Free vote influenced result, MP believes

It didn’t come as a shock to Yukon MP Larry Bagnell that second reading of a bill to abolish the long-gun registry passed in the House of Commons onWednesday.

It didn’t come as a shock to Yukon MP Larry Bagnell that second reading of a bill to abolish the long-gun registry passed in the House of Commons onWednesday.

What was surprising was that it was approved by such a big margin, he said in an interview this morning.

Bagnell was among the 164 MPs, including 18 Liberals and New Democrats along with the reigning Conservatives, who voted for second reading of the bill. The final vote was 164-137.

Initially, it was thought the vote would be a lot closer, but Bagnell believes the free vote for opposition members may have been the factor that changed all of that.

“Certainly that had an effect,” Bagnell said from Ottawa this morning.

As Bagnell, who has stated his opposition to the registry over a number of years, noted, there is still a ways to go before the registry may be abolished.

“There’s a lot of processes,” he said, adding it will now make its way to a parliamentary committee before coming back to the Commons for third reading.

After that, it will have to go through the same process in the Senate level.

In total, Bagnell said, the process could take another couple of months.

If, in the end, it is abolished, the Yukon MP said, he can’t see it having a major impact on the Yukon, just as the gun registry itself hasn’t had a major impact.

Those who haven’t registered their hunting rifles – the registry would continue for hand guns or prohibited weapons – would no longer be required to, but those who have would continue to have their names attached to their rifle, as it is a lifetime registration, Bagnell explained.

The impact it could have, he said, would be in freeing up funds that would normally be spent on the registry to go to things like crime prevention programs, stopping illegal guns from coming into the country at the border and other such initiatives.

“That certainly would be my goal,” he said.

It’s important to note, he stressed, that along with it having no impact on the registry for hand guns and prohibited weapons, regulations around licensing and storage remain.

That means those who are under court orders not to have a licence will not be able to get one, and that guns will continue to have to be stored safely.

In the past, Bagnell has pointed to the need for long guns in rural and remote areas for living, protecting livestock and hunting.