Quebec government vows to create its own long-gun registry

QUEBEC - The Quebec government is marking the anniversary of Canada's worst mass shooting by reiterating its intention to set up its own gun registry.

Public Security Minister Stephane Bergeron said in a statement today it will happen once Ottawa turns over Quebec data that was in the now-defunct federal long-gun registry.

Bergeron later said he wasn't sure if the legislation setting up the registry would be tabled before the resolution of an ongoing legal battle with the federal government.

Quebec and Ottawa are fighting over the federal registry, which the Conservatives scrapped earlier this year.

In September, Quebec Superior Court ordered the data on Quebec guns be preserved and turned over to the province.

The federal government is appealing that ruling and a hearing is scheduled for March.

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  A man stands in front of the commemorative plaque at the University of Montreal on the 23rd anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre, where 14 women students were killed by a lone gunman in 1989, in Montreal, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Paul Chiasson)