From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca on behalf of Cdn-Firearms Digest [owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca] Sent: Monday, 30 April, 2001 08:32 To: cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #747 Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, April 30 2001 Volume 03 : Number 747 In this issue: CHARGES FOLLOW GUN CALL Struggles preceded fatal shooting Gun-makers don't kill people, court rules Ottawa's refusal to arm wardens threatens safety Column: Mob's roar drowns out reason AUTHOR SAYS HUNTING TEACHES UNIVERSAL VIRTUES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:31:35 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: CHARGES FOLLOW GUN CALL PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2001.04.30 SECTION: News PAGE: 16 KEYWORDS: Weapon; Crime; Arrest; Alberta - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- CHARGES FOLLOW GUN CALL - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- A Edmonton man is in the clink after an alleged Cowtown shootout, say cops. Calgary patrol cops responding to the sound of gunfire in a southwest neighbourhood later arrested a suspect at a downtown hotel after questioning the alleged victim, who was not harmed in the ordeal. Police allege a .22-calibre handgun was drawn and fired at the victim twice in the midst of a heated dispute over an upcoming court case. Investigating officers allegedly seized a stolen .22-calibre handgun and a small amount of crack cocaine after collaring the suspect. Ikeche James Bates, 20, of Edmonton, has been charged with possession of stolen property, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon contrary to an order, obstructing justice by dissuading a witness, and possession for the purpose of trafficking. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:31:42 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Struggles preceded fatal shooting PUBLICATION: The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2001.04.30 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front BYLINE: Dan Zakreski SOURCE: Saskatchewan News Network - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Struggles preceded fatal shooting - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- An eyewitness says Melvin Wayne Bigsky was pepper-sprayed, clubbed and electrically shocked in an escalating series of confrontations that started as a traffic stop and ended with Bigsky being fatally shot by RCMP as he sat in his half-ton after ramming a police cruiser during an apparent escape attempt. Ivan Indian says an estimated dozen or more RCMP and city police were on the scene at the time of the shooting. RCMP Sgt. Cory Lerat, however, says the officer who shot Bigsky was the only member on site and that backup did not arrive until after the shooting. Lerat could not explain the contradictory versions. In an interview Sunday, Indian said he was travelling to Saskatoon with Bigsky and his wife Roseann, who had both moved to Nipawin less than a month ago to work on a farm. They were coming to Saskatoon to visit Melvin's mother, Christina Bigsky. Indian said they were approaching Saskatoon on Highway 41 at dusk on Friday when they were pulled over by the RCMP. Indian said he and Bigsky got out to ask why they had been pulled over ``and he told us to get back in the truck.'' When Melvin refused and asked again why they had been pulled over ``he got pepper-sprayed in the face.'' ``I was behind Mel when it happened. The officer then said we were both under arrest and he put me in the car.'' Bigsky, he said, was crawling around on his hands and knees, rubbing at his eyes with a jacket. ``The officer went over and whacked him with a club and then shocked him a couple of times with a stun ,'' Indian said. ``Roseann came out of the truck and the officer shoved or hit her. Melvin said `Don't hit my old lady,' and they tussled on the ground.'' The RCMP member broke free and ran back to his car. By that time, Indian said ``there were a whole bunch of RCMP there.'' Indian said Melvin Bigsky got back into the truck and apparently tried to escape by driving through the ditch. Instead, he rammed the cruiser where Indian was in custody. ``Then he got out, on his knees with his hands in the air . . . and he got whacked by the officer again. ``And they started fighting.'' Indian estimated at this point there were at least a dozen officers on the scene, most with guns drawn, in a loose circle. ``Melvin got up and went back into the truck, saying he gave up. I heard four shots, and one shot hit him in the back of the head. He fell out of the truck, and they handcuffed him on the ground,'' Indian said. Christina Bigsky said she learned midday Saturday that her 33-year-old son had been killed. She viewed his body Sunday at the St. Paul's Hospital morgue. He is married with two daughters and one son. ``We'll bury him at Kinistin reserve,'' she said. She confirmed that Melvin had recently served a six-year prison sentence for killing his cousin, Clifford Moosewaypayo, in Saskatoon. She said that the men were drinking and wrestling and she described the death as accidental. ``He was such a nice guy, always concerned about me,'' she said. The shooting of two Indian men by the RCMP in