From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca on behalf of Cdn-Firearms Digest [owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca] Sent: Wednesday, 25 April, 2001 14:44 To: cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #741 Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, April 25 2001 Volume 03 : Number 741 In this issue: Culture of Safety School Gun Safety Course Where Do BC Liberals Stand On C-68? [none] Lawyer says cop shouldn't lose job for assault Tense standoff ends as man surrenders Columbine relatives file $5-billion suit against Re GUN SHOW Stop opening packages at border, commissioner urges U.S. Column: Gun Control - What Went Wrong? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 17:46:46 -0600 From: "LEN WOOD" Subject: Culture of Safety My FAC expired some years back and I challenged the required exam before Dec 1 1999 and passed but kept putting off sending for a PAL until the 2001 deadline.I applied for a Restricted classification even though I hadn't had it before but as I had passed the exam before the Dec 1 deadline I didn't need to take the additional course to acquire restricted guns. Yesterday I received my PAL for unrestricted and restricted firearms good until 2007. My spouse was not notified of my application and neither of my two references were called to inquire of my suitability or any possible danger to the Canadian public but the application was processed anyway. So here you have an unlicensed person under the old system being approved to acquire restricted weapons without the requirements of the law being met. Hope you all sleep better tonight with the new culture of safety in place! Len ____________________________________________________________________ _____ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2001 18:37:45 -0600 From: mikeack@ns.sympatico.ca (Michael Ackermann) Subject: School Gun Safety Course Well done Kathy!!! Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Can I have a copy of your program and any feedback you have received? I am planning a similar event out here in Sherbrooke. Thanks! ________________________ - -- M.J. Ackermann, MD (Mike) President, St. Mary's Shooters Association Box 3, RR 1, Sherbrooke, NS Canada B0J 3C0 902-522-2172 mikeack@ns.sympatico.ca Hope for the best, Plan for the worst ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:08 -0600 From: Rick Lowe Subject: Where Do BC Liberals Stand On C-68? Boris wrote: > I have not heard a word from the BC Liberal party in their public > pronouncements on this issue. I can't understand his reticence to > publically state what he is willing to do in private correspondence. > Given that there is a close relationship between the BC provincial > liberal party and the federal Lieberals, I think the vote of BC gun > owners should go where it would do the most good for our cause, and > this is the BCMP. I suspect that Campbell does not want to make any public comments on who administers the Firearms Act in this province any more than he wants to make public comments about any other potentially contentious subject unless he has to. After all, given recent polling, this election is his to lose. With the massive lead his party currently enjoys, he obviously feels no pressure to make any promises or commitments to "get out the vote". He is fairly sure that he can restrict his campaign to pointing to the dismal and shameful record of the NDP and say that it is time for a change. That's smart politics. However, I see no reason for us to let them get away with that. The NFA BC, the RFOBC, and every BC firearms owner who gives a damn should be pinning the Liberal candidates to the wall with a simple question that can only be answered with a yes or a no: "Will a BC Liberal government cease the administration of the Firearms Act here in BC and dump it back in the Fed's lap as Alberta has done". A yes or no answer; no maybe's, well we'll see's, perhaps, it depends. Yes or no; and any answer other than a "yes" is taken as a no. Then constituency firearms owners can vote as they see fit. If they waffle, let the candidate know that he can have syrup with his waffles, but you're taking your vote elsewhere. But letting them get away without answering that question would be appalling. I would hope to see our BC firearms groups take a stand on this and press Campbell for a definitive answer. I won't hold my breath over the BCWF doing this, but perhaps the NFA and/or RFOBC... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:01 -0600 From: Barry Snow Subject: [none] I quickly skimmed ALL the links and could NOT find the political lobbying you mention. Could you be more specific with the URL? Is a web page deleted? You can get the status number from CCRA. > From: "Ross" Subject: HUmane society Ottawa > > The Ottawa Humane society is a charitable organization, and they > sent me > their status number. > > Check out their site www.ottawahumane.org read all about their "political exploits. and lobying" ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:15 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Lawyer says cop shouldn't lose job for assault PUBLICATION: The Province DATE: 2001.04.25 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: News PAGE: A12 BYLINE: Adrienne Tanner SOURCE: The Province ILLUSTRATION: Photo: (Michael) Prat - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Lawyer says cop shouldn't lose job for assault - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- The future of Burnaby RCMP Const. Michael Pratt's faltering career may hinge on his ability to carry a gun. If Judge Eric Bendrodt decides the officer's crime warrants a firearm prohibition, his future in the RCMP is almost surely over, said Staff-Sgt. Stephen Wills, the elected staff relations representative who yesterday attended Pratt's sentencing hearing at Vancouver Provincial Court. ``An officer must be able to drive, carry a gun and enter a licensed premises,'' Wills said. Pratt was convicted in January of assault with a weapon after he ground his gun under the chin of Dr. Kary Taylor, a Vancouver dentist, during a routine traffic stop. His sentence could very well include a firearm prohibition, court was told. Pratt's lawyer, G. Jack Harris, argued his client should be spared both a prohibition and jail sentence. He likened his client's two-second error in judgment to a small black dot on a white wall. ``Because it's black, human nature takes over and we focus on it.'' It is not right that one error should overshadow a distinguished career which features many commendations for investigations well done and volunteer projects, Harris said. Prosecutor Elliot Poll told court the crime warranted a nine- to 12-month jail term to be served in the community. An attempt to fire Pratt failed because the department missed a procedural deadline. That matter is being appealed. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:23 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Tense standoff ends as man surrenders PUBLICATION: The Moncton Times and Transcript DATE: 2001.04.25 SECTION: Front Page PAGE: A1 SOURCE: Times & Transcript Staff BYLINE: LEE OLIVER PHOTO: Greg Agnew/ Times & Transcript ILLUSTRATION: A member of the RCMP emergency response team makes his way through deep grass in the Scoudouc Industrial Park to get into position. About 30 RCMP members responded to a report of a man (inset photo) with a in the park yesterday. , Photo shows an overview of the armed standoff in the Scoudouc Industrial Park about 4 p.m. A man with a was roaming in the grassy area behind the trailers. - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Tense standoff ends as man surrenders; Armed man keeps police on alert in Scoudouc Industrial Park - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- A tense nine-and-a-half-hour standoff ended peacefully late last night after a distraught man who had been threatening to kill himself unloaded his high-powered hunting rifle, laid it on the ground, and turned himself over to weary and relieved police. "The negotiators did a wonderful job here, helping him see a way out of this mess," said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Mark Bridges. It all started at 1 p.m. yesterday, when the RCMP received a phone call from an obviously-agitated man who said he had a . He told them he had parked his vehicle -- a black pick-up truck -- in a row of semi trailers stored behind the Scoudouc Industrial Park, and was going take his own life. Mounties from Shediac and Sackville were in the parking lot within minutes. There they found a man in his early 50s wandering in a field behind Consumer's Glass. He was carrying a high-powered hunting rifle, and, as Bridges put it, "appeared to be in the midst of a serious emotional crisis." Police backed off, put in the call for reinforcements and a stand-by ambulance, and then began to warn employees at local businesses to stay away from the back parking lots. "Our first priority," said Sackville Mountie Ken Babin, "was to establish a perimeter and to make sure the public was safe. We evacuated the closest buildings right away." While some officers were warning civilians of the danger, others were positioning police vehicles to prevent the man from possibly escaping in his pick-up truck. As Babin explained, "the is one weapon. But if he gets back in the truck and tries to drive it at someone -- or into something -- then he has two weapons." Within two hours of the initial call there were at least 25 police officers on the scene, including a dozen members of the Emergency Response Team. Tactical officers, most dressed in black and armed with assault machine guns, a pair disguised in grassy camouflage and toting tripod-mounted sniper rifles, and others in standard uniform, spread out around the scene in case the gunman tried to turn his weapon on anyone besides himself. At least six tactical officers slipped in between some of the parked trailers. Meanwhile, a pair of trained crisis negotiators, Cpl. Greg Laturnus from Shediac and Codiac RCMP Cpl. Jean-Marc Collins, kept the man talking as they tried to diffuse the situation. Both officers were within 30 metres of the man, who was wandering freely in a stretch of field bordered by deep snow on one side, the row of semi trailers on the other and police stationed at either end. For most of the day the man remained hidden from view behind the trailers. As information filtered from the negotiators back to the rest of the officers on the scene, it became clear the man did not intend to harm bystanders. "He told Greg Laturnus he wasn't going to hurt anybody but himself," said Bridges. Details