From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #523 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, September 29 2003 Volume 06 : Number 523 In this issue: Toronto gun violence task force City schools win battle against violence hate laws Boy, 4, finds loaded pistol, shoots sister Three bodies found in Red Deer apartment Bear topic springs up during election debate Re: Re: Help with answers please Slain teen's father preaches forgiveness Bryden article Letter to Toronto Sun (unpublished) ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:41:56 -0600 (CST) From: Barry Glasgow Subject: Toronto gun violence task force To: Toronto GlobeAndMail , Toronto Sun Both the Sun and the Globe & Mail filed September 27th reports about Police Chief Fantino's task force on criminal gun use in Toronto. Given that residents of Toronto ought to be aware of all aspects of this issue, I found it very disturbing to see that the Globe chose not to report on Fantino's call for mandatory 10-year sentences for gun-related crime as well his opinion that the excessive money spent on the federal gun registry has been of "precious little help". The Globe's opinion on this issue is well established but I would have thought that they at least owed it to their readers to not let it interfere with complete and accurate reporting on an issue that so greatly affects their readers. Barry Glasgow Woodlawn, Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:43:11 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: City schools win battle against violence http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/story.asp?id=924DD390-96D1-4E24-A0A1-C72AB50FFD02 City schools win battle against violence Educators, police joined forces to heal wounds from turbulent '90s Jim Farrell The Edmonton Journal Monday, September 29, 2003 EDMONTON - Student brawls in Edmonton popped up regularly on front pages during the 1990s but since then school violence has dropped off the radar screen. In the meantime, the troubled teens who caused the problems in the '90s have become adults and graduated to drug-dealing and drive-by shootings. Edmonton schools learned valuable lessons from them and the bullying and battles which once gave schools like M.E. LaZerte high school a black eye, administrators, police officers and principals say. "Because of my school's solid reputation, LaZerte has pulled in 800 Grade 10 students," says principal Susan Burghardt-MacNeill. "Last year it pulled 700 students. "The parents want their kids there because it is such a caring institution with a staff that is superbly skilled. Its International Baccalaureate results are among the highest in the district." A number of newsworthy incidents between 1993 and 2000 might have quashed enthusiasm for the northeast Edmonton high school. In June of 1993, students from M.E. LaZerte, Austin O'Brien Catholic and one other city high school descended on a St. Albert high school with fists and baseball bats in retaliation for an earlier fight. In December 1994, police thronged into an area of M.E. LaZerte to break up a crowd of students who had gathered for an after-class brawl. A day later, several hundred students gathered at a nearby mall as rumours circulated of an impending scrap between "Lebs" (Lebanese) and blacks. Twelve students were suspended that day amid worsening racial tensions. Sporadic incidents continued until the end of the decade at various Edmonton high schools but one incident from that era made it back into the news last week. In 1998, a 17-year-old M.E. LaZerte student was stabbed in the arm and chest outside the school's north entrance. Thirty minutes before the stabbing, there had been a fist fight between two groups of students at Londonderry Mall, across from the school. Threats were made and a knife was pulled. A third fight occurred behind the school between the time of the brawl at the mall and the stabbing. To protect other students, a 15-year-old boy was expelled from the public school system. That boy, Keith Raglon, had already been introduced to drugs, alcohol and the tribal codes of bullying and intimidation. Five years later, in the early hours of Sept. 21, Raglon was gunned down after someone pulled a gun during an argument at an all-night party. Raglon's mother and some of his friends claim his descent into a life of crime was due in part to an uncaring school system which failed to protect him from bullying, then barred him from classes forever. To protect himself at school, Raglon was forced to carry a weapon, one friend says. Those claims angered school officials. A student only has to report incidents of intimidation and bullying to a teacher and retribution will be sudden and severe, they say. In the same way, school officials dispute any claim the district will turn its back on a student, even one expelled for weapons offences. Offenders always get another chance says the public school district's supervisor of leadership services. "If the board expels a student from all schools, it must