less than a week raises the issue of police training and the use of deadly force, says vice-chief Lawrence Joseph of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN). An Indian man in Ile-a-la-Crosse was shot and wounded Tuesday morning after a standoff with RCMP at a house in the small northern community. His injuries were not considered life threatening. ``There's a lot of questions from everyone. For instance, from a First Nations perspective, is there an official and separate response for First Nation offenders?'' Joseph asked. ``Is there a practised, rehearsed response for that?'' RCMP spokesman Heather Russell said that officers are instructed to use deadly force as a last resort. There is no separate policy for dealing with First Nations offenders, she said. Joseph said there must be more work put into exploring and using alternatives to deadly force. ``Are RCMP officers adequately trained to deal with these oftentimes very violent situations, in the sense that people can respond by using deadly force. Is it necessary to use deadly force, are there alternatives?'' RCMP are not releasing any more details of the Bigsky incident, other than to say it is under investigation by the Saskatoon major crimes unit. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:31:50 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Gun-makers don't kill people, court rules PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2001.04.28 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: News PAGE: A10 SOURCE: The Times of London DATELINE: NEW YORK - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Gun-makers don't kill people, court rules - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- NEW YORK -- New York's highest court has thrown out a legal attempt to hold gun-makers responsible for the criminal use of their , in a landmark ruling that threatens similar suits against the gun industry. The New York Court of Appeals, in a 7-0 decision, effectively overturned a lower court decision in 1999 in which a jury in Brooklyn held several gun manufacturers liable for the shooting of a teenager because of negligent marketing practices that fuelled the spread of illegal weapons. Authorities and gun control activists have sought to follow the lead of anti-smoking groups and use civil lawsuits to bring to its knees an industry that makes a dangerous product. Three dozen legal claims have been filed, prompting some states to pass legislation barring such challenges. The New York case focused on Stephen Fox, a teenager who suffered permanent brain damage when he was accidentally shot in the head by a friend in 1994. The friend said he bought the gun from a man selling them from the boot of his car. Because the gun was never recovered, and the bullet remains lodged in Mr Fox's brain, however, it was never possible to identify which manufacturer made the weapon. The jury caused a sensation two years ago when it awarded Mr Fox, now 21, damages of dollars 522,000, (pounds 363,350) accepting his argument that gun-makers were guilty of negligent marketing. Mr Fox and the relatives of six murder victims, who also recovered damages, argued that the gun- makers oversupplied gun dealers in states with weak gun control laws, particularly in the southeast of the country. The surplus weapons, they said, fed a black market serving minors and criminals in New York. The Court of Appeals found that lawyers for the gunshot victims had described ``broad'' and ``general'' ways that gun manufacturers were liable for handgun injuries, but had failed to show specifically how their sales methods had led to their guns getting into the wrong hands. A ``more tangible'' direct link is needed to show how the gun-makers contributed to the injuries of gunshot victims and that the manufacturers ``were realistically in a position to prevent the wrongs'', the court held. ``We recognise the difficulty in proving precisely which manufacturer caused any particular plaintiff's injuries since crime guns are often not recovered,'' the judge wrote. ``Inability to locate evidence, however, does not alone justify the extraordinary step of applying market share liability.'' The ruling eases the pressure on the gun industry, which has been adding trigger locks and other safety devices to head off growing public criticism. Lawrence Greenwald, the lawyer who represented the gun-makers Beretta USA and American Arms, said the ruling would influence judges in other suits. But gun control activists noted that Judge Wesley explicitly ended his ruling by suggesting that the gun industry might still be held accountable for negligence under a different set of facts - such as, if the gun-makers knew that their distributors were engaging routinely in illegal gun sales. