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No doubt, many Conservative supporters are going to be thrilled if the federal long-gun registry meets its demise.

One wonders, though, if the party's strategists are all going to be quite as enthused once all is said and done.

As the Conservatives have drifted further toward the centre of the political spectrum, and abandoned most of the more populist elements of the old Reform Party agenda, they've needed a few signature policies to reassure their base that they haven't lost touch with their roots. The problem is that there's a finite supply of policies that achieve that effect, without turning off other voters the Conservatives need to form government. And once they're actually implemented, it's obviously no longer possible to keep them on your agenda.

That would explain why the Conservatives have tended to dredge up some familiar tough-on-crime legislation when the prospect of an election looms, without putting it on the fast-track when things calm down. And it would also explain why they haven't exactly been pulling out all the stops to eliminate the hated gun registry in the four years since they took power.

I'm not sure exactly what it was that promped them to give such a hard sell to Candice Hoeppner's private members' bill; perhaps genuine convictions had something to do with it. But unless it gets bogged down in the Commons or in the Senate - the latter of which would be a Conservative dream come true - the registry will soon be removed from the Conservatives' arsenal.

If that proves the case, it may solidify the Conservative base in the next election, when the party is able to brag about it. But it won’t be able to keep going back to the well in the future.