This is a concept that the present government has not given much consideration. Mr. Chretien says "We must register all guns because all cars are registered". Then let us consider how the law is applied to both.
Automobiles kill fifteen times as many people as guns, but there is no plan to prohibit or restrict the ownership or use of cars. If you have a drivers licence you can have as many cars as you want, store them any way you want, and drive them any time or place you want. With our registered guns we have to obtain a permit for each time we want to leave our homes with them. We will have to be over eighteen, and have a permit to buy a restricted amount of cartridges. There is no restriction on who can buy gasoline or how much they will be allowed to buy. We will be inspected periodically and if it is found that we are not using our guns in a calendar year, we will be ordered to dispose of them. How would this regulation be tolerated by car owners? If you have guns you must store them according to government regulation, or risk being sentenced to a jail term - then why not with cars?
Cars are used as often for crime and suicide as guns are. When used in suicides, these deaths are referred to as suicides, when guns are used, they are referred to as "death by firearms". When a gun is used in a felony, there will be an extra four year jail sentence for "using a firearm". That is the way it should be. However, if a criminal runs over a policeman with a car in eluding capture, he will not receive any extra jail sentence for using 'an automobile in a felony'. It is absolutely forbidden by current laws to use a gun to defend your home, your property, or your life against a criminal. The law does not forbid you to run down a criminal with your car, if he is trying to steal your car or assault you. Anti-gun people say that guns by their nature are far more dangerous than cars. This is the exact opposite of the truth. Guns are used by people on rather rare occasions. 'Hunting game for about two months in the fall, maybe shooting predators or gophers in farm country. Cars are used every day, hurtling by each other at 100 km speeds in sometimes very hazardous weather. At least 50% of cars on the road would not pass a safety inspection test, and there are no laws in place to have people comply with safety standards. Drivers licences are issued to people who are 80 years old, who cannot see or hear properly, and they are allowed to drive cars and enormous motor homes, under any conditions. This is a hazard to life that never occurs in the use of firearms.
Sometimes "fairness" is omitted in formulating laws, by oversight. In gun laws, "fairness" is deliberately deleted. Gun owners are not demanding that we do as we please now, and they never have. We have more than enough laws covering ownership and use of firearms. We do demand laws that are fair, and that serve a useful purpose. This kind of legislation we will be happy to support.