From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca on behalf of Cdn-Firearms Digest [owner-cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca] Sent: Thursday, 17 May, 2001 12:09 To: cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #773 Cdn-Firearms Digest Thursday, May 17 2001 Volume 03 : Number 773 In this issue: SCHOOL SHOOTER GETS 10 YEARS PEDOPHILE REGISTRY WON'T PROTECT OUR CHILDREN Police complaints up 30 per cent; Reasons for rise unclear BANDITS POSED AS COPS Alliance MP renews call for national sex offender registry Editorial: Bush's gun initiative flawed Cop charged with wife assault Interesting... Taxpayer funded anti-gun propaganda They're on our side, too ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:50:40 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: SCHOOL SHOOTER GETS 10 YEARS PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2001.05.17 SECTION: News PAGE: 43 SOURCE: Courts Bureau BYLINE: Gretchen Drummie - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- SCHOOL SHOOTER GETS 10 YEARS - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Ruling that schools must be "safe havens," the Court of Appeal yesterday imposed a 10-year sentence on a former student involved in a schoolyard shooting that paralyzed the victim. Luong Van Mai, 23, was convicted of attempted murder in 1996 in the shooting of Bao Ho, 26, outside Eastern Commerce High School on Oct. 14, 1994. He was given a 15-year prison term. The appeal court quashed that conviction last month, but confirmed his conviction on charges of maiming and the use of a firearm in the commission of an offence. Ho was shot in the upper chest, damaging his spinal cord permanently. Yesterday's judgment said schools "must be safe havens. The ready resort to the use of and extreme violence in the school setting is a very disturbing feature of this case." The 10-year term is to run from 1996 when sentence was first imposed by the trial judge, the higher court said. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:50:27 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: PEDOPHILE REGISTRY WON'T PROTECT OUR CHILDREN PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2001.05.17 SECTION: News PAGE: 4 SOURCE: Editor BYLINE: Licia Corbella - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- PEDOPHILE REGISTRY WON'T PROTECT OUR CHILDREN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- We keep writing new laws that are supposed to make our children safe. This past week, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who was visibly upset as he spoke of the abduction and killing of five-year-old Jessica Koopmans, vowed a pedophile registry will be set up in this province. It's a noble gesture. It might even help prevent a possible tragedy, but ultimately it is absurd. The very fact we feel we have to monitor convicted pedophiles once they are released from prison simply confirms what we already know -- and that is, for the most part, pedophiles are incurable. In other words, we feel better knowing where they are because we fully expect these perverts to victimize another child. There's something utterly obscene about what we as a society have come to accept. A few years ago, a new provincial law, called the Risk of Significant Harm Notification, was passed in Alberta. The law made it possible for police to distribute photos of known pedophiles being released from prison who are believed to be a high risk to re-offend. Excellent idea, right? Well, in theory, yes. In practice, no. Shortly after that law was passed, the RCMP distributed photos of a pedophile by the name of Curtis Kenneth Hilchey. Hilchey, who had served every day of his three-year sentence for sexually assaulting a nine-year-old Edmonton girl, was released from Bowden Institution on June 26. Newspapers, including the Sun, and television stations ran photos of Hilchey warning the public he posed a significant threat to children. Less than two months later, I interviewed a seven-year-old girl I called Danielle who had been molested by Hilchey. Danielle's distraught mom, Beth, remembers reading that warning story in the Sun and recalls thinking she had adequately studied the photo and would be able to recognize him if he showed up in her neighbourhood. She was wrong. Beth met Hilchey at a friend's home just a few doors away only a couple of weeks after the warning story appeared in the Sun, but she didn't make the connection. Luckily, she did, however, become suspicious of Hilchey who, she thought, was much too fond of hanging around with young children. She asked Danielle what she thought of Ken and then the sickening story came out. He had lured the coltish girl with hazel eyes onto the bike path behind their northeast home, showed her depraved pornographic photos, exposed himself to her and French-kissed her. A pedophile registry, while helpful to those who need to screen potential employees for children's camps, schools and daycares, would simply give society a false sense of security. Sure, it's better to have a registry than to have none at all, but it's only necessary because we keep letting perverts out of prison time and again to re-victimize our children. It's insane. The best solution to solve this problem is to lock up all pedophiles forever. We know they are incurable, so why do we let them out? No second chances. And if, as a society we insist on second chances, then certainly no third chances. Hilchey, for his part, had a lengthy criminal record. From 1984 to 1998, he had 54 convictions -- 14 of them sex-related. While many people would say what he did to Danielle wasn't very severe, I can assure you it was for Danielle. Yesterday, the now 12-year-old girl told me that she still has nightmares about Hilchey. After the attack, instead of asking for a new Barbie doll for her birthday, Danielle asked for a to protect herself. She knew that a photo advisory didn't protect her. Nor will a pedophile registry. