Target practice

While there's been recent talk about the Cons quietly allowing the gun registry to continue to operate, one longtime opponent of the registry is determined to dismantle it - regardless of what the police have to say:

Ewatski (the chief of the Winnipeg Police Service) said statistics show police officers electronically query the registry about 2,000 times a day, which can, for instance, help them determine whether guns are in a house they are about to enter.

"We take the approach in policing that information is the lifeblood of our work," he said. "And the more information our front-line officers have on the streets to do their job, the better prepared they are to deal with situations of public safety as well as officer safety."

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, a vociferous critic of the registry, questions the notion that thousands of police benefit from it daily.

Breitkreuz argues many of those officers are actually looking for other information -- not firearms data -- when they log onto the computerized banks.

He insists the firearms registry, which lists more than seven million guns, is not a cost-effective tool.

"It's of no use to the police right now," Breitkreuz said.

The Cons have generally been trying to keep expectations low and humility high since winning power. But Breitkreuz' claim that he can tell police how they should do their jobs and what information they need shows that the mask is slipping.

Breitkreuz suggests also that there's no reason at all for the Cons not to follow through on a longtime policy promise. Which will leave Harper with the choice betwen abandoning one of the policies that's done a lot to win over rural Western Canada, and trying to maintain a "tough on crime" line while taking away existing tools for the police to better protect and serve. Either way, the Cons have plenty to lose and very little to gain from the gun registry getting attention...but there's also little reason to think Breitkreuz and his ilk will let the issue die.