With the demise of the Federal Long Gun Registry, there are those proponents that do not want the actual computer database destroyed.
They suggest that provincial and federal law enforcement agencies will want to us it for a variety of followup investigations.
That suggested usage would be fraught with problems the proponents had not considered.
The registry itself was designed and maintained as an interactive computer database.
It was constantly updated by individuals who were required by law to report all their personal new long gun purchases, subsequent used sales, destruction, loss or theft.
These transactions were entered to update the database by employees of that federal registry.
These employees disappear with scrapping the program. Saving the registry database without any ongoing activity updates will render it useless.
A dated white elephant. Imagine a future law enforcement investigation of an individual whose long guns have long since been sold, lost, destroyed or even stolen.
The burning unanswered questions therefore is who is not going to keep that registry database up to date so an investigation does not become a wild goose chase.
Jack Biickert, Parksville
