When did Canada start requiring that handguns be registered?
Federal law has required the registration of all handguns since 1934. The ability to carry them has been restricted to specific circumstances, such as for competition, since 1968. Canada’s anti-gun movement grew following the 1989 massacre at Montreal’s École Polytechnique, in which gunman Marc Lépine killed 14 women. In its wake, the Coalition for Gun Control was created to reduce gun crimes, deaths and injury. In 1995, the Liberal government under Jean Chrétien introduced the Firearms Act, which included the requirement that all firearm owners be licensed and firearms – notably long guns – be registered. What’s the point of the gun registration system? Compulsory gun registration was put into place primarily because the system links the firearm to the owner. By linking individual guns to individual owners, the premise goes, the owner becomes responsible for the safety of the firearm. This ideally limits the chances that children, people suffering from mental illnesses or those involv
