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 #569 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 Sunday, October 12 2003 Volume 06 : Number 569 In this issue: 20-year-old killed in group machete attack White hunters. Drivel from the Observer. Re: Lee Enfield No4MkI* Long Branch 1943 Alta. driver licences raise privacy concerns Cost of identity card will be overwhelming Shooting hurts farmers Published - "Cost of identity card will be overwhelming" The Nightmare of the Firearms Act Re: Loads for 43 Mauser? Patient set mental hospital fire, killing 30: Staff Calgary lands top crime summit ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 23:45:26 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: 20-year-old killed in group machete attack http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065737415019&call_pageid=968350130169&col=969483202845 Oct. 10, 2003. 09:26 AM 20-year-old killed in group machete attack Police believe gangs involved Slash wound to abdomen CAL MILLAR STAFF REPORTER A 20-year-old man was killed in a machete attack that police suggest may be linked to gang violence in Toronto's Tamil community. The victim is Janakan Sivalingam, of Toronto, and an autopsy will be held today to confirm the cause of death. Homicide investigators said the slaying occurred when a disturbance broke out in front of Albert Campbell Collegiate on Sandhurst Circle in the McCowan Rd. and Finch Ave. area. Detective Dan Sheppard, of Toronto's homicide squad, who is probing the slaying with his partner, Detective Sergeant Terry Wark, said it appears five to 15 men were involved in the attack. Although police haven't been able to find any witnesses to the assault, an initial investigation showed Sivalingam was attacked after being surrounded by a group of men outside the school shortly after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. Police said the victim, who was bleeding heavily from a slash wound to his abdomen as well as from other cuts, made his way to the school's cafeteria where people attending night school classes called 911 for help. The emergency operator began receiving calls at 8:44 p.m. reporting that a man had been assaulted. Sivalingam was treated at the scene by Toronto Ambulance paramedics and then taken to Sunnybrook hospital where doctors worked for several hours to save his life. He was pronounced dead at 3:34 a.m. while undergoing emergency surgery. Investigators said Sivalingam is known to police and that members of the newly formed guns and gang violent crime task force are assisting homicide detectives in tracking down possible suspects. Police are also requesting anyone with information about the slaying to call the homicide squad at 416-808-7400. Some night school students told police the people involved in the attack were not known at the school. Students at the scene also reported seeing a white van leaving the area shortly after the incident. Police Chief Julian Fantino said that while police have to be careful about labelling incidents as problems specific to one community, there have been some recent violent flare-ups in the Tamil community. "These are the issues that we are obviously very concerned about," he said. "We're doing the best we can to bring these people to justice. We're working hard to create a safe environment." Fantino said there have been far too many incidents where an attack by a group of people ends tragically. "We are very much involved at the street level now with the street violence task force," he said. "A lot of progress is being made. Anyone who thinks they have a freewheeling opportunity to continue creating problems, cause violence in our community ... they are fast being brought to justice." He said the task force that was established to track down a list of Toronto's 400 most wanted suspects is making inroads by seizing illegal weapons and getting violent criminals off the street. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 07:57:32 -0600 (CST) From: David M Subject: White hunters. Drivel from the Observer. Return of the great white hunters Wealthy Britons pay tens of thousands to bag a lion, elephant or polar bear in trophy hunts that recreate images of a bygone colonial era Antony Barnett, public affairs editor Sunday October 12, 2003 The Observer It is an image of a bygone era: the colonial hunter sitting atop an elephant in the Indian jungle preparing to shoot a tiger or any other large creature that happens to wander into his gun-sights. But an investigation into the growing trade of trophy hunting reveals that record numbers of wealthy British hunters are paying £10,000 or more for the privilege of slaughtering big game in Africa, North America and Eastern Europe Leopards, cheetahs, elephants, hippos and polar bears are being killed in unprecedented numbers. Many of them are among the most threatened species on the planet, yet there has been a fourfold increase in hunting trophies being imported into the UK since 1998. Conservationists and animal rights groups fear that the increase is pushing some species close to extinction. One reason for the growth in popularity of trophy hunting trips is that they are increasingly