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:51:00 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Police complaints up 30 per cent; Reasons for rise unclear PUBLICATION: The Toronto Star DATE: 2001.05.17 SECTION: NEWS PAGE: B03 SOURCE: STAFF REPORTER BYLINE: Donovan Vincent - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Police complaints up 30 per cent; Reasons for rise unclear, official report says - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- The Toronto police service saw a 30 per cent increase in public complaints against officers last year compared with 1999. According to statistics released yesterday by the force's professional standards branch, 819 complaints were lodged in 2000, including 738 complaints about officer conduct and 41 about the level of service. The increase, reversing a decline in complaints during the '90s, comes despite a continuing drop in most categories of crime. Last year, reported Criminal Code offences in Toronto dropped to 195,360 from 196,880, a decline of 1,520. Two notable exceptions to the trend, according to the report, were homicides which increased to 59 from 47 in the same period- and sexual assaults, which rose to 2,679 last year from 2,634 in 1999. The 819 complaints against police involved 806 officers. Charges were laid under the Criminal Code or the province's Police Services Act in 105 cases some 462 charges in all, according to city Councillor Norm Gardner, who heads the Police Services Board. Police Act charges were laid against 79 officers, about 1.5 per cent of the total force. The report says there's no definitive explanation for the increase, but it points to some theories changes to the complaints process, a rise in the number of street officers, increased emphasis on traffic enforcement, and possible increases in confidence or public awareness of the complaints process. The 740 public complaints actually resolved last year were concluded within an average of 74 days after they were received. Slightly more than one in four took more than 90 days to settle. The number of complaints that were investigated last year is more than 2 1/2 times the number of cases investigated in 1999 and almost 70 per cent over the average number of cases opened during the previous five years, the report points out. Representatives of the Toronto Police Association called for a work-to-rule campaign earlier this year to protest the sudden jump in disciplinary charges against its members that they say occurred after police Chief Julian Fantino took over in March last year. The union asked officers to report for duty only minutes before their shifts and to claim overtime if they didn't take lunch, to complete all paperwork before making themselves available to take another call, and to leave their vehicles when on breaks. In other key findings from the report: 1,639 use-of-force reports submitted when an officer uses some type of force, which can include physical restraint, a baton, or discharging a firearm were submitted last year, up from 1,471 in 1999. Weapons were found on the suspect in just over 20 per cent of all force incidents reported. 22 of 23 investigations launched by the province's special investigations unit against Toronto officers ended with the civilian agency finding no criminality on the officer's part. Knives and , more than half of them semi- or fully automatic weapons, accounted for more than 70 per cent of weapons found on suspects. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:50:54 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: BANDITS POSED AS COPS PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2001.05.17 SECTION: News PAGE: 40 BYLINE: Rob Lamberti - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- BANDITS POSED AS COPS - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Two bandits posing as cops invaded a Toronto home, but fled when one of their victims phoned for the real thing. Toronto Police said the intruders, one armed with a pistol, talked their way into a Dufferin St. home Tuesday wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word "police." One man then drew a and ordered a 21-year-old woman to sit on a couch. The second man locked the rear door and headed upstairs, where the woman's parents and a teen sister were. The woman yelled in Vietnamese to her teen sister: "Robbery, robbery, robbery," and the younger girl then dialed 911, police said. The two men fled in a dark-coloured van driven by a third man. Both bandits are in their 20s with dark complexions, about 5-foot-6 and spoke English. One had a jean jacket, jeans and a black T-shirt with "police" on it. The other had a white jacket and a similar T-shirt. