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 #770 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 Friday, February 14 2003 Volume 05 : Number 770 In this issue: Letter: GUN REGISTRY FARCE NEEDS TO BE ENDED Letter: Can you spell 'censor'? DIRTY HARRY'S DREAM GUN Editor ("I have a nun," perhaps?) Editor (It's an Orwellian exercise -- indeed, it could come right out of Nineteen Eighty-Four) TENANTS EVACUATED IN GUNFIRE DRAMA Editorial: When is a screwdriver not a screwdriver? Letters in the Ottawa Citizen Cauchon may challenge Paul Martin ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:33:06 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Letter: GUN REGISTRY FARCE NEEDS TO BE ENDED PUBLICATION: The London Free Press DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: Opinion Pages PAGE: A8 BYLINE: GEORGE MACKINNON GODERICH COLUMN: Letters to the Editor - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- GUN REGISTRY FARCE NEEDS TO BE ENDED - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before the Christmas break in Parliament, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon asked for $72 million to continue the firearms registry (Bill C-68). The auditor general issued a seething report on a system that was to have cost $2 million, but had escalated to more than $1 billion. In the ensuing debate, Cauchon withdrew his request for the money. However, now we find that $74 million has been transferred to the registry. At no time would this bill be intended to make things safer for the general public, but rather it is an attack on the honest gun owner, at the taxpayer's expense, by the anti-gun and animal rights people. So, as taxpayers, we are paying to have ourselves prosecuted. How much longer are we going to allow this farce to continue? Britain and Australia have the most stringent gun control regulations in the world and are named by the UN to have the worst crime per capita anywhere. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:34:04 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Letter: Can you spell 'censor'? PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: National SECTION: Editorials PAGE: A17 COLUMN: Letters BYLINE: D.J. MacIntyre SOURCE: National Post DATELINE: EAST ALDFIELD, Que. NOTE: D.J. MacIntyre, East Aldfield, Que., where the word "gun"can be found in the letters that make up the phrase "Historical Culture." - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Can you spell 'censor'? - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Gun Cut from Spelling Tests After Pacifist Parents Protest, Feb. 11. At first, I assumed this was a joke. But now it seems not. It is, indeed, a very slippery slope the Upper Canada District School Board is heading down, allowing one of its schools to pander to people's phobias. It is, of course, their right to avoid "that word" in their personal life. It would be quite a challenge, I imagine, considering their neighbourhood. Home Depot would be definitely off the shopping schedule, with glue GUNS, paint GUNS, caulking GUNS, heat GUNS and screw GUNS adorning the walls and sale flyers. Of course, that was intended in jest. But what is not in jest is my reprehension that the school board will stand idly by while one of its schools determines that the wants and fears of one family should be enforced upon an entire community. Today, the school is removing the word "gun" from the first grade spelling list for fear of offence. Will it follow up this literary pogrom with further action? Will it scour the school library for obscene use of the word "gun" in a book accessible to the first grade students or, instead, for complete efficiency, be prohibiting them from reading while at school at all for fear that they may come across this evil word? Perhaps it would be best if the school simply burned the books, then, on the off chance that the word "gun" may be in them, either directly, or subversively as part of a larger, innocent-appearing word, such as "begun." That word is particularly insinuating and deceptive, as it joins the most simple and basic of the English verbs, "to be" with that evil arrangement of letters that the school seems to find so reprehensible -- "gun." Perhaps, to insulate the children from this aberration, we should form a movement to have the word now pronounced differently: "beg-un," as in "We have beg-un down the slippery slope of prejudice." I do wonder what words will make the list for the second grade students. Particularly when you reach the letter C. "Censor." That's a good word for a test. You could even add some of the tricky endings, like "-ing" or "-ship." Many children don't immediately know how to spell it; I just hope they learn to recognize it when they see it. D.J. MacIntyre, East Aldfield, Que., where the word "gun" can be found in the letters that make up the phrase "Historical Culture." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:34:51 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: DIRTY HARRY'S DREAM GUN PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 40 BYLINE: AP DATELINE: SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIRTY HARRY'S DREAM GUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dirty Harry is now outgunned: Smith & Wesson has introduced its biggest handgun ever, a .50-calibre Magnum. The five-shot revolver with an 81/2-inch barrel weighs about 41/2 pounds -- roughly a pound more than the .44 Magnum wielded by Clint Eastwood in the Dirty Harry movies. The company said the new .50-calibre cartridge produces nearly three times the muzzle energy of the .44 -- or enough stopping power to bring down a charging bear. The gun sells for about $989 US. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:35:58 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editor ("I have a nun," perhaps?) PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Sun DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: Comment PAGE: 14 ILLUSTRATION: photo of MARIO LEMIEUX Needs money BYLINE: OTTAWA SUN COLUMN: Letter of the Day - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER OF THE DAY COLUMN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- IF THE Upper Canada School Board bans the word "gun" from its spelling books, can we expect in 20 years to see Woody Allen-type bank robbers handing tellers notes that say "Give me all your money, I have a gub"? Donna Hedley Editor ("I have a nun," perhaps?) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:36:42 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editor (It's an Orwellian exercise -- indeed, it could come right out of Nineteen Eighty-Four) PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Sun DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: Comment PAGE: 14 BYLINE: OTTAWA SUN COLUMN: Letters to the Editor - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR COLUMN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I AM writing in disgust because I heard about the pacifist couple in Smiths Falls who caused a stink over the word "gun" being on their child's spelling list. They called the teacher and then they followed up with a call to the principal to complain. Can you believe it, the principal had the word removed from all school spelling lists? This principal is in a position of making important decisions in regard to every student who attends that school, and should have talked reason to the couple who were complaining and explained to them that "gun" is not a dirty word. We have starter guns, caulking guns, rivet guns, air guns, radar guns, staple guns and likely many more types of guns, including real guns. Maybe if it was explained to them that Canadian soldiers used guns to fight for the freedom we enjoy today, they would understand. However, I doubt it. With this type of mentality we should ban all words, as they likely offend someone someplace. In the future, if decision-makers such as the principal in this case continue to bow to the wishes of every person that walks through their door, our children's spelling list will be a blank page. Kory Neil Carleton Place Editor (It's an Orwellian exercise -- indeed, it could come right out of Nineteen Eighty-Four) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:37:22 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: TENANTS EVACUATED IN GUNFIRE DRAMA PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 4 ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos by Walter Tychnowicz, Edmonton Sun 1. Members of the police tactical unit leave a south-side apartment building yesterday morning after a suspect peacefully surrendered in a gun incident. 2. Building manager Simmy Saran talks to reporters afterwards. BYLINE: RAQUEL EXNER, EDMONTON SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHOTS RIDDLE BUILDING TENANTS EVACUATED IN GUNFIRE DRAMA - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Residents of a south-side apartment building are relieved no one was hurt after a drunk tenant allegedly fired off 20 gunshots - some of which blew through hallway walls. A number of residents in the 10422 78 Ave. building called cops just before 6 a.m. yesterday after hearing multiple shotgun blasts from a third-floor suite. Bill Doan, 25, heard a couple of faint "pops" about 5:50 a.m. Doan and his roommate stuck their heads out the door and saw a hole in the wall. While the roommate alerted the apartment manager who was downstairs, Doan took "five steps out toward the hole in the wall and heard someone saying in a slurred speech, 'I'm going to shoot your hand off. You should probably go to the hospital.' " Doan darted back inside and called 911. Thirty seconds later, he heard another shot and called the police back. Angie, 31, who didn't want her last name printed, said she heard "two shots right away just as I was getting out of bed about 5:45 a.m. "It was so loud, I thought it was next door," she said. "Then I heard three more (shots) a few minutes apart. I saw the police swarm the building after the third shot. We left in such a hurry, we didn't have our shoes." Apartment manager Simmy Saran, 24, said one tenant told her the gunman was counting down, "five-four-three-two-one," then firing. Police arrived within minutes of the first calls and evacuated the building. Many of the tenants went to a nearby coffee shop and watched the rest of the drama unfold. When officers took their positions near the stairwells, police say several shots were fired through the hallway walls from inside a suite. Police estimate up to 20 shots were fired in total. "It is very lucky that nobody was injured," said Edmonton police spokesman Wes Bellmore. About 7:40 a.m., Sgt. Chris Hayden phoned a man in the building who allegedly claimed he had shot two people inside a suite. Within five minutes, a suspect peacefully surrendered. When officers checked the suite, no one was there. Rick Markel, 23, who lives in the building, said he has no plans to move out and isn't worried about his safety. However, it did "weird me out when police knocked on my door at 6 a.m. with their guns drawn," he said. Saran said a man arrested in connection with the shooting will be evicted. On the building's third floor, chunks of drywall and drywall dust covered one end of the hall. There were also holes in the wall from some of the gunshots. Richard Kuzyk, 51, has been charged with dangerous use of a firearm, careless storage of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a firearm. