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 #587 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, October 17 2003 Volume 06 : Number 587 In this issue: It's time to accept: Taxes not evil Re: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #581 Customs still after elusive traveller Re: Letter to the Editor Re: The challenge ahead for the Responsible Firearms Community. Alliance/PC Agreement Re: Police hunt four who robbed homeowners at gunpoint Re: Double standard NP article 2003 10 16 The botched SQ hit on the Emu gang RE: Notice of Termination of RFC-Ottawa Office Project crime in britain RCMP ignore summons from gun registry foe ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 20:53:59 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: It's time to accept: Taxes not evil It's really sad that some people actually think this way... http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=40839d85-3d9c-471e-a011-1e16dd42aeb9 It's time to accept: Taxes not evil Katharine R. Elliott The Ottawa Citizen Letter to the Editor Sunday, October 12, 2003 Re: McGuinty's first act: Raise taxes Saturday, Oct. 4. It's time to view taxes differently and to educate the public on how important and efficient they are in delivering to us the kind of society we all want. Despite what your headline says, premier-elect Dalton McGuinty is not raising taxes; he is cancelling planned Tory tax cuts, due to take effect in January 2004. That's what Ontarians elected him to do. Our taxes are the most efficient, cost-effective way of delivering services. If we all had to pay a little more in taxes, just think what we would be getting: better schools, better health services, safe water, reliable meat inspections, better roads and public transit and a cleaner environment, not to mention better and more reliable energy. If we want these things, we must pay for them. Some argue that increased taxes or even tax freezes would deter business growth in our province. But wouldn't businesses prefer to locate in a safe, well-educated, energy-rich, healthy society where the owners and the workers would benefit from the better quality of life that our increased taxes can bring us? Eventually, even businesses will realize there is more to life than profits. Ontario must be ready for that change in thinking. The Citizen can get the ball rolling by advocating the benefits of taxes, rather than subtly suggesting through big, bold headlines that taxes are evil. Katharine R. Elliott, Ottawa ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 20:54:47 -0600 (CST) From: tony gee Subject: Re: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #581 I agree with Mr. Falls, please use the funds I sent for the same purpose. Thanks for trying. Tony Gee > Tom Falls wrote: > John, > > Very sad. Thanks to all concerned. Please use the funds I had sent for > the RFC Office to assist in the folding - up of the project. There will no > doubt be many postage costs and similar. Buy yourself and the trustees > each a beer out of it, first > > Thanks again for your efforts. > > Regards, > > Tom Falls ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 20:55:07 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Customs still after elusive traveller http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id=8AB9D49A-2FAE-4FBA-845F-86C4C49CA7C2 Customs still after elusive traveller Last passenger in airport mixup hasn't turned up yet Gary Dimmock The Ottawa Citizen Thursday, October 16, 2003 Four days after 200 international flight passengers accidentally slipped past customs at Ottawa's new airport terminal, agents are still trying to track down a lone passenger who left the building unchecked and undetected. The passengers, arriving from London, walked off Air Canada Flight 889 Sunday, and roamed all the way to the domestic side of the terminal, unfettered by customs agents. As reported in Wednesday's Citizen, customs agents only found out about the security breach after a passenger tipped them off. Customs agents fanned out and quickly corralled the passengers back into the international restricted zone. Air Canada reported that all of the passengers were finally accounted for, and their luggage inspected. Or so they thought. A Canada Customs and Revenue Agency investigation, launched to find out what went wrong, has already established that a male passenger got off the plane and walked out of the terminal. "Of the 200 passengers, all but one has been processed. We have identified the passenger and we really need to contact him," said Pierre Marquis, a communications manager for Canada Customs. By last night, the passenger had yet to be reached by customs agents. According to customs agents, the passenger is a Canadian resident and considered a "low-risk" traveller, which means he has no history of customs infractions. "There's no cause for concern. We've contacted him, but he's not responded," Mr. Marquis said. Once they track down the passenger, he'll be asked to make a declaration to customs agents. Interviews with passengers, Air Canada and customs officials suggest the passengers, unescorted and unfamiliar with the new terminal, simply walked down the wrong corridor. The airport authority said it's a security issue to be handled by either the carrier or customs. The carrier said it is an issue to be handled by customs. And customs said it's an issue to be handled by the carrier. Either way, all are now working to make sure more international passengers don't go unchecked again -- particularly since Canada Customs intensified security checks after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. © Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:20:20 -0600 (CST) From: Rick Subject: Re: Letter to the Editor Michael Ackermann wrote: > Mr. Hepworth, the police services have themselves to blame for this > mess. You see, your representative organization the Canadian Police > Association actively lobbied the government to establish the Billion > Dollar Boondoggle otherwise known as the Gun Registry. This lobbying > continued long after the huge flaws inherent in this law became readily > apparent. > > Only able to harass law-abiding members of the Responsible Firearms > