Gun control advocates in Quebec breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday night after the House of Commons narrowly voted against a Conservative bill aiming to scrap the long-gun registry.

MPs voted 153-151 in favour of a Liberal motion that kills Tory MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill to scrap the registry.

The vote hinged on a handful of votes from New Democrat MPs, who were permitted to vote freely by their leader, Jack Layton. The Conservatives were behind Hoeppner's bill, while the Bloc had vowed to support saving the registry. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff whipped the vote, demanding his caucus vote against the bill.

Despite the result, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Tories will continue to work toward dismantling the registry.

"With the vote tonight its abolition is closer than it has ever been," Harper told reporters immediately after the vote. "The people of the regions of this country are never going to accept being treated like criminals and we will continue our efforts until this registry is finally abolished."

Dawson students relieved

Students from Dawson CEGEP spent the day lobbying for the registry by boarding a bus to Ottawa for a rally in support of the bill.

Though many of them were not students at the time, they said they still support the bill after Kimveer Gill went on a violent shooting spree at their school in Sept 2006, killing Anastasia De Sousa and injuring 15 others.

At their home in Laval, De Sousa's parents expressed relief.

"I'm not thrilled that we only won it by two points… it's not gone," said Louise De Sousa, a vocal advocate of the registry.

Anastasia's father Nelson said abolishing the bill would tarnish his daughter's memory

"It would be very disrespectful if this would be abolished. It's unbelievable that anybody would want this just to disappear like that," he said.

In Montreal, Concordia's student union crowded to watch the vote carefully, as many of the students who lived through the Dawson shooting now attend the university.

"We need to have the registry," said CSU President Heather Lucas. "We need to have that accountability. We need to have a system in place."

Others are not celebrating

Others, like Spyro Pettas, however, were disappointed by the result.

Pettas said he believes the registry violates the privacy and legal rights of gun owners, equalling 25 per cent of the nation.

"At the end of the day a law-abiding citizen like myself who owns a firearm is not going to commit a crime," he said.

"It's a net operating cost of $66 million a year. Here's my question: How many police officers can be recruited at those salary?"

Read more on the vote and Canadians' opinions about the long-gun registry here.