Police magazine publisher distances himself from long gun "straw poll" on magazine forum

The publisher of Blue Line, the national law enforcement magazine, is trying to put some distance between himself and a "straw poll" that was carried out on one of the magazine's private online forums, according to a post on a CBC news blog.

This week an Edmonton police officer, Randy Kuntz, revealed that 92% of the 2,631 respondents to his straw poll voted in favour of scrapping the national long gun registry. This is in direct opposition to the position taken by a coalition of police chiefs across the country -- something that opponents of the long gun registry weren't slow to point out.

Morley Lymburner says he doesn't support getting rid of the entire registry and makes it clear he's supporting the chiefs' position. However, he says he wants some kind of protocol to determine when dispatchers, not front-line officers, can consult the registry and pass on information.

An officer on a stolen bicycle call "has no business checking the gun registry," he says, and insists the "worst thing" is to have officers told there are no guns registered to an individual or household because they could "let their guard down."