The Alberta government and local gun enthusiasts are welcoming the federal Conservative government's bill to eliminate the long-gun registry.

Legislation was introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday to eliminate the registry and all the information in it.

Alberta’s solicitor general, Jonathan Denis, said the provincial government doesn't believe the $2-billion registry was an effective use of taxpayer dollars.

"When you have $2 billion — billion with a ‘B’ — of taxpayers’ dollars put into a long-gun registry that has not been proven to actually save anybody's life, I don't think that's a good use of people's tax dollars. I think the taxpayer deserves better than that."

Denis said that unlike other provinces, Alberta has no plans to introduce its own registry.

Farmers and hunters who use shotguns and rifles have long complained it made them feel like criminals while doing nothing to deter "real criminals."

James Bachynsky at the Calgary Shooting Centre says he'll be glad to see the back of it.

"It cost a lot of money. It was an inefficient bureaucracy. It was always seen as misguided and intrusive and that bothered gun owners."

Bachynksy said the registry "served no real purpose."

"We’ll be glad to see it gone."

People who want to own restricted or prohibited firearms, like handguns, will still have to register them.

However, there's a controversial clause in the bill that calls for the destruction of records collected about Canadian owners of legally permitted hunting weapons.

Police say the registration records should be maintained.

Bachynsky, however, argued there's no reason to hold on to that information.

"What purpose does a registry serve if the records are out of date?" he said. "I think the government’s actually wise to destroy records which would otherwise be incomplete and could actually be used inappropriately. I don’t see any problem with it really."

When the long-gun registry ceases to exist will depend on when the Conservatives can successfully get the bill through the House of Commons and the Senate, and how long it spends at the committee stage.