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:50:47 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Alliance MP renews call for national sex offender registry PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal DATE: 2001.05.17 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: Canada PAGE: A6 BYLINE: Lisa Gregoire, Journal Staff Writer SOURCE: The Edmonton Journal DATELINE: Edmonton ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Journal Stock / (Canadian Alliance Justice critic Vic Toews) - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Alliance MP renews call for national sex offender registry - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Canadian Alliance Justice critic Vic Toews has joined Alberta in calling for a national sex offender registry. Premier Ralph Klein said Monday he will continue to press Ottawa for a national system that would require untreated sex offenders to register their whereabouts after they are free of parole and probation. Klein was responding to the recent slaying of five-year-old Jessica Koopmans, who was abducted in Lethbridge. The Alliance tabled a bill this spring seeking a national sex offender registry. But the governing Liberals said the existing Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) could accommodate the function without much extra cost. Toews disagrees and so does Guiliano Zaccardelli, the new RCMP commissioner. Zaccardelli told the Standing Committee for Justice and Human Rights last week that CPIC is currently being upgraded. Even with upgrades however, it could not perform the added function of an interactive sex offender registry. ``Clearly we would need some legislation to do the upgrades or to be able to put in information according to the law,'' he said. ``The reality is that we cannot do anything to that system for several years here until the upgrades are in place.'' Once the system is properly upgraded, the RCMP would still require not only legislation but more money to get the job done. Toews said not everyone convicted of a sex crime ought to be included in the registry. ``We don't want to interfere with genuine efforts of the individual to rehabilitate himself,'' Toews said. ``But citizens have a right to know if there is a dangerous offender in their midst who did not take steps to rehabilitate himself.'' Toews noted that while the federal Liberals are willing to force owners to register their guns, they're not willing to fund a federal sex offenders registry. Ontario was the first province to implement a provincial sex offender registry in 1998. Under the program, files are created to include an offender's address, phone number, physical description, alias and list of offences. Offenders sentenced to fewer than 10 years in prison must report their whereabouts for 10 years. Those with longer sentences remain on the registry for life. Failure to register can lead to fines or imprisonment. British Columbia followed suit several months ago with a registry of its own. Federal Solicitor General Lawrence MacAuley could not be reached for comment Wednesday. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 11:50:34 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: Bush's gun initiative flawed PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal DATE: 2001.05.17 EDITION: FINAL SECTION: Opinion PAGE: A18 SOURCE: The Los Angeles Times: - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Bush's gun initiative flawed - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- It's hard to argue with the underlying goal of the plan that U.S. President George W. Bush announced this week: to hammer criminals with the full force of federal law. But no one should be surprised that his proposal bears a striking resemblance to the plan the National Rifle Association supports. Even a gung-ho NRA member who truly believes that such an approach is all it will take to slow the -related death rate would be well advised to look at reported problems with the Richmond, Va., project upon which the Bush plan is based. The president wants to spend $15 million to hire 113 more assistant U.S. attorneys to prosecute charges and an additional $550 million over two years to help states crack down on crimes. His approach is modelled after Project Exile, launched with much fanfare four years ago in Richmond. Project Exile made crimes a federal offence and imposed the toughest sentences possible on those convicted of illegal possession or use. But an analysis in this week's U.S. News & World Report finds that the vaunted project has had mixed results. During the first year, federal prosecutors in Richmond aggressively targeted every offender they could find. But indictments and convictions have fallen off by almost half since 1997, and many suspects are now being released before trial. And federal prisons near Richmond are jammed with felons who would otherwise be locked up in state prisons. In his statement Monday, Bush said nothing about saner, more cost-effective measures to keep crimes from happening in the first place. Nothing about closing the loophole allowing buyers at shows to evade background checks, nothing about licensing owners. If Bush is serious about reducing -related crime, he'll need to think outside the NRA box. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:08:58 -0600 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Cop charged with wife assault PUBLICATION: The St.Catharines Standard DATE: 2001.05.16 SECTION: Local News PAGE: A3 BYLINE: Karena Walter Cop charged with wife assault Ten-year veteran suspended from duty Karena Walter The Standard A Niagara Regional Police officer forced to sell his personal gun collection one year ago has been charged with assaulting his common-law spouse. The 33-year-old, a field support officer in the emergency task unit, has been suspended from duty with pay. He attended a bail hearing Tuesday after spending the night in custody and was released on recognizance. "Police are expected to uphold a higher standard," Superintendent Gary Beaulieu said. "In this particular case, the evidence presented