The value of the federal long gun registry became muddled last week with three law enforcement organizations lobbying to keep it and three former Winnipeg SWAT team members saying it is ineffective and useless. The retired officers, no longer muzzled by the official position of their professional organizations, include Dave Shipman, who retired after 25 years with the force, 16 of them in homicide. "Never have I attended a killing when a registry of any of the weapons would have prevented that killing from occurring," said Shipman, who said he's seen hundreds of killings. "The long gun registry is not working to prevent gun crime as it was intended. Criminals . . . do not register their stolen or smuggled guns that are being used to wage war in our cities."
Read Original at: The Calgary Herald (Canada)