Gun law unrealistic

Page 6

There's no doubt there's a problem on the mean streets of Canada's inner cities. Drug rings, violent crime, youth crime -- anyone who reads a paper is aware of it. Things are happening there that we only used to hear about from Detroit and New York.

So the Liberal government has decided to get tough with criminals. Whether Allan Rock's new gun law will help or not is debatable, but not the subject of this column.

What we're concerned about is the disastrous side-effects this law, clearly dratted for southern cities, will have in the North.

There are two problems with the law is it stands:

People who live in Canada's North, who work in the wild, are not well off. Sure, many wouldn't trade the quality of life for anything, but

they carry precious little cold hard cash in their jeans.

The gun permits Rock requires will cost plenty, especially if there

are, as is often the case, two or three in a family. At $50 to acquire

a firearm, plus $30 to $100 per gun per five-year licence, costs will

add up fast, putting a normal and often necessary part of the northern

way of life beyond the means of many who live it.

More important, though, are the bureaucratic hoops Native people will

have to jump through to be allowed to legally carry guns.

The Ottawa-based bureaucrats and their limp supporters are passing a

law that will force an Elder who has hunted for 65 years to write an

exam before he can buy a new hunting rifle. He'll have to overcome any

language problems on his own, he'll have to pass, then he'll have to

pay, pay and pay again for the privilege.

This country requires a law that deals with crime, yes, but we need a

law that allows Canada's Indigenous people to live, too.