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:37:57 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Editorial: When is a screwdriver not a screwdriver? PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: Comment PAGE: A19 SOURCE: The Montreal Gazette - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Voices: When is a screwdriver not a screwdriver? - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following editorial was published in the Montreal Gazette: This is what we get for $1 billion: Patrice Dumas of Bromont filled in all the forms to register a firearm, and sent them in. In only about two weeks, he got back a completed official registration document for his screwdriver. It's a Fuller-brand Phillips type, not a power screwdriver, but an old-fashioned manual one. At the place on the form where you indicate the type of action of your gun, he put "lever" -- because he often uses this particular screwdriver to lever open cans of paint. Ottawa's reaction to this act of disdain for registration: An official said he's ready to use the force of the law to ensure compliance. So, we're spending $1 billion to set up a database and a bureaucracy so sloppy that it will issue a permit for a simple screwdriver, but punish people who don't co-operate. And the exact usefulness of all this will be what? The government's devotion to this stupid idea seems to become more intense as the absurdity of the scheme becomes more apparent. Can't Ottawa think of anything else to do with $1 billion? That's about $33 per Canadian; wouldn't you rather have yours back, or else have it spent on better enforcement of existing gun laws? By now, critics have demonstrated a whole gamut of things wrong with this scheme -- legally, economically, administratively and otherwise. It's past time for Ottawa to abandon the whole idea. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:39:30 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Letters in the Ottawa Citizen PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PAGE: B5 BYLINE: Al Dorans SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soldiers with guns keep us free - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Gun control: schools ban even the word, Feb.11. Is this to be the new wussy curriculum in Ontario? Anything that is politically incorrect in the eyes of a narrow-minded and tiny minority of social engineering elitists shall be removed. If two parents object to students eating meat, should that term disappear, too? Should all classical books containing profanity and spiritually dangerous ideas be stockpiled and burned alongside firearms, to extinguish the cultural heritage of Canadians? Amanda and Mark Sousa have the freedom of speech to express their views. This was assured when 113,000 young Canadians with guns laid down their lives in two world wars to protect our Canadian freedoms -- something the Sousas fail to appreciate. Lest we forget, you bet that students should be educated, in perpetuity, on the sacrifices of Canada's brave war veterans with guns. Mrs. Sousa's discomfort with the word gun identifies a personal and pronounced fear. Guns do not kill, nor do they promote violence. Similarly, forks do not kill, nor do they promote obesity. For decades, students in nearby Perth High School have been trained in marksmanship skills through co-operative programs sponsored by the Dominion of Canada Rifle Association, the school board and the government of Canada. The purpose was to develop a cadre of skilled shooters who could serve their country in times of national emergency. And they did. This foolish administrative decision at Lombardy Public School is similar to the Billy Barnes case in Nova Scotia. During lunch, a little lad pointed a chicken finger at another student and said "bang." Billy, a Grade 2 pupil, was suspended from school. The decision necessitates a immediate review and complete reversal. Al Dorans, Ottawa Director of the Recreational Firearms Community of Ottawa - ------------------------------------------------------ PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PAGE: B5 BYLINE: Peter Johnson SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out of proportion - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Re: Have gun, will censor, Feb. 12. As your editorial stated, censorship is never far from our schools. The Upper Canada District School Board finally stated its opposition publicly, only after it had issued a memorandum of caution to principals. Seemingly harmless actions get blown out of proportion by those whose only point of view is in the first person and who desire to filter the world for their children. As a teacher with 30 years' experience, I know that one of the biggest challenges in education is dealing with parents who are intent on being special-interest advocates for their children, regardless of the impact it has on the overall system. Perhaps this is why school boards now must have public relations staff who do little else but deal with these people with a single, narrow point of view. Where all this is heading isn't good. Peter Johnson, Oxford Mills - -------------------------------------- PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2003.02.14 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PAGE: B4 SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gag us with a policy - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those who wish to control the flow of information to the public about services the public pays for should always be treated as suspect. What do they think they have to hide? Why do they think they have the right to hide it, when taxpayers fund it? And if there's nothing to hide, if it's about good, honest public work, why does it need spin-meistering? The City of Ottawa is ready to fire off a detailed memo to its thousands of employees on how to deal with the media. Why? The city really doesn't have much of a communications problem. When journalists call municipal employees with questions on behalf of the public, we get mostly straightforward answers from knowledgeable, hard-working people. Why fix what isn't broken? To satisfy the corporate bureaucracy, apparently. City communications director Marie-Josee Lapointe says that the 12 former municipal governments had different media relations policies. Now that they are merged into one big city, some think a new policy is needed. "In a bureaucracy people want to see things on paper," she says. "People want clarity of process." A policy on media relations was drafted for the Emergency and Protective Services Department and may be applied to the rest of the city. The policy advises employees to avoid certain policy discussions and statements that would "bring the City into disrepute." It outlines who the "official