easy to arrange over the internet. An Observer reporter posing as a customer contacted several hunting outfits and was offered the chance to kill lions in Tanzania, elephants in Botswana, cheetahs in Zimbabwe, polar bears in Canada and grizzly bears in Russia. The largest organiser in the UK is Holland and Holland, the royal gunsmith based in Mayfair and best known for supplying guns to the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales. It has also supplied shotguns to celebrities such as Madonna and her husband, Guy Ritchie. Piers Vaux, director of Holland and Holland's sporting department, offered the reporter a 14-day hunt in Zimbabwe at its 'luxurious camps' on the banks of the Zambezi, where he would be able to shoot elephants and cheetahs. The cost would be $24,250, which included the cost of one elephant trophy at $10,000. Vaux assured the reporter that the political turmoil in Zimbabwe was no problem, but did recommend that Botswana was the best place for killing elephants. 'Last year we had the second best area for elephants in the country and this year we are due to be the first,' he said. 'Botswana is producing the largest elephants in Africa. These statistics point us in the direction of being one of the best areas in the continent for elephants.' Vaux quoted a price of $47,200 for a two-week hunt in the Okavango delta in Botswana. He confirmed that he was sending more 'English' hunters than ever out to Africa and believed it was because people are becoming 'more adventurous'. He described how once the animals are killed they are sent to a taxidermist in South Africa, where they are stuffed, mounted and then sent to the UK. Hendry Ramsay & Waters, a Scottish operator, told the reporter he could arrange a lion or leopard hunt in Tanzania for £10,000. British operators point out they act strictly within the law and take part only in licensed hunts approved by international authorities. They argue that their hunts pose no threats to endangered animal populations and aid the environment by bringing much-needed revenue into impoverished communities. Yet last week a report by the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at Oxford University warned that the number of African lions being shot must be radically cut if the species is to survive. Others also believe that the large amounts of foreign money pouring into trophy hunting leaves the system of licensed kills open to abuse. According to figures prepared for The Observer by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre - an agency of the United Nations Environment Programme - 44 potentially endangered animals were killed last year by British hunters and brought back to the UK as trophy heads. In 1998, only 10 suffered this fate. The latest trophies include 13 leopards, seven grizzly bears, six cheetahs, five polar bears, four hippos and three African elephants. The populations of these animals have fallen dramatically over the decades and they are listed as vulnerable by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Research has shown that removing just a single lion from a population could lead to a drastic fall in numbers. It is estimated that there are only 23,000 lions in Africa, about one-tenth of what some suggest there were in 1980. Similar fears of extinction exist for the leopard population. Figures obtained by The Observer show that, between 2001 and 2002, British hunters killed four lions and 23 leopards in such places as South Africa, Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Despite the pull of Africa, one of the most popular destinations for British hunters is the North-West Territories of Canada, where polar bears can hunted for about $25,000 a time. In the past two years, they have killed 15 polar bears and brought their trophies back to the UK. Although there are no British operators offering such trips, the internet means it is easy to book one by computer. One US outfit, Four Star Hunting, provides the 'ultimate global hunting destinations for the discriminating hunter'. Its website offers the chance for a hunter to kill almost any animal anywhere in the world and bring a trophy home. One of its consultants, Ron Simmons, offered a polar bear hunt for $22,500 and said he had a client from England 'who hunted polar bears with me last season and took a very good bear'. Another operator, Adventure North West, shows on its website a collection of polar bears and other species its clients have killed. US operators claim these areregulated hunts which benefit the Inuit community. Animal rights groups have expressed revulsion at the number of Britons killing vulnerable mammals for sport. Douglas Batchelor, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: 'We find it shocking that it is legal for trophy hunters to be allowed to travel abroad to shoot and import the body parts of rare and endangered species to adorn their boardrooms and country house retreats.' Conservationists are particularly worried about the number of grizzly bears being killed in British Columbia in Canada, where they believe the species is being pushed close to extinction. Wendy Elliott, a campaigner for the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: 'Concerns have been raised for decades by scientists that the grizzly bear hunt in British Columbia is unsustainable and is pushing the population into a possibly irreversible decline. We are in danger of returning to the policies of the imperial age, with the great white hunter contributing to the decline of some of our planet's most enigmatic species.' Until recently, trophy hunting has mainly been the preserve of wealthy Americans and Germans hoping to follow in the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway. But although the rise in the number of British hunters taking part in these trips has surprised some, others link it to the potential ban on foxhunting in the UK. 