on just who the man is or what set him off are sketchy. "He used to live in the Scoudouc area," said Bridges, "but doesn't live here anymore. I can tell you he is very despondent, very emotional, but I really don't know what caused him to take these steps." Late in the afternoon, police brought in a woman, reportedly the man's sister, to speak to him. Heavily-armed officers escorted the woman to a bullet-proof SUV, and drove her to where the man waited behind the trailers. About five minutes later the truck re-emerged and brought the woman back to a police cruiser. She slumped into the passenger seat and an officer drove her away from the scene, past a clutch of reporters and photographers and a ring of curious onlookers. The tearful, saddened look on her face as she passed made it obvious her attempt to talk the man into handing over his weapon had failed. As dusk approached, police unloaded a bank of emergency lights, fired up the generator and settled in for a long wait. "We feel time is on our side," said Bridges. "We're not in any hurry, we're not going to rush him. We hope that by waiting this out, it will come to a safe, peaceful end." At nightfall, more relatives were brought to the scene to pass messages of support to the man. And the negotiators continued to talk to him, slowly gaining his trust and helping him see peaceful alternatives to the situation. Finally, at 10:30 p.m., the man unloaded his , laid it on the ground, and yelled to police that he was coming out from his hiding place. He emerged from behind the trailers unarmed. No one was harmed during the ordeal. Police took him into custody, and then transported him to the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont Regional Hospital in Moncton for psychological assessment and treatment. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:29 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Columbine relatives file $5-billion suit against entertainment in dustry Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2001.04.25 EDITION: National SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front BYLINE: John Chipman SOURCE: National Post, with files from news services Violence; Schools; Shootings; Mass murder; Columbine; Legal action CORPORATION: Columbine High School; New Line Cinema; Time Warner; AOL Time Warner (N/AOL); Nintendo of America; Sega of America; Sony Computer Entertainment; ID Software Inc. and GT Interactive Software Corp. HEADLINE: Columbine relatives file $5-billion suit against entertainment industry The families of several victims in the Columbine massacre have filed a US$5-billion lawsuit against companies that make violent movies, video games and sex-oriented Web sites, claiming they influenced the teenage gunmen. Among the 25 companies named in the suit are New Line Cinema, Time Warner, which is now AOL Time Warner, and several other film production companies behind The Basketball Diaries, which features a dream sequence in which star Leonardo DiCaprio, dressed in a black trenchcoat, guns down his teacher and classmates. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold fatally shot 12 students and a teacher and wounded 23 others before killing themselves in the April 20, 1999, attack at Columbine High School. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. federal court in Denver on behalf of the family of slain teacher Dave Sanders and other Columbine victims, notes the dream sequence in The Basketball Diaries was not present in the novel on which the 1995 movie was based. "The [defendants] specifically decided and intended to make, market, and distribute a movie in which they fabricated a gratuitous and graphic murder spree for the sole purpose of hyping the movie and increasing its appeal to young audiences," the suit states. Other companies named include Nintendo of America, Sega of America, Sony Computer Entertainment, and ID Software Inc. and GT Interactive Software Corp., creators and publishers of the game Doom. During the investigation into the shooting, police found a videotape that shows one of the killers with a sawed-off shotgun he calls Arlene after a character in the Doom video game. The suit argues the video game maker should have known copycat violence would be caused by its products. "[The games] trained Harris and Klebold how to point and shoot a in a fashion making them ... an extraordinarily effective killing team without teaching ... any of the constraints or responsibilities needed to inhibit such a killing capacity," says the lawsuit. The suit was filed last Thursday, a day before the second anniversary of the shootings, but details became known yesterday. "Absent the combination of extremely violent video games and these boys' incredibly deep involvement, use of and addiction to these games and the boys' basic personalities, these murders and this massacre would not have occurred." Doom is a target-shooting game. Other violent video games mentioned in the lawsuit include Quake and Redneck Rampage. The lawsuit also claims Klebold and Harris looked at sexually violent material on at least two Internet sites, which was a "proximate cause of these two youth's downward spiral into violence." ID Software Inc. of Mesquite, Tex., did not respond to a faxed request for comment. A Minneapolis phone number listed for GT Interactive Software Corp. was not in service. Sega declined comment, issuing a statement stating it had not seen the suit. Nintendo said it does not comment on pending litigation. A nearly identical lawsuit filed after a 1997 school killing in Paducah, Ky., was dismissed last April. A federal judge said video games are not subject to product liability laws. