This is a very good post and the problem I see is that gun owners who I agree are very law abiding should have been a little more sensitive to the Canadian publics concern about guns in general.
I advocated on here for years that the gun REGISTRY was a pretty reasonable approach to indicate to the public that we are :
Law Abiding
Are prepared to account for the whereabouts of our guns.
Are prepared to store them properly and report any theft immediately.
But what we saw was an extreme position taken by the various gun rights lobby groups to act as a political force and opposed the registry.
I have not meet any hunters for instance who opposed the registry and the VAST MAJORITY of gun owners did comply and register their guns.
So the money on the registry was already spent, the system was up and running and MOST importantly we looked like A REASONABLE AND SENSIBLE BUCH OF FOLKS.
It was the more EXTREME element IMHO with gun rights views fueled by gun companies and our American cousins and by a POLITICAL PARTY in Canada who decided they needed the registry gone.
I warned everybody on here that the Liberals and gun rights groups would FIGHT BACK and as it turns out got even MORE EXTREME in their demands.
Guess what you got back to back Liberal Governments backed by the anti gun NDP as a result and we have the situation we have today.
We also have Police Services placed in a much more difficult situation to investigate gun crimes and even to RETURN STOLEN GUNS TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS when recovered.
Gun owners in Canada will not be standing together as one entity because you have many many sub groups LIBERALS, NDPers, Conservatives, The Bloc.
Divide that again by hunters, target shooters, assault rifle enthusiasts, so no we will not all be rowing this boat in the same direction.
So getting back to the thread if we accept that PAL ownership is up in Canada and most on here accept that means more people own guns, it will be then natural to expect the Police Services to assume you own guns and what the implications of that might mean?