itself." Beaulieu called the case of an officer charged with a criminal offence "extremely rare" for the force. He said the constable was not treated any differently than any other member of the public, except that the average person probably would not be suspended from work for a similar offence. Police were called to a St. Catharines residence Monday in response to a domestic dispute and arrested the 10-year veteran of the force, who was off-duty at the time of the incident. Jeffrey Cross of St. Catharines was charged with assault with a weapon, assault and uttering death threats. Constable Larry Regnier of the public affairs office would not reveal what object the officer allegedly used to assault the woman, but said it was nothing related to his police duties. The victim did not require medical attention. Cross made headlines last May when an Ontario Court judge ordered him to hand over his firearm acquisition certificates after an NRP investigation alleged he had suicidal tendencies after the breakup of his marriage. The service requested he be prohibited from possessing weapons at home, which included pistols, shotguns and rifles. His personal arsenal was seized by police when they received a letter from his estranged wife's family, in which he said he had come to the point of killing himself. Cross denied he had made any suicide attempts and claimed the letter was misconstrued. Less than a month later, he joined the NRP's emergency task unit. Cross will appear in court again next month. He faces a disciplinary hearing regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:09:24 -0600 From: "Linda & Rory" Subject: Interesting... A bit off topic, but interesting how this government keeps screwing around with taxpayers money with their own gaffes involved. Wonder how much this one will cost... Perhaps we should see if we can get a similar order for money to pay for a legal defence of all the criminals that C68 is/has created? LJ Vancouver Sun (pg. A13) Thursday May 17, 2001 In Brief -- New Brunswick Ottawa ordered to pay Indians' legal bills Miramichi -- Judge William McCarroll has ordered the federal government to pay the potentially large legal bills of Mi'kmaqs charged with violating the federal Fisheries Act. The judge has stayed charges under the act against John David Dedam and Brian Bartibogue until the government can provide their legal team with enough money to mount a defence based on aboriginal and treaty rights. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:09:05 -0600 From: Barry Glasgow Subject: Taxpayer funded anti-gun propaganda I was dismayed and angered to see yet another Canadian public institution fall victim to the narrow-minded, deceitful practices embraced by those who are working to deny Canadians their right to enjoy the recreational and protective uses of firearms. The Alberta Centre for Injury Control and Research web site is littered with all manner of biased and manipulative research on the issue of firearms use and the consequences of gun ownership. It is clear to me that the content of this page has been heavily influenced by the Coalition for Gun Control as it is a virtual mirror image of their propaganda outlet. Their favourite academic researcher, Kellerman, whom you reference, has been thoroughly refuted by several other criminologists yet none of those appear on your page. Authors such as Kleck, Lott and Kopel have published extensive studies showing Kellerman and the anti-gun lobby's distortions for what they are yet they are curiously absent in your publication. These authors have received extensive praise for their research by criminology academics throughout the U.S. yet you choose to exclude them in favour of one researcher who uses flawed methodology and selectively excludes major contributors in his studies. How can anyone take research from your instituion seriously if you are victim of the same bias ? I would suggest that your "information specialists" take a long, hard look at the following web page and its links and examine serious research on the subject before pontificating on the issue of firearms and firearms control. See www.nfa.ca Regards, Barry Glasgow Woodlawn, Ontario For James Glasgow, Calgary __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 12:09:11 -0600 From: Lee Jasper Subject: They're on our side, too First the Pope, now the Dalai Lama >Dali Lama Endorses Armed Self-defense >Submitted by: Bob L >One of the world's leading advocates for non-violent >conflict resolution told students it would be >"reasonable for you to shoot back with your own gun" >if someone were trying to kill you. >The Pope has said the same thing: >http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/Christian >Why don't American "liberals" (certainly not >liberty advocates) get it? >ANSWER: The truth that a real need for self-defense >exists in our society and as an individual >responsibility is more confronting than some >people seem to be able to handle. >KABA NOTE: The Dalai Lama's word carries a great >deal of weight among certain New Age and other >spiritual communities in America -- many of them >typically more Democratic (Liberal) in their thinking. >That he unequivocally spoke in favor of armed >self-defense is truly a blessing, and all liberty >advocates are encouraged to get that quote and story >out to anyone who relates to him as a leader. Now who can argue with that? ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V3 #773 ********************************** 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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