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 08:10:37 -0600 From: "dmwright" Subject: Re GUN SHOW GUN SHOW SUNDAY APRIL 29th, Held at Pickering Civic Complex, on Valley Farm Rd, West of Brock Rd & just South of hwy #2 in Pickering. 8.00 a.m. till 1.00 p.m. For more information please call 905-689-8181. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 14:42:14 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Stop opening packages at border, commissioner urges PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2001.04.25 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: News PAGE: A7 BYLINE: Tim Naumetz SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Privacy boss blasts mail snoops: Stop opening packages at border, commissioner urges - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Immigration Minister Elinor Caplan has ``seriously eroded'' public confidence in the privacy of the mail system by refusing to alter the government's practice of opening correspondence and other packages at the border, says Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski. In a blistering letter released yesterday, Mr. Radwanski chided Ms. Caplan for rejecting his earlier request that the Immigration Department obtain search warrants to open large packages and letters it suspects may contain fraudulent immigration papers. The government confirmed earlier this year that the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, which has the legal authority to open incoming letters and packages that weigh more than 30 grams and might contain contraband, was opening other mail, including correspondence, and passing the information on to the Immigration Department. After an investigation, Mr. Radwanski wrote Ms. Caplan to urge an end to the practice. He said officials, if they find suspicious packages that might contain phoney passports or birth certificates of interest to Immigration should forward them without opening them. Mr. Radwanski said the Immigration Department should then obtain judicial search warrants, as a privacy protection measure and in order to ensure the integrity of the mail system and public confidence, before opening the documents. Ms. Caplan argued it would be too costly and unmanageable and said it is too difficult to determine the contents of some packages and mail coming across the border. She said the law would have to be changed to give immigration officers the power to open mail. Mr. Radwanski rejected Ms. Caplan's points as excuses, saying the protection of privacy is worth the trouble. ``Due process is always more cumbersome than rough justice,'' wrote Mr. Radwanski in his most recent letter. ``But expediency cannot be the justification for brushing aside fundamental rights such as privacy.'' Mr. Radwanski called the mail openings ``profoundly disturbing,'' and vowed to take the issue up again. ``In a free and democratic society like Canada, the opening of mail by government carries extraordinarily strong symbolic and psychological implications,'' Mr. Radwanski wrote. ``Canadians are entitled to feel confident that their mail will not be arbitrarily opened and examined. As a result of the practices that have come to light ... this confidence is being seriously eroded.'' An aide to Ms. Caplan said the mail-openings are justified to maintain the integrity of the immigration process. Spokesman Derek Hodgson said 4,000 forged immigration documents have been discovered over the last four years. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 14:44:07 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: U.S. Column: Gun Control - What Went Wrong? - -----Original Message----- From: M. Brown [mailto:mb@e-z.net] Sent: April 25, 2001 9:41 AM To: mb@e-z.net Subject: My latest column FYI - Gun Control - What Went Wrong? Hi Friends, Here is a copy of my latest column FYI. It will be up tomorrow on Newsmax.com and Keepandbeararms.com if you care to link to it. As usual, feel free to use it in any publications. Take Care, Mike Dr. Michael S. Brown Vancouver, WA ********************************************** Gun Control - What Went Wrong? During the 1990's, the gun control movement seemed unstoppable. Numerous gun laws were passed at all levels of government. With the aid of powerful media allies, gun ownership was tagged as an antisocial act and supporters of gun rights were successfully portrayed as tools of an evil gun lobby. The issue was considered so powerful that a major party included a call for much stricter gun control as an important part of its platform. Since the election of 2000, analysts have been pondering the anti-gun lobby's sudden reversal of fortune. Politicians have deserted the cause like rats leaving a sinking ship. The Million Mom March laid off most of its paid staff and was thrown out of its free office space for alleged improprieties. Their hated opponent, the National Rifle Association, has seen membership surge to an all-time high of 4.3 million. Anti-gun