still provide access to programming," says Dennis Huculak. Expelled students are encouraged to pursue their education in home studies programs. If they do well and demonstrate they have changed, they can ask the district to re-admit them. But by the time he was expelled, Raglon had already moved out of his parents' home and was "crashing" at the homes of various friends. Within three years he was in jail, serving a one-year sentence for weapons offences. Last week, school officials described a realm of classrooms and hallways where students are protected and taught to respect one another, a place where they are constantly reminded of limits placed on their behaviour. "At the beginning of the year, all our kids gets a student handbook with our student conduct policy," says Doug Nelson, principal of St. Thomas More (Catholic) junior high school. Among other things, that policy forbids inappropriate clothing, foul language, bullying and physical abuse. Children and their parents have to sign the student handbook to demonstrate they understand the policy. It is a form of contract. It works, Nelson says. "I haven't had to discipline a kid since the end of April," says Nelson. "I've never had to suspend a student at this school." It's been more than two years since a student has been expelled from the public school system for such serious offences as weapons possession, intimidation or drugs and there are 80,000 students in the system, says Huculak. Like St. Thomas More, M.E. LaZerte makes its students sign a student conduct contract. Along with 14 other schools in the city, LaZerte also has a school resources officer, a city police constable who works with the students, mentors them, watches over them and gains their trust. As a payoff, students learn respect for the forces of law and enjoy the security of a law-abiding community. "There were a lot of things that happened in the 1990s which changed the dynamic in schools in general," says Victor Tanti, spokesman for the Edmonton Public School District. "The previous generation took a more lenient view of the perils of bullying and harassment. We don't accept it. We recognize how damaging it is to children and we make a great effort to protect children from that." Last week, some of Raglon's friends say his school buddies became his family whenever he needed protection from bullies. "In a gang, the tough guy says 'I have your back' but it's the weaker, smaller kid who takes the brunt of the police action while the gang leader hides behind the kid and benefits from gang activity," says Const. Rick Cole, a west Edmonton beat constable who recently won a national award for his innovative work with kids. "Real families don't watch your back," Cole says. "They watch your front. When someone threatens you, your family tells you to go home and they will deal with it." Cole has taught 200 troubled kids he has taken under his wing that they can expect that kind of family support from teachers and police officers. The students at St. Thomas More junior high school love that concept, says Nelson. "Our kids have expressed near-100-per-cent satisfaction with school and with safety at school." The Edmonton Police Service now has 15 school resource officers who work full-time in city schools as mentors, guardians and helpmates to school administrators. Burghardt-MacNeill prefers to talk about positive reinforcement -- the power of compliments and role modelling. That role modelling includes both dress and deportment, important elements in an era when South L.A. gangsta rap artists and half-naked pop stars have attained iconic status. "It's hard to work against that cultural fashion statement but you have to be relentless about it," Burghardt-MacNeill says. "It starts with teachers setting the tone and staff congratulating the kids who are doing really well." When the system fails, the violence and lawbreaking make front pages. When it works, it doesn't make the news but the kids know about it. So do teachers and administrators. There's no finer feeling, says Nelson. "This is the greatest job there is, dealing with these kids during the best time of their lives as they are growing physically, morally and intellectually." jfarrell@thejournal.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:43:55 -0600 (CST) From: "ross" Subject: hate laws New hate law which prohibits the dissemination of hate about gays is quite a big step. while this is off topic, it is non the less relevant in that this law provides for penalties when hate is directed towards an identifiable group. We as gun owners then must also be an identifiable group as we are also being smothered in hateful propoganda which demonises us. Could this not work for us as well? Opinions are welcome...flames will be dealth with accordingly ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:44:21 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Boy, 4, finds loaded pistol, shoots sister http://www.canoe.ca/WinnipegNews/ws.ws-09-29-0006.html >From AP via Winnipeg Sun Monday, September 