From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V5 #712 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, February 3 2003 Volume 05 : Number 712 In this issue: Manley fires shot across Martin's bow as Grits meet Muir to discuss gun law with Cauchon Editor (There's accountability and then there's accountability.) Standoff accused faces charges Letter: Not the same thing PAUL MARTIN: "There is no defence in the huge increase in the cost that Growth of gun use concerns Britons MAN DIES IN GUN BATTLE USA - Ashcroft Praises Program on Guns ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:18:52 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Manley fires shot across Martin's bow as Grits meet PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: MON FEB.03,2003 PAGE: A12 BYLINE: CAMPBELL CLARK CLASS: National News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Calgary A - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manley fires shot across Martin's bow as Grits meet Leadership front-runner should shoulder blame for mistakes, Finance Minister says - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deputy Prime Minister John Manley accused Paul Martin yesterday of running away from his own record and for knocking the Chretien government without taking any of the blame. In a weekend where he delivered his first campaign-style speech and courted former organizers for Industry Minister Allan Rock, Mr. Manley took the Liberal leadership front-runner to task for failing to point out his own role while criticizing the Liberal government's record. In his leadership campaign, Mr. Martin has attacked several policies of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government, in which he served for nine years, including massive cost overruns in the federal gun registry. Its net cost has ballooned to $688-million from $2-million. Mr. Manley noted that Mr. Martin was vice-president of the Treasury Board when all the additional gun-registry spending was quietly approved. "He needs to answer some questions about why, for example, when he was always a member of Treasury Board, why did he approve all of the expenditures for the gun registry if he now thinks they weren't wise expenditures?" Mr. Manley said in a interview Saturday during a meeting of Alberta federal Liberals. "It's one thing to be critical of things we've done. . . . But I think it should be put in the context of a certain amount of humility about one's own participation. "I would hope that Paul would share some of the responsibility for decisions that were taken. He held the most powerful position in the government outside that of the Prime Minister." Although he is Mr. Martin's successor as finance minister and only weeks away from his first budget, Mr. Manley focused on social issues, not economics. That was an apparent bid to shift left, to counter his image as an economy-minded, right-leaning Liberal. He repeatedly called for a new generation of political leadership to meet new political challenges. Although Mr. Manley, 52, said the remark was not an attempt to "personalize" the debate, it echoed his strategists' desire to highlight the fact that he is younger than Mr. Martin, who is 64. Mr. Manley met privately with several former Alberta organizers for Mr. Rock, including Calgary lawyer Jon Cordeau, in a bid to woo them to his campaign. However, non-Martin Liberals were in a distinct minority at the Alberta meeting. While supporters of his opponents say they have been excluded by his forces' organizing tactics, Mr. Martin's ability to draw 800 people to a rally on Friday night -- where MP David Kilgour, Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific - -- declared his support, highlighted hispopularity in Liberal-wary Alberta. The hopes of Mr. Martin's challengers appeared to be dismissed by an unlikely source -- Chretien cabinet loyalist Stephane Dion. The Intergovernmental Affairs Minister, who had harshly criticized Mr. Martin last summer for launching a "coup" against the Prime Minister, told Alberta Liberals on Saturday that most people believe Mr. Martin would make the best prime minister. He said he did not want to see candidates run simply to havea race. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:19:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Muir to discuss gun law with Cauchon PUBLICATION: The Sunday Herald DATE: 2003.02.02 SECTION: NovaScotia PAGE: A6 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Muir to discuss gun law with Cauchon - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- YARMOUTH - Provincial Justice Minister Jamie Muir will head to Ottawa soon for talks with his federal counterpart, Martin Cauchon, on firearms legislation. "We're going to lobby to get the law changed," Mr. Muir said in Yarmouth this week. "I really don't think the legislation is doing much in the interests of public safety, and my suggestion was that the federal government just declare a moratorium on the registration process and get it thoroughly examined and decide, really: Is that worth continuing?" Ottawa's gun registry started out costing $2 million but now carries a $1-billion price tag. The program requires owners of firearms to register their weapons so that the information can be stored in a database accessible to police. "I wrote to . . . Mr. Cauchon and asked for a meeting to discuss it," Mr. Muir said. "He has agreed to meet and we are trying to set that time up now. It'll be in Ottawa . . . in the not too distant future." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:21:54 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editor (There's accountability and then there's accountability.) PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2003.02.