That is what Paul Martin will announce in Toronto tomorrow.
Hmmm, we've had a handgun registry for what 70 years now. We have a recently implemented long-gun registry that is what, 2000x over budget. We have people dying in the streets of Toronto from illegal handguns.
I am interested to see what a handgun ban will do to stop gun crime done by unregistered weapons.
Update: I think this quote in the National Post this morning says it all (the online article is no longer the same as the print version).
...the move may not have the desired effect of cutting down crime because criminals will still be armed, said Al Koenig, president of the Calgary Police Association, the union representing about 1,500 local police officers.
"Banning handguns simply doesn't work. You want minimum sentencing for possession of handguns or using them in the commission of an offence."
"That is a veery simple solution to a very complex problem," Mr. Koenig said.
"The ironic thing is after spending $2-billion-plus trying to register them, the best the government can come up with is to outright ban them - it doesn't solve the problem," he said.
I am suprised that Mr. Koenig got that last point wrong. The gun registry was a long-gun registry. $2-Billion to register weapons that are not be used in gang violence in urban areas. As I said above, hand guns have had a registry since the 1930's.
...An annual survey released in October by Statistics Canada found that, among homicides where detailed firearm information was known, 84% of the guns were not registered, and 79% of people accussed in the crimes did not possess a valid firearms licence.
I would guess that the number is closer to 100% when dealing with gang violence.