29, 2003 Boy, 4, finds loaded pistol, shoots sister By AP LANDOVER, Md. -- A four-year-old boy found a loaded gun in his family's house and fired it through the front door, killing his five-year-old sister and seriously wounding another boy, authorities said. An older sister had seen the child pick up the semi-automatic handgun in the house Saturday night and had rushed the other children outside to try to protect them, but the bullet went through the door, hitting them, said Prince George's County police spokeswoman Cpl. Diane Richardson. The two wounded children stumbled across the street and collapsed in a neighbour's driveway, she said. Kimberly Brice was pronounced dead after arrival at a hospital. The bullet had hit the boy, 7, in the back and then hit Kimberly, Richardson said. The injured boy was expected to survive, she said. Police believe he is the other children's half-brother. "It's a terrible situation that probably could have been avoided," Richardson said. "It's quite obvious the gun was not secured." ADULTS COULD FACE CHARGES She said the four-year-old cannot be held criminally responsible, but the parents or other adults connected to the house could potentially face charges of leaving the young children unattended or leaving the gun where the children could get to it. "We're still trying to determine where the parents were," Richardson said. The older sister who was with the children was 10 years old. The mother of the three siblings went to one of the hospitals after the shooting, Richardson said. A man lives in the house as well, she said, but it wasn't clear yesterday what his relationship is to the woman or the children. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:44:56 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Three bodies found in Red Deer apartment http://www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-09-29-0010.html >From Calgary Sun Monday, September 29, 2003 Three bodies found in Red Deer apartment By DAN PALMER AND KRISTEN ENEVOLD, SUN MEDIA RED DEER -- A man, a woman and a child were found dead yesterday in a Red Deer apartment complex in what Mounties call "multiple sudden deaths." "You could smell the gun powder (in the hallway)," said Capt. Peter Barron of Red Deer Emergency Services, which were called to the scene for a report of a "multiple shooting." Names of the deceased weren't released pending notification of next-of-kin. Red Deer RCMP Const. Ralph Cervi said "all the victims were related." Mounties said they were called around 6:20 p.m. to the three-storey apartment complex in the 3800 block of Ross St., in a working-class neighbourhood that is reportedly about 50 years old. When Barron arrived with two ambulances and a fire truck around the same time, he said RCMP were securing the area. Barron said he didn't hear sounds of gunshots upon arrival. Mounties asked for one of the paramedics to check on an adult female in an apartment. Barron went to the suite with another male paramedic. The other paramedic went inside the suite to check the woman, while Barron stayed outside the suite. Barron couldn't say what was found in the suite, but said the other paramedic who went inside "didn't eat his supper." "This is a very quiet and safe city and it's disturbing to find this type of situation, especially involving a child," said Maxine O'Riordan of Red Deer. Wayne Seton, a 51-year-old rehabilitation worker who has lived in Red Deer for about 20 years, said "over the past few years the crime rate has gone up . . . but to hear something like this happening is definitely shocking." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:46:41 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Bear topic springs up during election debate http://www.northernnews.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=44508&catname=Local+News >From Northern Daily News Bear topic springs up during election debate ARNIE HAKALA Monday, September 29, 2003 - 08:00 Local News - Sturgeon Falls: In this provincial election campaign, the cancellation of the spring bear hunt has become a vivid reminder of the deep divisions between Northern and southern Ontario. At an election forum held in this community for the Timiskaming-Cochrane riding, the candidates for all three major parties said they want the hunt returned, and for all three, that runs against party policy. “We have to do something before somebody loses their life,” said New Democrat Ben Lefebvre. “We simply can’t have 300- to 400-pound bears threatening people in their backyards.” Liberal David Ramsay, who has represented the riding since 1985, said there still is a bear hunt. “The police are shooting them.” he said, adding the Liberals would immediately “upload the responsibility to the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) where it has always belonged.” Tory Rick Brassard couldn’t defend his party’s decision to cancel the hunt and appeared annoyed that a study on the problem has been completed but not released. “I’d like to see that