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“I do have a concern with gun violence and I will say that the loss of the gun registry may be related to this. I think every opportunity our police have to have knowledge of where firearms are in the city would be to their advantage, and the chiefs of police have been consistent about that,” said Iveson, who at times choked back tears as he spoke about the slain officer.

Iveson apologized for the comments in a Twitter message posted less than an hour after the news conference. The mayor said his “speculation about (the) gun registry this morning was premature.”

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The focus should remain on sending condolences and on the safety of Edmonton police officers and the public, he added.

“Apologies.”

Scrapping the long-gun registry was a longtime pledge of Stephen Harper’s government. The Conservatives dismantled the program to register non-restricted firearms in 2012 and subsequently moved to delete all the records.

Iveson’s speculation provoked a strong reaction from federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay.

“The comments by the mayor, quite frankly, are unhelpful, inappropriate and ill-timed,” MacKay said. “Making that declaration that somehow this might have been prevented by gun-registry data, frankly, I find absurd.”

The mayor’s comments drew both approval and criticism on social media. Federal Conservative MP Laurie Hawn, who represents Edmonton-Centre, was among those to share his view.

“Contrary to what some say, gun registry or not has nothing to do with tragic events in Edmonton,” Hawn said in a tweet.

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With files from The Canadian Press