'It will come as no surprise if foreign trophy hunting becomes the sport of choice for those facing a ban on hunting with hounds and similar pursuits in the UK,' Batchelor said. 'Hunters who are rich enough will look for their thrills elsewhere. The only solution is for the EU to ban imports of trophy parts of animals killed for sport.' · Additional reporting by Karen Gavelin ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 07:58:50 -0600 (CST) From: "Jim Szpajcher" Subject: Re: Lee Enfield No4MkI* Long Branch 1943 Tom - > Subject rifle was re-bbl'd to 5.56mm and a scope (6-24) on a B-Square mount > added. Poor "cheek-weld" now due to height of scope. Firearm question period: Having a couple of No.4's in my possession, this got my attention. Are you referring to a Enfield Receiver with a .223 Rem barrel, or a wildcat using necked down .303 British brass? I met a Australian fellow once, who used a wildcat variant of either 7mm or .274 cal (.270) for hunting kangaroos. > Was looking in P&D today at a 1943 No4MkI* Long Branch that had been fitted with an ATI (?) LE > No4 stock and scope mount and this seemed like a good combo. For those who don't know, P&D has some swell draws for customers come the end of the month, so I'd recommend a visit there to enter. Their remodeled digs look pretty spiffy. > Anybody know > if the B-Square holds the scope higher or lower than the ATI mount? > Comments? Other suggestions? I'll ask around - none of mine have those mounts. Have you considered a cheek-piece of some variety? Thanks, Jim ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:51:10 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Alta. driver licences raise privacy concerns http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/10/11/licences031011 Alta. driver licences raise privacy concerns Last Updated Sat, 11 Oct 2003 21:38:27 CALGARY - Some privacy advocates are worried that Alberta's new driver's licences, with enhanced security features, are the first step to a more controversial idea – a national photo identification card. The licence features a laser-engraved digital photo of the user that will be stored in a data bank to which government and police will have access. Once the information is engraved into the card, it cannot be mechanically or chemically removed without leaving obvious signs of tampering. Mel Fruitman of the Consumers' Association of Canada questions the need for the new card. "Why should law-abiding citizens be on a file somewhere, where someone could access that for whatever nefarious reason?" he asked. "No computer system is absolutely secure," he said. Plagued by break-ins at registry offices in Edmonton and an increase in forgery and identity fraud, Alberta adopted the new licence over the summer. It's the first of its kind in Canada. The Alberta government says it's most secure driver's licence in North America. The province says eventually, it will use computer-based facial comparison technology, which is a more accurate means of identification than a visual check at registry offices. Alberta's Privacy commissioner, Frank Work, said the high-tech licence reduces the need for any national ID card. "I don't see the need for it, and any need that I have heard pales in comparison to what I see as a gross intrusion on the civil liberties of Canadians." Written by CBC News Online staff ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:51:46 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Cost of identity card will be overwhelming http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065823810553&call_pageid=968332189003&col=968350116895 Toronto Star Letter to the Editor Oct. 12, 2003. 01:00 AM Cost of identity card will be overwhelming Re: Coderre softens push for ID card, Oct. 9. Immigration Minister Denis Coderre, in true Liberal fashion, is pressing ahead with his national identity card scheme. The last boondoggle by the Liberals was their $2 million gun registry, which has ballooned to more than a billion dollars. (Slightly over budget and still not working.) The true costs of this have been hidden from the public and it took an investigation by Auditor-General Sheila Fraser to put together the billion-dollar estimate. Even she gave up, stating they had costs hidden in too many departments for her to make the true cost known. Bear this in mind when you consider the ID card, which is estimated to cost $7 billion. We know the Liberals cannot add nor do they give honest estimates on their program costs. If one were to factor in cost increases to the ID card similar to what the gun registry is headed for, then we are in trouble indeed. They took the registry costs from front-line policing, health care and our military. Where do you think the ID card costs are going to come from? Jim Hill, Fletchers Lake, N.S. