Halifax groups weigh in for long-gun registry Cops, nurses, women’s groups want registry kept

» Click here to view 2006 study on gun crime in Canada

Janet Hazleton, president of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union, spoke on behalf of local police, nurses, women’s groups and other organizations at a news conference in Halifax. She said keeping the registry is important.

"Nurses and doctors, particularly those who work in emergency rooms, witness first-hand the horrific injuries and tragic deaths that result from firearms," she said.

Dealing with gunshot wounds from criminal acts and suicide attempts, and having to meet the traumatized families of victims, is stressful for those in the health profession, Hazelton said.

The stress is added to by the emotions caused by having to deal with the extreme nature of gunshot wounds, from seeing police nearby and because a suspect may be at large and interested in finishing the job, she said.

"There’s lots of drama," said Hazleton, who as an emergency room nurse has seen shooting victims. "When you think gunshot, you think dying. It’s more difficult to stay focused because you can hear screaming."

She said access to guns is one of the top risk factors in spousal murders and 88 per cent of Canadian women are killed with a shotgun or rifle.

Chief Frank Beazley of the Halifax Regional Police said domestic violence complaints involving firearms normally involve long guns. He said one third of all weapons seized by regional police last year were long guns or modified long guns.

Halifax RCMP Supt. Darrell Beaton said an RCMP evaluation of Canadian firearm programs showed that long-gun related homicides have dropped since stricter controls started in 1991, from 271 that year to 190 in 2006.

The evaluation also stated that even though opponents of long-gun registration say there is a lack of criminal activity involving long guns, 2005 statistics show they were used in 25 per cent of shooting deaths. That number climbed to 72 per cent for spousal shootings and 10 of 13 police officers killed on the job were murdered with long guns.

While Conservative MPs have been saying that police officers across the country don’t support the registry the same way senior officers do, Beazley and Beaton said members of their forces have stated their support and use the long-gun registry regularly.

Hazleton said the emotions that lead to violent acts may ebb because people are more likely to have long guns locked up and a trigger lock on the weapons if they were registered, she said. As a result, the time to get a weapon out and ready could give someone looking to harm themselves time to calm down or give a potential victim time to get away.

Hazleton said she hopes all local MPs will vote in support of the registry.

(ifairclough@herald.ca)