Alberta Justice Minister Alison Redford, shown in 2009, said Wednesday she was disappointed MPs voted to keep the long-gun registry. (CBC)A vote by MPs Wednesday to save the long-gun registry came as a disappointment to Alberta's Progressive Conservative justice minister, Alison Redford.

MPs voted 153 to 151 in favour of a motion introduced by the House public safety committee to scrap a Conservative private member's bill aimed at killing the federal registry.

Redford said she doesn't believe the registry has cut down on firearm crimes and would prefer the money spent on the registry be used elsewhere.

"We want to make sure communities are safe, but we think that it is a much better use of resources to put the money that has been put toward the long-gun registry into policing and other forms of community safety initiatives," Redford told CBC News.

"So, we are profoundly disappointed that people saw this as an urban-rural issue and simplified the conversation."

Solicitor General Frank Oberle made a joint statement with Redford expressing his disappointment in the outcome of the vote.

'Political football,' gun owner says

The RCMP and Canada's police chiefs say the registry is an effective tool for fighting crime. But Redford said police on the street question its effectiveness and believe the information in the registry is incomplete.

The result of Wednesday's vote came as no surprise to people at the Phoenix Gun Range in Edmonton.

Range member and long-time gun owner Peter Green said the registry has done little but eat up money.

"Gun control's a political football. That's all it is," he said.

"All this has done is take the people that were gonna vote for Harper and say, 'Make sure you get out next election and vote. Make sure you get out there and sing,' because otherwise, these guys are gonna do it to us again."

In Green's opinion, the result of today's vote means the government will spend a lot more money on gun control and less money on crime control.