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:31:57 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Ottawa's refusal to arm wardens threatens safety PUBLICATION: The Chronicle-Herald DATE: 2001.04.30 SECTION: Opinion PAGE: B2 BYLINE: Ed Cashman - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- ; Ottawa's refusal to arm wardens threatens safety - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- THE PEOPLE of Nova Scotia share a great attachment to their national parks. And with good reason. Don't be surprised, however, if we see a new park entrance sign this busy spring season: "Caution. Proceed At Your Own Risk." Wildlife and disease aren't the problem. Rather, the danger comes from Ottawa. In a wrong-headed and dangerous decision, the Parks Canada Agency has refused to implement a federal directive and issue wardens with protective sidearms. The result has created a law enforcement vacuum in our 39 national parks. Instead, senior Parks managers have been furiously trying to blunt, dodge and weave around the crux of the health and safety directive - that, in order to safely fulfil their responsibilities as peace officers, wardens should be permitted to carry sidearms in the exercise of those functions. To the shame of Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, she has gone along with this bureaucratic obfuscation. She has stated in the House of Commons that she had ordered the agency head to ensure peace officer duties are taken over by the RCMP. As a result, wardens have been ordered to withdraw from all enforcement activities. Visitors and staff must henceforth rely on RCMP or provincial police for assistance. Wardens work with, and admire, the RCMP. Yet, anyone close to the force knows they have both financial and manpower difficulties that are a barrier to effective park law enforcement. Any extra amount the Parks Agency managed to wring out of a tight-fisted Treasury Board will in no way meet RCMP needs. So, why should the Nova Scotia public care about this issue? In the public's eye, wardens are often seen as a combination of tourist guide and wildlife manager. They are, in fact, peace officers, with the same powers as police. And for good reason. In this day and age, across Canada, their working lives are closer to Smokey and the Bandit than to Smokey The Bear. A warden's work is challenging at the best of times. Increasingly, it is downright dangerous. Behind the scenery, wardens deal with "wild life" of a human variety - the poachers, thieves, car-jackers, traffickers and muggers who find our national parks attractive for their own special reasons. Recognition of this led federal health and safety officials last February to order the Parks Canada Agency to either equip wardens to do their jobs or remove them from their enforcement duties. The directive in part read: "Wardens who are expected to engage in law enforcement activities such as patrols, intelligence gathering, investigations or arrests - activities in the performance of which they may find themselves at risk of grievous bodily harm or death - are not provided with the necessary personal protective equipment." This decision was handed down only after a careful, seven-month study of the issue. The response of Parks Canada Agency management, as noted above, was anything but careful and studied. We are frankly at a loss to understand the response of Parks Canada Agency management. Federal wardens are not asking for special treatment. Quite the opposite. Canada, thank heavens, is not a gun-toting society. Many wardens abhor . But regrettably, they are a necessity to protect both wildlife and visitors. Wardens face armed individuals. They have been assaulted. They constantly come in contact with people with criminal records. As for poachers, recently increased fines and prison terms have provided more incentive to avoid arrest. In all of North America, there are only two states or provinces where wardens do not carry sidearms in provincial or state parks. At the federal level, fisheries and coast guard officers carry them. In fact, a number of internal Parks Canada Agency studies have concluded that wardens who exercise law enforcement functions should have sidearms. So, why the resistance from Parks Canada senior management? The issue can't be per se. Wardens are now issued rifles as needed. Yet, rifles are far more dangerous when seizing evidence or during arrests. They are also difficult to manage on snowmobile, skis or horseback. However, unlike a rifle, a sidearm can be safely holstered out of sight when not needed. There is a great irony that, only six months ago, the government amended federal health and safety laws to ensure heightened protection and timely enforcement. In the case of wardens, both worthy goals are being sacrificed to fuzzy bureaucratic logic. Minister Copps and her mandarins have appealed the health and safety directive. She has that right. However, she is also ultimately responsible for ensuring the safety of both visitors and staff at Canada's national parks. It is a responsibility she would be well advised to exercise, before tragedy overtakes common sense. Ed Cashman is president of the national component of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, representing park wardens and other workers at the Parks Canada Agency. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:32:04 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: Mob's roar drowns out reason PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2001.04.29 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: Comment PAGE: A13 BYLINE: Lee Morrison SOURCE: For The Calgary Herald - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- Mob's roar drowns out reason - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ---- On Sept. 22, 1998, about 15,000 gun owners and civil libertarians rallied on Parliament Hill to protest against Canada's new firearms legislation. For more than four hours they listened peacefully as dozens of angry speakers dissected Bill C-68 and the government which had foisted that piece of loony legislation upon us. Then they quietly drifted away, leaving no litter or damage. The armed RCMP spotters on nearby rooftops came down for supper, and the entire exercise was quickly forgotten. The massive ``Fed Up II'' rally was probably the largest assembly of citizens to ever appear on the Hill, but national media coverage was sparse, patronizing and superficial. Every effort was made to paint the protesters as slack-jawed Neanderthals, ignorant of history and the law and careless of the public good. To compound the offence, a press conference, booked by rally organizers in the National Press Theatre, was summarily cancelled to make room for Justice Minister Anne McLellan and a hastily assembled little group of gun-control advocates. It's instructive to compare the behaviour of the law-abiding citizens who demonstrated against gun control to that of the 5,000 or so socially conscious hoodlums who tried to disrupt the Summit of the Americas meeting in Quebec City. The gun owners molested nobody, threatened nobody and, when they dispersed, left scarcely a gum wrapper on the grass. The louts in Quebec displayed their environmental concern by leaving a wilderness of garbage. The Quebec City debacle wasn't a spontaneous eruption or a peaceful demonstration that went wrong. The participants who arrived equipped with rocks, Molotov cocktails, hockey pucks, clubs and gas masks weren't looking for ``dialogue.'' Before tackling the riot squad, some of these heroes ``warmed up'' and got their jollies by pulling down an inoffensive lone traffic cop and beating him senseless -- allegedly with metal bars. Brimming with self-righteous political correctness, they exemplified the attitude of ``your position is wrong and stupid, and if you don't agree with me, I'm going to hit you with a piece of pavement.'' That many members of the mob were apparently students isn't surprising. Among the half-educated, there has always been a pervasive attitude of moral and intellectual superiority, which they feel exempts them from the norms of civilized behaviour. It is sometimes forgotten that, prior to the Second World War, the prestigious universities of Germany and Austria were fertile recruiting fields for the Nazis. Today, belief in personal political perfection has given rise to what Professor Petr Beckman of the University of Colorado aptly described as ``fascism of the left.'' Not everyone who went to Quebec to demonstrate against the summit meeting acted like a thug. The parade of a reported 25,000 people which wound its way around the city, attacking nobody and destroying nothing, was peaceful and reportedly almost festive, but it was overshadowed by the street battle. Unfortunately, some high-profile, older protesters, most notably the rabble-rousing Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians, flatly refused to condemn violence and made no attempt to discourage it. Some even spouted the silly sophistry, eagerly embraced by the rioters, that destruction of property isn't really violent. Others opined that, although non-violent themselves, they could certainly sympathize with the frustrations of those who took ``direct action'' because they ``couldn't be heard.'' Neither the peaceful marchers nor the rioters were representative of the dispossessed of the world. Well-fed, well-dressed and brimming with middle-class missionary zeal, they were there in the certain knowledge that they ``know what is best'' for everyone else, including the poor working people of Latin America. To NDP Leader Alexa McDonough's confused lace-curtain socialists, the spoiled middle-class brats at the barricades were the moral equivalent of the hungry, unemployed young men who faced a police assault in the Regina riot of 1935. The irony of all this is that, whereas the peaceful citizens who demonstrated in Ottawa were virtually ignored by the media and the government, the hooligans in Quebec received more attention than the meeting they set out to disrupt. The 34 national leaders who were, for better or for worse, shaping the future of the Western Hemisphere were effectively drowned out by the roar of the mob outside. An ugly precedent has been set for Canadian political discourse to be conducted in clouds of tear gas. Lee Morrison is a former MP from Saskatchewan. