The race to succeed Kootenay-Columbia MP Jim Abbott has so far been a pretty quiet affair, but the gloves are off as far as one candidate is concerned.

Responding to comments made by Abbott last week about the long gun registry vote Wednesday, NDP leadership candidate Mark Shmigelsky says Abbott is showing little respect for voters that support the registry.

Last week, Abbott said people that support the registry “don't understand the issue and they don't realize that the registry serves no useful purpose.” Shmigelsky calls these remarks “over-the-top partisanship.”

“To totally dismiss people's opinion on the other side by saying they don't understand the issue is blatantly arrogant and he's truly become the Ottawa politician or at least the PMO's politician.”

Shmigelsky also stated his position on the registry if he's elected MP. “Ultimately, at the end of the day if there ever comes up a vote, I've made the commitment that I will go around this riding and talk to absolutely everybody and gauge the opinion, the same way other NDP MP's are doing it right now thanks to Jack Layton, and make my decision.”

The would-be NDP candidate also questioned the Conservatives' motives in supporting repeal of the controversial registry. “They've scored more political points and used up more people's emotions than anybody. They've raised more money because of this issue. They don't want it to go away.”

If the Harper government was serious about killing the registry they could have done it a long time ago, Shmigelsky says.

“They've been in government for four years. They could have put this in a money bill and buried it. They could have made it a confidence motion and they haven't. They need this.”

Shmigelsky says the gun registry started out as a financial “boondoggle,” but now only costs around $3million to $4 million to administer annually and is supported by many Canadians including the national chiefs of police. Abbott is damaging his own reputation by the way he's waded into the registry controversy at this stage of his career, Shmigelsky says.

“I feel bad about his response because I think it tarnishes a 17-year career and shows that he's going to be very manipulative and partisan and I feel really bad for the next Conservative candidate if they've got to piggy-back him around for the next election. As a potential NDP candidate, I'm ecstatic that he's going to be involved and I'm looking forward to it.”

Shmigelsky says he respects the fact that Abbott served as Kootenay-Columbia MP for 17 years, but adds his career wasn't without blemish.

“There's issues with what he said about the pension now that he's taken it. Preston Manning and Debora Gray stuck to their word. He didn't. On all these issues, we'll put his record on the table and under scrutiny . . . “I was willing to say ‘hey,' he served, I respect him, I actually like the guy, but if he's going to be blatantly partisan, people don't want that anymore. I'm going to be respectful of people's opinions, both for and against the registry, and they can talk to me about it. My phone number is there.”

Abbott was on his way to Ottawa Monday and couldn't be reached for comment. However, it's expected he will want to respond to Shmigelsky's comments and the Daily Townsman will carry those comments later in the week.

Meanwhile, Nova Scotia MP Peter Stoffer has become the latest NDP MP to change his position on the long-gun registry.

Stoffer, a New Democrat who represents the Halifax-area riding of Sackville-Eastern Shore, had refused to say which way he would vote. In a statement Monday, he said he would break from his long-held position and vote to support the gun registry, even though he sees it as “a failure in principle and politics.”

Stoffer said 62 per cent of those who live in his riding support the controversial gun registry. And he called his own actions a “failure of leadership in this riding.”