The Editor,

Re: "Watts to feds: Get tough on guns," the Now, Jan. 24.

This is an open letter to MP Jinny Sims.

I was very disappointed with the flyer I received today under your name on the subject of sniper weapons. It seemed more designed to create fear and spread misinformation than to inform your constituents about the issues of gun control and the policy choices being advocated by your party.

You don't state what the current Conservative government is doing that creates this risk, but I assume you are referring to the abolition of the long-gun registry.

The Steyr-Mannlicher rifle you highlight in your flyer as a danger to our community is in fact a single-shot, bolt-action long-range rifle with no magazine.

In other words, it can fire only one shot. It is also 54 inches long and weighs 29 pounds, making it difficult to conceal and impractical to fire, unless the gun is placed on a solid rest. This is not a weapon that someone would choose for criminal activity.

When was the last time someone was shot in Canada at extremely long range by a high-powered sniper rifle?

This is more in the realm of Hollywood than reality.

You state that, "thanks to Stephen Harper, police have no way of knowing if one enters our community," which suggests that the current gun registry is effective in allowing the police be aware of all dangerous weapons in our community.

This is utter nonsense, as the gang violence in the Lower Mainland over the past few years has clearly demonstrated. Semi-automatic handguns are the preferred weapon for criminals and they have been strictly controlled and registered for decades, fully automatic weapons have been banned outright for years, and yet criminal gangs have no trouble obtaining them.

Any claim that the long-gun registry provides an effective tool for law enforcement to track dangerous weapons in our community is not supported by the facts. Most of the firearms used to commit crimes are not bought legally and are never registered.

What we need from our political leaders are creative solutions to real problems, not self-serving rhetoric, dogma and misinformation.

Keith Bossons, Surrey