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 08:32:11 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: AUTHOR SAYS HUNTING TEACHES UNIVERSAL VIRTUES -----Original Message----- From: Randy Eaton [mailto:reaton@eoni.com] Sent: April 28, 2001 1:19 PM To: press release Subject: DR. RANDALL EATON - FORTHCOMING LECTURE IN EUROPE Importance: High FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 28 APRIL 2001 AUTHOR SAYS HUNTING TEACHES UNIVERSAL VIRTUES Speaking to delegates from 70 nations assembled on May 3-5, 2001 for the International Council for Conservation in Portorose, Slovenia, Dr. Randall Eaton said that hunting is the ideal way of teaching universal virtues to young people. He even proposed that hunting should become standard curriculum in schools. The award-winning author and TV producer said that public education has not lived up to the vision originally advanced by Horace Mann who stated, "The highest purpose of education is the moral development of our youth for knowledge without virtue is a menace." Quoting his forthcoming TV production, "Hunting as Character Education," Eaton referred to an interview of Dr. Don Jacobs, author of Teaching Virtues. Jacobs is convinced that hunting teaches generosity, as in sharing meat, patience, courage, and fortitude. He also believes that hunting evokes humility by immersing people in nature and the food chain, and that it fosters respect for animals and the environment as well as responsibility to nurture them. Eaton also advocated hunting for delinquent youth. Citing native and non-native programs, he said that proper initiation in hunting has successfully transformed the lives of wayward youth. Eaton said, "The taking of a life for food makes the young hunter keenly aware of the consequences of his actions while it engenders a deep respect for all life. It's not a video game." Eaton showed clips from his a ward-winning TV production; "The Sacred Hunt II: Rite of Passage," of a 13-year program in southern Idaho in which the delinquents had to gather or hunt their food for two weeks. Follow-up surveys conducted one year later indicated that 85% of the boys had not resumed delinquent behavior. - -------------------------------------------------------------------- - -------- - ----------------------- SCIENTIST CLAIMS CAVE ART REPRESENTS TROPHIES Addressing the International Council for Conservation's annual conference in Portorose, Solvenia, Dr. Randall Eaton of the United States presented evidence to support his theory that cave art represents trophies of Paleolithic hunters. Speaking on May 4, Eaton told the delegates from 70 nations that trophy hunting has been extremely important in human evolution. "In contemporary hunting societies and among the Cro Magnon hunters of Europe initiation into manhood required killing an animal of certain size to qualify for marriage. Consequently, trophy hunting by males has been favored by natural selection for thousands of years and also appears to have been common among the Neanderthals," Eaton said. An internationally known authority on human behavioral evolution, Eaton claims that the layout of animal figures in the caves corresponds with trophy values with the lowest ranking trophies, deer and chamois, located in the entrance, larger big game animals such as wild horse and bison in the main chamber, dangerous animals - woolly rhinoceros and brown bear - in the antechamber, with the highest ranking trophy being the lion, the rarest, most dangerous and most sequestered species. Eaton argued that the animal art speaks of record, not sympathetic hunting magic as has been widely believed for decades. "The art of hunting magic is generic in form and quickly made, unlike the cave art which is highly individualistic and which often required painstaking labor to complete. The existence of clay tablets associated with fully embellished art suggests that the artists first sketched the animal in the field," Eaton said. Eaton said that the art has other features expected of trophies including rotation of the antlers or horns 90 degrees to face the viewer. He also said that imposition of animal figures with suitable wall space between clusters suggests that individual hunters kept their trophy art separate from one another. "There is much reason to believe that the males of Paleolithic European societies obtained status according to their success in hunting, and their achievements were permanently recorded in the art," Eaton said. He added that handprints associated with animal figures represent signatures of the hunters who killed the animals. Eaton believes that initiation rituals were performed inside the caves as indicated by fossilized footprints of a young man who stood with his back against the cave wall on which is engraved a deer, the young hunter's trophy. Surrounding the young man are the footprints of several adult males. Eaton's theory was published in Carnivore journal and praised by prominent Harvard biologist, Edward O. Wilson. Eaton added that hunting is an instinct that develops spontaneously in boys around the world. He said, "Collecting a trophy was how young men proved themselves worthy as providers. That urge is still alive in our species and it remains a viable way for boys to acquire authentic self-esteem as well as respect for nature." When asked if trophies are strictly egoic communications, Eaton responded that in hunting societies a trophy also connects the hunter with the spirit of the animal. He feels that the same may be said of contemporary trophy hunters. For additional information contact Dr. Randall Eaton Phone: 541-426-2047 E-mail: reaton@eoni.com Web Pages: http://www.eoni.com/~reaton or e-mail Dieter Schramm, President, CIC, at: ppppnds@aon.at ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #747 ********************************** 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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