affected at all. With the 2000 plus firearms transfers per day that information is UTTERLY useless. It has also been posted in the past and is still available for anyone to waste their time with. You think you are some kind of hero but you are wrong.

  41. So… when Quebec calls me and says, ‘Hey, we got this list that says you had a gun 4 years, ago, do you still have it’? My response will be ‘no’.

    The second the registry is abolished, any data it contains is invalidated, because it stops tracking transactions of fireams between people. So, go ahead and release the data… it’ll be useless the second the registry dies.

  42. Jim Baxter >

    Your single minded repeating narrative is deeply flawed. Gun owners are licensed always have been, there is no reason for a registry. The reason why apparently requires much deeper thought and understanding than you seem to be able to muster with your parroted debate about vehicles verses firearms.

    In short, vehicles operate on public roads and are bound through registries to insurance liabilities, yes that PL/PD you pay. They are indeed licensed as have gun owners been for decades. If you look up the criminal code you will find that it is “illegal” to discharge a firearm on a public road or within 200m of a public dwelling, including everywhere a car legally drives under registry and insurance.

    This is comparing apples and oranges and a ridiculous line of rationality to pursue. You’re time would be much better spent actually studying the history of firearms, visiting a few gun ranges while making inquiries, possibly even find a few friends along the way and understand better what you are arguing against.

  43. Ok so YOU might be hard. What about those people who registred HOME MADE firearms? And their NAME shows up in the Mfg field?

    It might help if you had a clue what you were talking about.

  44. Cut the theatrics, cupcake. Quit being a drama queen and do what you’re going to do – or STFU.

    Just know this – if some failed liberal social experiment breaks into my home to steal guns, and hurts me or mine in the process – and if it turns out the perps do the deed based on info YOU gave them – I am coming after you and I will settle accounts with YOU personally – lickspittle lawyers and activist judges be damned. It’s part of that ‘actions have consequences’ that you idiot liberals don’t seem to understand.

    As for you anti-gun f-tards – this is EXACTLY why gun owners didn’t comply with C68.

  45. And when I get robbed because some punks know that I have an expensive gun collection, if there is any connection to your posting the information, I am going to sue the lot of you. Not just for the price of my guns, but for the pain and suffering your idiocy has caused me.

  46. I could care less what you do with outdated information. Like it or not the registry is history. Quebec wants one?, fine, start from scratch and unless every Province has one that too will be useless. Canadians have spoken. Get used to the idea.

  47. So here we are 3 years later, and your link to the data doesnt work. So much for your high horse… BTW, I bought 4 more long guns since.

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