Canadian gun registry poised for abolition

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OTTAWA, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- Canadian gun control advocates say they are dismayed that the country's registry for long-gun firearms may soon be abolished.

A bill to abolish the registry, supported by the Conservative Party government, has also picked up support from opposition members of Parliament and now seems poised to clear an important House of Commons vote Wednesday. That has brought condemnation from the Coalition for Gun Control, the Toronto Star reported.

"It is astonishing, just a few months after the opposition parties voted for a Bloc Quebecois motion that reiterated support for the firearms registry and against efforts to repeal it, that many of the same MPs will support this Conservative bill," the group's president, Wendy Cukier, told the newspaper.

New Democratic Party MP Joe Comartin has said the bill's passage is almost an "inevitability" because of support from the opposition, but Liberal Party MP Mark Holland vowed the fight wasn't over.

"This is deeply concerning," Holland told the Star, adding that the implications of "dismantling the long-gun registry are very serious" and noting that Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has credited the registry with being an important crime-fighting tool.