A fortnight ago, and in the wake of another calculated but seemingly out-of-the-blue robbery of a registered gun collector, even the Toronto Star finally entertained the possibility that the national gun registry might have been compromised and that sensitive information might have leaked to criminals.
Trouble is, this is hardly cutting-edge news.
Legitimate gun owners -- including cops and ex-cops who are shooting club enthusiasts -- have been publicly pointing their finger at the Canadian Firearms Centre registry, particularly since its database is linked to the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC), the all-things-criminal computer operated by the RCMP under the stewardship of National Police Services.
There are, of course, the usual suspects who will quickly deep-six such a notion, among them Wendy Cukier, president of the Coalition for Gun Control, who maintains gun collectors either talk too much or are followed home from the gun clubs to which they belong.
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If there are still doubters, however, then perhaps those doubters should make their way to the website of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
In their April hotline, the organization tells the story of former firearm registry webmaster John Hicks -- who has never owned a gun -- who warned authorities that the supposedly impregnable registry site was an easy target.
"It took some $15 million to develop it, and I broke into it in about 30 minutes," he said, indicating he warned his superiors repeatedly before resorting to filing an official complaint with the privacy commissioner.
"Basically, a 16-year-old kid could have broken into that system in a heartbeat."