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:52:13 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Shooting hurts farmers http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065823810512&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795 Toronto Star Editorial Oct. 12, 2003. 01:00 AM Shooting hurts farmers Canadian beef and dairy farmers are understandably upset about the state of the country's cattle industry in the wake of the mad cow scare. But there is no excuse for the revolting behaviour of Quebec cattlemen who cheered as they shot a cow to death Thursday in front of television cameras in the Lac St. Jean region. The farmers want $30 million in compensation from the provincial government for business lost since a lone case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy was discovered in a cow in Alberta last spring. A spokesman for Agriculture Minister Françoise Gauthier rightly called the slaughter "deplorable" and said Jean Charest's Liberal government has already given beef producers $58 million in aid and is trying to provide more help. The protesters' appalling stunt earned them the wrong sort of attention. Canadian consumers, who have strongly supported beef producers during the crisis, will feel no sympathy for such a barbaric action as killing animals for publicity. Shamefully, there is no law in Quebec against the shooting of farm animals. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is rightfully investigating to see whether the Criminal Code was contravened. The arrogant cattleman who shot the cow should be charged for his stupid and brutal actions. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:53:52 -0600 (CST) From: "Jim Hill" Subject: Published - "Cost of identity card will be overwhelming" http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065823810553&call_pageid=968332189003&col=968350116895 Published or at least most of the letter was in Toronto Star today. Jim Hill Fletchers Lake, NS ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:55:11 -0600 (CST) From: Edward Hudson Subject: The Nightmare of the Firearms Act Introduction to Sec 117 CCC >>BC hunter charged with unauthorized possesion ofa firearm and father charged with >>weapons trafficking >I hope someone has been in touch with this person to advise him to plead not guilty. >If the story is accurate there were search and seizure violations. 117.02 (1) Where a peace officer believes on reasonable grounds (a) that a weapon, ... was used in the commission of an offense, or (b) that an offense is being committed, or has been committed, under any provision of the Act that involves a firearm ... and evidence of the offense is likely to be found on a person, in a vehicle ... search without warrant, the person, vehicle ... and seize any thing ... . (see also Saskatchewan) > > Cpl Warren replied that he would like to get > > this shotgun out of my evidence room as soon as possible, so I will > > be asking for a destruction order, probably within the next month. > > ... would then have to appear before a judge to show cause why > > the firearm should not be destroyed. > > This is incredible. Destroying your property *after* you have been > convicted of a crime in a court of law, I can understand. > > But the seizure of your private property and then destroying it *without > a charge even being laid* is unbelievable. 117.03 (1) ... a peace officer who finds (a) a person in possession of a firearm who fails, on demand, to produce, for inspection by the peace officer, an authorization or license under which the person may lawfully possess the firearm and a registration certificate for the firearm, ... may seize the firearm ... (2) ... (3) Where any thing seized ... a peace officer shall forthwith take the thing before a provincial court judge, who may, after affording the person ... an opportunity to establish that the person is lawfully entitled to possess it, declare it to be forfeited to Her Majesty, to be disposed of ... as the Attorney General directs. Section 117 is the Nightmare of the Firearms Act. Sincerely, Eduardo http://www.cufoa.ca "Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:55:28 -0600 (CST) From: 10x@telus.net Subject: Re: Loads for 43 Mauser? Some very patient and hardworking fellow has designed a program similar to Homer Powley's Load Calculator. With carefull measuring you can use this information to develop a load. It may not include Varget powder though. Try it out and compare your results to those published in reloading manuals WinLoad 2.12 http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jmk/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 12:31:27 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Patient set mental hospital fire, killing 30: Staff What a tragic massacre! We must register matches, and ban fire! http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1065956540591&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968705899037 Oct. 12, 2003. 