Truly, why not? Why would a gun owner not register? After all -they keep telling us- they are using guns only for pleasure, sports and game! What is the big deal?

Maybe the big deal is that billions of dollars are involved in this industry- there are an estimated 5 to 7 million guns circulating in Canada. Of course, compulsory registration may affect sales. The gun market can reach fantastic proportions. We are after all, well aware of our neighbour's problems with gun control and consequently with the escalating crime rate that is sweeping their country.

In our comparatively "peaceful country", there are questions to be raised when we learn that among industrialized nations, we have the fifth highest rate of children killed with guns. Guns are the means most often used when women are killed in domestic violence, and guns are often used to threaten women and children in the escalating cycle of violence. No one has the intention to kill but it happens, too often.

In Canada, between 1973 and 1990, 767 people died of femicide, infanticide and suicide related to a domestic violence case. However, each year, more than 1,200 people die of gunshots. How many deaths does it take to be convinced that we have a Bill that is useful? How many lives are we supposed to mourn before we acknowledge that guns are a danger to society?

The Gun Lobby has now arrived with a new challenge to Bill C-68 by presenting the argument that if we cannot prove registration works - then one should not have to register. Actually, many countries around the world claim it works. New Zealand discontinued registration in 1983 but now wants to implement its return. The United Nations has recommended all countries introduce regulations relating to safe storage, licensing and registration.

This Bill does not prevent gun smuggling - that is an international problem that requires concerted actions among countries. But BiIl C-68 can prevent the deaths of Canadian women and children. The presence of a gun in an abusive home increases the likelihood of domestic homicides. This has been a consistent finding for the past 20 years. Most of the time, homicides are committed with legally owned shotguns and rifles. If police are informed that there is a gun in a household where there is conjugal violence - then a knowledgeable intervention can save lives.

Bill C-68 is very much aimed at protecting women and children. Registration ensures that gun owners are accountable for their weapons. It encourages safe storage, prevents abusive partners from legally obtaining guns and makes prospective abusers aware that authorities know they possess an arm. All domestic homicide victims do not die from gun wounds. Other weapons are used in conjugal violence. But guns are the deadliest of all weapons. They achieve their aim!

We are approaching the eight anniversary of the Montreal massacre. Is there a woman who does not shudder on December 6? Yet it will be six more years (2003) before gun owners must register their guns. Until then, over 7,200 people will likely have died of gunshots in murders, suicides and accidents. Who will these victims be? Our mother, child, sister, brother, father or friend?

Is there a problem for law-abiding citizen to register? Will that prevent them from using their guns for legal purposes? And to address the quest of the Gun Lobby, we could use the reverse argument: how will non-registration work for public safety?

No measure alone will decrease violence. It is not solely by eating carrots that our health will prosper. It is a whole set of good habits that will better our health. It is the same for violence. It is a whole set of measures that will drive us to a peaceful unthreatening society. Gun control is one part of the big picture but an important one: it can save lives.

Homicides have diminished since 1991, and we must continue to eradicate violence in our lives. The YWCA of Canada has enlisted more than 132 Women's organizations in support of Bill C-68. Actually, 89% of the population supports gun registration (Angus Reid, 1994), so no one can say that Bill C-68 is the issue of a special interest group. If the gun lobby deems that women are a special interest group let us remind them that we are 52% of the Canadian population. The Alberta Council of Women's Shelters is fighting for this law in the face of the province of Alberta's constitutional challenge. Should we not fight for this too?

Can we envision a society where we do not fear for our mother, our sister, our daughter and our son? A society where women do not fear for their lives or their children's lives when a spouse becomes abusive? Where there are rules that protect us from death?

Of course we can!

Elaine Teofilovici
Chief Executive Officer
YWCA of/du Canada

The YWCA of/du Canada is the national office for 43 YWCAs and YMCA-YWCAs in Canada. We are one of the hundreds of organizations endorsing The Coalition for Gun Control. YWCA of/du Canada organizes along with 17 other countries, a national YWCA Week Without Violence; this year the Week Without Violence will be held from October 19-25 in 35 YWCAs and YMCA-YWCAs across the country. YWCA of/du Canada is also the national coordinator of The Rose Button Campaign, a commemorative campaign in memory of the 14 victims of the Montreal massacre and all the other victims of conjugal and gender violence.