report,” he said. “There was no science behind the cancellation. I’d like to see the hunt reinstated.” Sixty people attended the forum in West Nipissing council chambers. It was a subdued audience which didn’t clap until the two-hour debate was over. A panel of four people posed questions before the debate was turned over to the floor. Lefebvre sniped at his opponents most of the evening, reminding everyone that Ramsay was first elected as a New Democrat and then switched to the Liberals. He accused the Tory government of “candy bar” funding and said the idea of a tax free incentive zone was stolen from the United States. “Grease some palms and you get some business.” Ramsay said there are critical problems in health care, most caused by the shortage of doctors and nurses. “There are 80 qualified foreign doctors driving taxis and delivering pizza in Kitchener right now,” he said. “We have to remove some of the barriers to get well-trained foreign doctors into the system.” Ramsay also spoke about the closure of the Weyerhaeuser Co. mill last year. “There has to be strings attached so a company like Weyerhaeuser doesn’t just walk away,” he said. Brassard said he wants to see the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission restructured and passing lanes added to Highway 17. He said he has kept abreast of issues in West Nipissing and has sat in on recent discussions of lake trout population declines in lakes on the Highway 805 corridor, northwest of River Valley. He is in favour of re-evaluating fishing and hunting restrictions. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:47:38 -0600 (CST) From: Subject: Re: Re: Help with answers please > From: 10x@telus.net > Date: 2003/09/28 Sun PM 05:43:18 EST > To: undisclosed-recipients: ; > Subject: Re: Help with answers please > I am willing to bet you could NOT purchase a Liberal party membership if > you attempted to do so. > > They cashed my cheque but they never sent me a membership. Nor was the > Liberal Party wiling to respond to any of my inquiries. > > I wonder how many other folks attemped to buy a Liberal party membership > and never got it because of who they were or how they may speak out at > party meetings? That was my experience eleven or twelve years ago when it was being recommended that we attempt to take over riding associations. I never heard a thing from them - no membership card, no newsletter, no notice of meetings or activities - until the following year when I got a renewal request. The local lieberal MP (I was stationed in Petawawa at the time) was a great (vocal, at least) supporter of the Armed Forces and one of his riding staff knew me fairly well. Her husband was an Air Cadet Officer and we were on good terms, and I wasn't quite so vocal then (at least not in her presence) except to slam the Mulroneyites for their betrayal of the military and Kimmie's stupid firearms legislation. I think that I _may_ have been a member for a year, but I've never been sure and I couldn't be bothered to find out. On the other hand, my concurrent Reform membership (before the party was even officially active in Ontario) brought cards, letters, questionnaires and surveys, newsletters, and more. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:48:22 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Slain teen's father preaches forgiveness http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=44531&catname=Local+news >From Owen Sound Sun Times Slain teen’s father preaches forgiveness Son killed in high school shooting in Alberta Jim Algie Monday, September 29, 2003 - 08:00 Local news - Rev. Dale Lang preaches with surprising gentleness about the day in April, 1999, when a student shot his 17-year-old son Jason to death in the hallway at W. R. Myers High School in Taber, Alberta. The shooting came only eight days after the mass murder and suicides at Columbine High School in Colorado. At the time, many Canadians were comforting themselves, as did Lang, with the idea that such things could not happen here. Even less likely was the thought it could happen in a quiet, rural place such as Taber, where Lang was rector of the Anglican church and where he and his wife, Diane, had raised their five children. There was a link to Columbine, Lang told 150 people at Knox United Church in Owen Sound on Saturday. The troubled 14-year-old boy who came to school with a .22 rifle concealed in one leg of his pants had told an acquaintance earlier about how much he had approved of the killings there. But Lang’s message Saturday was one of forgiveness, not anger. “We need to stand up and start to care for the people that are tough even to be with,” Lang said during his 60-minute talk. “I challenge you to be the kind of people who can love the unlovable; that’s how God will change the world.” Lang is in Grey-Bruce for a series of five appearances through Tuesday, including at high schools in Walkerton and Chesley. He also preached at Hanover Missionary Church on Sunday. Saturday evening’s event was part of a