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: Editorial/Opinion PAGE: C5 COLUMN: Letter of the Week - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER OF THE WEEK COLUMN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IT IS amusing to hear Health Minister Anne McLellan's statement: " I have said repeatedly that accountability is about reporting to Canadians, not one government to another." Evidently, McLellan assumes accountability only applies to other ministers, not herself. It is also hypocritical of the federal government to attempt to dictate to the provinces that they want "accountability" on how health funds will be used by the provinces, when the feds themselves provide no such accountability to Canadians in almost any endeavour. Talk about double standards. When McClellan was justice minister she assisted to hide the actual costs of the gun registry expenses from being revealed to Parliament under a shroud of cabinet secrecy --so well in fact that to this day the auditor general cannot tell Canadians what the "actual costs" of the registry really are...and can only give a "close estimate" based on what she could ascertain from reports provided . All this talk about "transparency and accountability" coming from the mouths of federal Liberal ministers are just words, in a desperate attempt to provide damage control to the overall Liberal political image in the minds of Canadian voters because they know a federal election looms over the horizon. R.A.Mazurek Editor's Comment (There's accountability and then there's accountability.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:23:34 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Standoff accused faces charges PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) DATE: 2003.02.03 EDITION: Final SECTION: Local/National PAGE: A6 SOURCE: The StarPhoenix - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Standoff accused faces charges - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The 31-year-old man arrested Friday morning after a standoff with police will appear in provincial court this morning. He faces 13 charges, including 10 firearms charges, two breach charges and one charge of assault with a weapon. The man was arrested after a 10-hour standoff at a house located on the 900 block of Avenue O South ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:24:29 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Letter: Not the same thing PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2003.02.01 EDITION: Final SECTION: Opinion PAGE: OS06 BYLINE: John Oddy SOURCE: Calgary Herald - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not the same thing - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: "It's no wonder firearms owners are a little gun-shy," Danielle Smith, Opinion, Jan. 23. Brian Ward's story proves again the disingenuousness of those who compare gun registration with car registration. Your house doesn't get raided, your wife terrorized, your personal possessions looted and your second car "stolen" because you have made a mistake in the registration paperwork. Nor are police looking for an excuse to seize your car permanently. You can't be criminally charged with "unsafe storage" because you left your powerful and potentially lethal car parked in the driveway, or because your wife has access to the keys. John Oddy Chilliwack, B.C. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:27:23 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: PAUL MARTIN: "There is no defence in the huge increase in the cost that occurred." Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal DATE: 2003.02.01 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A1 / Front BYLINE: Mark Reid SOURCE: Calgary Herald; With files from The Canadian Press DATELINE: CALGARY ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: Calgary Herald / Liberal leadership contenderPaul Martin plays the cymbals as a lion looks on during a Friday stop at a Calgary Chinese cultural centre. !@IMAGES=Colour Photo: Calgary Herald / Liberal leadership contender Paul Martin plays the cymbals as a lion looks on during a Friday stop at a Calgary Chinese cultural centre. [206305-50712.jpg]; - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Martin decries military woes: Now he's worried about inappropriate, outdated gear: SLASHED BUDGET IN '95, WOULD BOOST IT AS PM - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- CALGARY - Paul Martin, the Liberal leadership front-runner who slashed the budget of the armed forces as finance minister, is now calling for a boost in military spending. Martin, on the campaign trail in Calgary, criticized the Chretien government, suggesting Canada's soldiers are being sent into combat without proper equipment and supplies and also called for a review of Canada's foreign and military policies. "I think there's no doubt we have to increase military spending," Martin said of his fellow Liberals. "When we send our soldiers abroad, they've got to have the equipment required to do the job they're being asked to do. "Essentially, a military review should follow a foreign policy review, to .... determine the parameters of what we have to do (in terms of raising spending)." The comments come after Martin declared earlier this week he's not out to challenge Prime Minister Jean Chretien, but insists he won't "silence" himself in the coming months just to avoid controversy. Moreover, he said, it's important to understand that the policies he will advocate in the coming months are those that he would implement as prime minister, not ones he thinks should be put in place now. Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, responding to Martin's comments, said he too supports reviewing the military's policies and practices. However, he also suggested poor management is to blame if Canadian soldiers are lacking proper equipment and supplies. "They have a $12-billion dollar budget. There's no excuse for them sending soldiers into combat without proper clothing and footwear," Manley said in Calgary. "With $12 billion, you find the money to do that." Several reports released after Canadian troops returned from Afghanistan in 2002 found soldiers lacked proper equipment, including desert camouflage and lighter-weight steel-toed boots. The reports also noted there weren't enough laptop computers, and an ambulance sent to the region had little use because it didn't have air-conditioning for temperatures that got up to 65 C. Martin acknowledged it was under his watch, as finance minister in the mid-1990s, that the military suffered its biggest budget cuts. Since 1994, defence spending has dropped by about 23 per cent. However, Martin defended those cuts, saying drastic action was needed to tackle Canada's massive deficit and debt. "There's no doubt, in 1995 our backs were against the wall and we decreased spending," Martin said following a campaign swing through Calgary's Chinatown. "But if you look at each of the last three years, we have increased spending. And of course, if you look at the budget following (the terrorist attacks on America on) Sept. 11, there was a substantial increase in military spending." A Senate committee recently called on the federal government to pump at least $4 billion in extra funding into the military, just to cover its immediate spending needs. The annual military budget is about $12 billion. However, in its last budget, the federal government pledged $7.7 billion for security-related spending, including $1.2 billion for the military. The Chretien government has long suffered criticism for "neglecting" the armed forces. However, at least one military expert said Martin can't be "blamed" for slashing military spending in the mid-1990s. John Ferris, a professor of military history at the University of Calgary, said most Canadians simply do not consider the military a top spending priority. Martin's budget cuts in the mid-1990s, Ferris said, were just a reflection of the will of average Canadians. "I don't think you can blame Martin for (cutting military spending) eight years ago," Ferris said. "Canadians have never valued spending on the military." Martin conceded that the federal government announced just last week it is reviewing foreign policy, including the role of the military, threats to national security and Canada-U.S. relations. "I think we'll have to see what comes out of that but I do believe that it's been quite some time and I think that basically every government policy should be reviewed over time." Earlier Friday, Martin met with community members in Okotoks, about 30 kilometres south of Calgary, where he slammed his own government for allowing the cost of the national firearms registry to top $1 billion. "There is no defence in the huge increase in the cost that occurred," he said. As for the Kyoto Protocol, Martin could offer little solace for Albertans opposed to the climate change accord. Martin said Canada will have to honour its commitments under the protocol, but said the answer to reducing greenhouse gas emissions lies in developing new, cleaner technologies. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:28:08 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Growth of gun use concerns Britons PUBLICATION: The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2003.02.03 EDITION: Final SECTION: Viewpoints PAGE: B7 COLUMN: View From the U.K. BYLINE: Andy Imlach SOURCE: Special to The Leader-Post DATELINE: LONDON - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Growth of gun use concerns Britons - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LONDON -- One of the policemen patrolling the London sidewalk outside St. Stephen's Entrance, the main public door into the British Houses of Parliament, has two new additions to his traditional bobby's uniform -- body armour and an automatic rifle. In Bristol in mid-January, for the first time ever police headed out on routine patrols with carbine rifles, an attempt to forestall or put down a feared war between rival drug gangs. Back in London, an armed man held off police marksmen surrounding his house for more than two weeks before his death ended Britain's longest siege since knights and archers parked outside castles. The siege began on Boxing Day when police tried to tow away a car suspected of being used in an August shooting incident and suddenly found themselves under fire from a nearby house. Meanwhile, England football captain David Beckham and his former Spice Girl wife Victoria, were reportedly test driving a special bullet-proof version of a BMW around the English countryside following a foiled kidnap plot; two girls were gunned down at a party in Birmingham; and Miss Dynamite, a rising pop star, appealed to her audience at a large London concert to give up the gun culture that is gripping parts of British society. The days are gone when British criminals didn't carry guns because the police didn't, and news reports of shoot-outs and armed assaults were invariably American. Guns have now become almost a fashion accessory in some inner-city communities and gun crimes grow rapidly. In London, regarded internationally as safe and unintimidating, there were on average 11 incidents a day in 2002 involving guns, as the number of firearm offences rose a fearsome 35 per cent in one year. The use of handguns in crimes jumped by 46 per cent and, although London recorded half of all the gun-related incidents, in other parts of England and Wales criminals were also increasingly carrying firearms. Even the use of airguns, which aren't counted as "real" guns even though they were responsible for two deaths last year, rose by 21 per cent last year. In releasing the latest crime figures, government officials were quick to point out that the statistics for the year up to Sept. 1, 2002, were always going to be inflated because of more stringent reporting rules that meant incidents that previously went unreported now count. Additionally, it was noted that in the vast majority of incidents the guns were used to threaten and were not