The Souris-Moose Mountain Conservative Association will be holding an event to gain support for scrapping the long gun registry before Parliament votes on the issue later this month.

The Scrap the Long Gun Registry and Fundraiser Rally will be held in conjunction with a Cowboy Steak Supper and a retirement celebration for Senator Len Gustafson. The event will take place on September 11 at the Wylie Mitchell Building in Estevan at a cost of $50 per person.

Guest speakers at the event include Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner and Yorkton-Melville MP Garry Breitkreuz.

Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki is hosting the event which he hopes will help sway the votes of members of the opposition to vote in favour of scrapping the long gun registry.

“We want to send a bit of a message to Ottawa that we believe, at least in the Souris-Moose Mountain constituency, that the long gun registry should be scrapped,” said Komarnicki.

Hoeppner presented a private members bill to scrap the long gun portion of the gun registry to Parliament which was then opposed by Ontario Liberal MP Mark Holland. Holland’s motion to keep the long gun registry will go to vote on September 22.

Komarnicki believes that the support is needed, as he is expecting it to be a very close vote.

“It will be close in my estimation, probably a three to five vote separation between winning and losing,” said Komarnicki.

Komarnicki said that although the long gun registry is a tool that police may use, he believes that most of his constituents are not in favour of it. He said that the law has created a lot of unnecessary inconvenience to law-abiding citizens, such as hunters and farmers.