drive for the regional hospital chaplaincy program, which raised more than $48,000 to maintain counselling service. It was a hospital chaplain who first told Lang his son had been shot and who greeted the frantic parents at the hospital. The killer, who has been in custody for the past four years, is due for release in November. Although the Langs have had contact with his mother, the boy, now living in Ontario, has declined to meet with them. But Lang forgave him soon after the killing. At a memorial service for Jason at Meyers High soon after the shooting, Lang asked students and the community of Taber to forgive the culprit. He said his feelings of forgiveness are a revelation from God through a message contained in the Christian gospels, but one which crystallized in his mind in the moments after viewing his dead son’s body. “I was just feeling anger that my 17-year-old son . . . who had done nothing to hurt anyone else, that he should be dead at the age of 17.” It was wrong and it should not have happened and I was angry about that,” Lang said. “My thoughts did turn to the boy who killed Jason; I didn’t know who he was but . . . God gave me the thought `This kid has to be a hurting, broken kid to do something so awful,” he said. “My anger began to subside.” Lang recalled wondering that afternoon why so many young people have developed such anger that they want to injure and kill others. “I never went back to feeling anger after that,” Lang said. “I don’t believe I would have forgiven that boy if I didn’t have Jesus as my Lord and saviour. I think I’d be in pretty bad shape. I think I would have died that day my son died.” Lang’s quietly delivered sermon brought sympathetic gasps at points from an audience which included many professional clergy. Lang described in detail his emotional and intellectual response to his son’s murder. His speech ended with an account of an early morning drive he took with Jason that fateful day. Jason had asked his dad to drive with him as he grappled with the standard transmission in his first-ever used car, purchased only two days before. The driving went well; Jason chatted about what a good deal the car had been and for the first time about what he might do after high school graduation. When Jason dropped his father off at home and went on to school, it was the last time Lang would see his son alive. “I look back at that half hour as a very special gift that the Lord granted me that day,” Lang said. “I think as parents one of the greatest blessings we get to experience is when our children really enjoy life and I was blessed to see Jason enjoying life that day.” ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 09:49:04 -0600 (CST) From: "ross" Subject: Bryden article There was an article on the digest about an MP Bryden who went on to state in hansard that long guns were to be destroyed..does anyopne have the whole article. if so, please send it to me offline..My Mp deserves to answer some questions on this. Thanks [Consider it done. BNM] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 10:00:57 -0600 (CST) From: "Robert S. Sciuk" Subject: Letter to Toronto Sun (unpublished) ... - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2003 11:51:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Robert S. Sciuk To: Toronto Sun Subject: HOME INVADERS BEAT MAN WITH SHOTGUN ... Dear Sir/Madame, Your headline on this article is more than a little misleading. It is the home invaders who had the shotgun, and not the man who was threatened with death, beaten, and then had his home ransacked. Too bad! This is due in large part to the Canadian Firearms Act which puts firearms beyond reach for the law abiding for the purpose of defense of person and family, but not for criminal use. Criminals it seems are not affected by the legislation which is aimed primarily at making the law abiding into paper felons. The Charter of Rights guarantees the right to safety, and the Criminal Code absolves the police from any reponsibility for not showing up to a 911 call in time to stop or prevent the problem, thus putting Canadians between a Rock (Alan) and a hard place! It turns out that if the home owner had a shotgun to hand, in all likelihood the scumbags would have fled in terror with no violence being perpertrated. The law abiding homeowner would, of course be immediately charged with unsafe storage, threatening and any number of criminal (felony) offences which would surely have ruined his life. As it was, the man is lucky to be alive. I guess the intent is to have us curl up in a ball, and pray that the bad guys don't rape, shoot and beat us to death. Good legislation? I don't think so! Whatever happened to this country? -- oh, right, I forgot! Sincerely, Robert S. Sciuk Oshawa, Ont. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #523 ********************************** 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@cogeco.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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