borealboy; even though Toronto is sin city compared to most of Canada, you can still walk the streets without fearing that someone is armed and ready to shoot you. It may not be as good as lazyarcher's area where every second person is an insurance salesman (just kidding) but I feel a lot better there than in American cities. I fear that the governments ultimate aim is to turn hunting into just a hobby, in which only primitive weapons are allowed. The banning of automatic weapons and handguns would be the logical first step. You'll notice that bows and crossbows never required registration even though I believe they are much more lethal than an airgun with a muzzle velocity of 501 ft/sec.

I would expect licenses on the registered firearms will be intoduced over the next few years to try to get people to turn more of them in. I know the government was and is hoping a lot of guns will come off the street by the widow effect. The effect where widows turn in your guns after you pass away because they don't know what to do with them. The illegal guns will still be out there but the legitimate gun numbers will dwindle. When gun numbers drop it makes it easier for the government to claim success in registration whether crime drops or not. At a certain point it's much more politically acceptable to confiscate and ban weapons or at least increase gun laws.

Watch for increased primitive weapon seasons and bag limits. There should be a logical progression of hunting seasons changing from rifle seasons to shotgun, to black powder, to bow as time progresses. One spoonful of dirt moved at a time moves a mountain in time.

Dan O.