On Thursday, reporters doggedly tried to wring from Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan exactly how long he withheld the RCMP’s Firearms Commissioner’s Report in favour of keeping the long-gun registry so that MPs would not have that info prior to passing the bill to scrap it. The report was released two days after the vote.

I’ve omitted PVL’s initial 12 responses here as they bore no relation to the question asked but the entire scrum is a quite extraordinary read:

“How long have you had the report from the Commissioner of Firearms?
How long have you had it?
So how long have you had it?
How long have you had it?
How long have you had the Commissioner of Firearms report?
How long have you had the Firearms Commissioner’s report, sir?
This isn’t a news conference, these are questions. How long have you had the Firearms report?
We’re asking you a question. How long have you had this report?
How long have you had it?
Has it been weeks?
How long have you had this report?
How many days?

Peter Van Loan: It’s — I received it and looked at just recently, in recent days.”

Saturday: Firearms database popular with police

“Responding by email to questions from the Star, RCMP Sgt. Greg Cox said late Friday the force submitted its 2008 firearms report on Oct. 9, four weeks ago.”

As one dogged reporter — who was that woman? — put it: “That was totally useless. Thankyou.”

Good article from Harper Index: Gun control politics revised Canada’s political map