01:18 PM Patient set mental hospital fire, killing 30: Staff FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS MINSK, Belarus — A patient at a Belarus mental hospital set fire to the building Sunday, killing 30 people and injuring 31, emergency officials said. Hospital personnel tried to put out the fire themselves when it started at 5 a.m., and only called the fire department after a half-hour, Emergency Situations Minister Valery Astapov told Belarusian television. When firefighters arrived, the building was in flames and the roof had collapsed, he said. Emergency workers pulled 29 bodies from the wreckage, and one person died later of burns. The mental hospital is located near the town of Kozlovichi, some 240 kilometres west of Minsk, the capital of this former Soviet Union republic. The patient, who was one of those killed, had tried twice before to set fire to the hospital, said a spokesperson for President Alexander Lukashenko. She said the president had ordered a government investigation into the fire. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2003 12:55:07 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Calgary lands top crime summit http://www.canada.com/calgary/story.asp?id=8630D5AA-53B0-43D3-8E87-129A41833EEC Calgary lands top crime summit Global forum a windfall for 2005 Lindsey Arkley For the Calgary Herald Sunday, October 12, 2003 Leading criminologists and legal experts from around the globe will gather in Calgary in 2005 after the city was chosen to host an international crime-fighters' conference. The five-day training conference of the Crime Stoppers organization is expected to attract hundreds of delegates from across Canada, the United States and elsewhere, with expected spinoff economic benefits for all of Alberta. "It should be good economically for Calgary and the rest of Alberta," said Al Hathaway, who led a six-member committee from Calgary that travelled to this southeast Australian city to make the bid. Calgary's bid was endorsed by more than 400 delegates attending the Melbourne summit from 16 countries. More delegates are expected to attend the Calgary conference in August 2005 than the Melbourne conference, Hathaway said. About half were expected from the U.S., about 40 per cent from Canada and the remainder from other countries. Delegates will discuss numerous issues, including community safety, forensic services and crime prevention. Calgary's bid was backed by Alberta Solicitor General Heather Forsyth, who was a speaker at the Melbourne conference, along with RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli. "It will coincide with our 100th birthday and holding the conference will be just one more thing for us," Forsyth said. "We have a huge Crime Stoppers presence in Calgary and the rest of Alberta so we're quite excited about it. "If we get a good turnout like we have had here in Melbourne, it will be good for tourism in Alberta, because we're hoping the visitors will go on to see other sights, like Banff and Drumheller." Hathaway, Calgary secretary for Crime Stoppers, said he had found several aspects of the way Crime Stoppers operates in Australia that could be worth considering at home. "We've concentrated more on developing actual call facilities for people to give tips, but here in Australia they concentrate a lot on actual crime awareness programs," he said. Forsyth also said the Melbourne conference has presented several ideas worth pursuing by the province. One is a day dedicated to phoning special hotlines to report anyone suspected of illegal drug dealing, an idea already tried in Australia. "They picked a particular day and they happened to choose 'turn in a drug dealer.' They, in one day, got 3,000 phone calls on their Crime Stoppers lines, with 1,400 solid tips, and, to me, that is incredible," she said. Forsyth said she had received an "overwhelming" response to her presentation on Alberta's Protection of Children Involved in Prostitution Act. "I had many approaches from people at the conference who wanted to follow this up," she said, pointing out Alberta is believed to be the only jurisdiction in the world so far with such legislation. RCMP Commissioner Zaccardelli told the Melbourne conference organizations such as Crime Stoppers were "absolutely critical" to help police conduct proactive crime prevention based on good intelligence. "Don't think that because you only work and solve crimes at the local level, that it's not related to what happens at the provincial, the national and the international level," he told delegates. There are more than 1,000 Crime Stoppers programs in the North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Bahamas, British West Indies and other nations. Lindsey Arkley is a freelance writer based in Melbourne © Copyright 2003 Calgary Herald ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #569 ********************************** 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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