spokespeople" are -- city manager, senior managers and the communications department -- and how communication with news media initiated by city staff should be co-ordinated and approved by the communications department. Gad. This is bureaucratic foolishness that will do more harm than good. Trust us: Whenever there are restrictions placed on normal communications between public servants and the public, the level of communication deteriorates badly. The federal government's departments do lots of interesting work but the Canadian public seldom learns about it because of strict media controls. (This also means you don't hear as much as you should about bad things, too. Think: gun registry spending.) The City of Ottawa has had virtually no problem of employees saying inappropriate things. A fire department captain publicly questioned the city's use of new fire equipment for a public-relations event. Big deal: It was part of a healthy debate about adequate emergency resources. Taxpayers are fully capable of assessing whether such claims are self-serving or a worthwhile warning from a public servant acting in the city's best interests. Librarians working for the city should be able to talk about whether pornography is a problem in library branches. Who else could do so? This doesn't mean that employees should blather on about anything at all. They are bound by much common-sense law governing their obligations to the city as an employer, and to taxpayers. But City of Ottawa employees speak to taxpayers and journalists everyday about what they know. The city's managers should stop fussing about it. Information makes for a more educated electorate. Don't bureaucratize it. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2003 08:43:32 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Cauchon may challenge Paul Martin PUBLICATION: The Hamilton Spectator DATE: 2003.02.14 SECTION: Canada & world PAGE: B03 SOURCE: The Canadian Press BYLINE: Louise Elliott PHOTO: Photo: Tom Hanson, the Canadian Press DATELINE: Ottawa ILLUSTRATION: Justice Minister Martin Cauchon gaining support to run forleadership. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------= Cauchon may challenge Paul Martin - ------------------------------------------------------------------------= Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is seriously considering a challenge to front-runner Paul Martin for the Liberal leadership. Cauchon has been under pressure in recent weeks by key supporters of Prime Minister Jean Chr=E9tien to enter the race to succeed him, top party sources said yesterday. Chrétien has remained carefully neutral, refusing to throw his support behind any candidate, though he is thought to support Deputy Prime Minister John Manley's launch, expected sometime after he delivers his budget Tuesday. But it's well-known Chrétien would like to see more candidates in the race to oppose Martin, his longtime political foe, and a source said the prime minister would see Cauchon as a welcome entrant. "The prime minister would be very happy if (Cauchon) were to enter the race," the source said. Warren Kinsella, a former Chrétien aide, has thrown his support behind Cauchon, saying the justice minister with a penchant for liberal causes would fill some gaping holes in the race. "We need a francophone who is a federalist in the race," Kinsella said. "We need somebody who's got guts and he's got guts to spare; we need somebody that represents a younger generation. He would be dynamite." Unlike Martin who was born in Windsor, Ont., and migrated to Montreal later in life, Cauchon is a francophone born in Quebec. At 40, he's also younger than the other contenders -- Martin, 64, Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, 53, and Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, 50 -- and he has never mounted a leadership bid. Late last year, Cauchon came under fire as minister in charge of the beleaguered billion-dollar gun registry, which was slammed in a report by auditor general Sheila Fraser for not properly accounting for massive cost overruns. He's favoured among the party's more liberal contingent for his stand on tough issues, including a willingness to decriminalize marijuana and to legalize same-sex marriages. Peter Donolo, another former Chrétien aide, said yesterday a Cauchon bid would make sense. "This could launch him into another level of the political orbit," said Donolo, who doesn't officially support any leadership candidate. Donolo pointed to Cauchon's relative youth and the fact that he doesn't have as much political baggage as, say, Copps, who has run for the post in the past. " He'd be the new generation candidate ..." he said. "Sheila, although she's young, she's been on the scene for quite some time." Cauchon caught the attention of top party members in a speech he made last summer at Toronto's National Club on the need to stand behind Chrétien during a tumultuous time of Liberal infighting, one source said. "He blew us all away," said the source. "A lot of people were running for cover (from the leadership troubles) and he didn't." Cauchon, who's expected to make his decision before Feb. 24 , when the party executive officially opens the race, may be deterred by a close friendship with Manley, whom he would likely support if he doesn't run, one source said. The race to replace Chrétien has been a one-man Martin walk since Chrétien announced last August that he's retiring next February. The leadership race has declined as a place to showcase party talent, Donolo said, citing Industry Minister Allan Rock's decision last month not to run as "disappointing." The money required to mount a successful bid -- estimated at between $3 million and $4 million in the current race-- is a big factor, he said. He added that a U.S.-style trend in political culture has crept into Canada. "People don't get credit for running and losing," he said. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V5 #770 ********************************** 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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