operatives are questioning their strategy and trying to maintain morale among the troops. Cracks are widening between the various organizations who blame each other for tactical errors. What went wrong? Simply put, gun control was over-hyped. Politicians and other opportunists were seduced by an emotional issue that appeared to have no downside. Jumping on a bandwagon that claimed to protect moms and kids seemed a quick and easy route to better approval ratings. With so much excitement in the air, it was easy to ignore the logical flaws in the emotion-based arguments. Underlying the entire movement were two unquestioned assumptions. First, that more gun laws were a surefire way to reduce crime and other forms of firearms abuse. The second was the belief that guns were used far more often for evil than for good. Since these were accepted as fact, the faithful were not concerned by the lack of solid proof. Some followers of the faith realized that they were on shaky ground. Fake studies were funded to show an overwhelming negative effect from civilian gun ownership. Clever, but misleading sound bites were constantly created to reinforce the impression of a terrible and growing epidemic of gun violence. By the time one statement was discredited, another was ready to take its place. Statistics were twisted to make it appear that most victims of gun violence were innocent middle class children, rather than young adult males involved with gangs and drugs. Suicides, accidents, homicides and justifiable shootings by police officers were lumped together to make the numbers more impressive. As many observers have noted, when the facts did not support their beliefs, they simply lied. While the media trumpeted gun control victories and parroted the party line, opponents and neutral scholars were researching the facts. Since so many countries, states and cities have enacted strict gun control laws, it is now relatively easy to find out how effectively they have reduced crime and suicide. The utter failure of new gun laws to create any positive effect whatsoever was devastating to the anti-gun arguments. Even more damning is the data showing that crime often worsens when gun control laws are tightened. Washington, D. C., California, England, and Australia, are just a few of the areas where crime increased embarrassingly after new laws were passed. They also proved the truth of the old saying that registration leads to confiscation. When American gun owners saw video footage showing piles of confiscated guns being destroyed in Australia, they were unlikely to believe claims by the gun control lobby that their goals were strictly limited. Scholarly studies by Professor John Lott showed another interesting effect. In states that enacted laws enabling law abiding citizens to obtain concealed weapon permits, crime dropped. This strikes at the very heart of the gun control movement which claims that the proliferation of guns is responsible for crime. Unable to rally enough academic horsepower to refute Lott's results, gun control groups resorted to ugly personal attacks. While gun control arguments were being dismantled by academics, grassroots action by gun owners exploded. Fearing extinction beneath the steamroller of anti-gun hysteria, they bombarded elected officials with messages, formed many new gun rights organizations and began participating in street demonstrations for the first time. The appearance of these normal, sensible people counteracted the attempt to portray gun owners as anti-social rednecks. Changes in media coverage also contributed to the climate shift. In the year prior to the election, studies by media watchdog groups showed an overwhelming bias, on the order of ten to one, in the slant of network news stories about the gun control debate. The national media began to look like bullies ganging up on gun owners. The Fox News Network was first to realize that many viewers were fed up with the blatant bias and started airing stories that showed both sides of the issue. Although the more liberal newspapers and networks maintained their anti-gun bias, moderate and conservative media outlets suddenly felt free to address the other side of the debate. The media monopoly enjoyed by the gun control lobby was broken. Just before the election, when the NRA staged rallies that were attended by thousands of angry gun owners, the politicians could see that the winds had changed. Although the election produced no overwhelming victory for either side, the opportunists realized that gun control was no longer a winning issue. Now only the true believers remain. Does this mean the end of the gun control movement? Certainly not, because it never depended on mass participation. Major funding has always come from a relatively small number of rich donors. As long as the limousine liberals have money to spend, the movement will live on. Dr. Michael S. Brown is an optometrist and member of Doctors for Sensible Gun Laws, http://www.keepandbeararms.com/dsgl. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #741 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:acardin33@home.com List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v03.n198 end (198 is the digest issue number and 03 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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