actually fired. It is also true that the presence of the armed officer outside the Houses of Parliament is part of a major show of force to discourage terrorists rather than to stop crime. However, the new reporting rules were expected to boost gun crime figures by 20 per cent, not 35 per cent. Furthermore, the reporting year did not include any of the violence that has made headlines in recent months. And whether the threat is from terrorists or criminals, armed attacks in England are now far from the rarity they used to be. As well as causing public alarm, the latest gun crime statistics also raise a serious question about gun control. Following the shooting of 16 people, including children, outside a school in Northern Ireland, handguns were officially banned in 1997 and strict controls were introduced on all privately owned guns. These include requiring guns used for sporting events to be safely locked away in gun clubs. Yet, despite these stringent controls, the use of handguns in crimes has more than doubled in the ensuing five years. Blame for this surge in serious violence has been placed on various doorsteps: a rise in drug use and the gang culture, particularly involving Jamaican Yardies; violent song lyrics, movies and computer games, and the influx of asylum seekers from countries such as the Balkans, where guns were more commonly a way of life than they have been in Britain. But even with the huge percentage rise in gun use, Britain is still far less threatened by armed criminals than many other countries. That 96 shooting deaths and just under 10,000 gun crimes a year is causing grave concern in a country of close to 60 million people is as much a tribute to Britain's traditional aversion to armed crime as it is evidence of the development of a more vicious criminal element. - - Imlach is a London-based Canadian freelance writer. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:29:55 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: MAN DIES IN GUN BATTLE PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2003.02.03 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 16 BYLINE: AJAY BHARDWAJ, SUN MEDIA DATELINE: EDMONTON - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MAN DIES IN GUN BATTLE - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- One man is dead and another is in hospital after a hail of gunfire erupted downtown yesterday morning, city police say. Minutes after the shooting was reported, police found two men examining a corpse at 111 Ave. and 106 St. near the Royal Alexandra hospital around 5:15 a.m., said Edmonton Police Service spokesman Wes Bellmore. A second man, who'd been shot in the arm, was at the hospital receiving treatment yesterday, he added. His injuries were not considered life-threatening. The gunplay started around 5 a.m., when residents of the Arlington apartment complex at 106 St. and 100 Ave. awoke to the sound of shots being fired outside. "Five popping sounds woke me up," said Patrick Finlay, 25. Cops dug a bullet out of a second-floor apartment wall at the building, Bellmore said. No one there was injured. "We had a report of gunshots and vehicles fleeing 100 Avenue and 105 Street," said Bellmore. Cops blocked off 111 Ave. where a Honda Prelude was parked on the median, its driver and passenger side windows shattered. A body lay a few metres away. Two men who police believe "were associated with the Prelude" were taken into custody and were being interviewed, said Bellmore. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 07:32:04 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: USA - Ashcroft Praises Program on Guns Cato Daily Dispatch - January 31, 2003 http://www.cato.org/dispatch/01-31-03d.html#1 Ashcroft Praises Program on Guns Attorney General John Ashcroft visited Philadelphia today to applaud a Justice Department program that began here and has dramatically increased federal prosecutions for gun-law violations, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "Ashcroft credited Project Safe Neighborhoods with putting more criminals behind bars, noting that federal gun prosecutions had increased by 32% since the program's inception. Last year, federal prosecutors charged more than 10,000 people with gun violations, convicting almost 90%, he said." Despite the program's apparent success in increasing the number of gun prosecutions, according to Cato Institute Senior Editor Gene Healy, the consequences of federal involvement in what should be a state and local matter could be counterproductive. In "There Goes the Neighborhood: The Bush-Ashcroft Plan to 'Help' Localities Fight Gun Crime", Healy observes that "praise for Project Safe Neighborhoods comes from quarters as diverse as Handgun Control, Inc. and the National Rifle Association. Unfortunately, those disparate parties have united in support of a singularly bad idea. Project Safe Neighborhoods is an affront to the constitutional principle of federalism. The initiative flouts the 10th Amendment by relying on federal statutes that have no genuine constitutional basis. Moreover, the program will very likely lead to overenforcement of gun laws and open the door to prosecutorial mischief affecting the racial composition of juries. As the constitutional and policy implications of Project Safe Neighborhoods become more apparent, the Bush initiative looks less like a commonsense solution to crime and more like a political gimmick with pernicious unintended consequences. If the 'respect for federalism' he has repeatedly professed is sincere, President Bush must reconsider his support for Project Safe Neighborhoods." ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V5 #712 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@sprint.ca 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 v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 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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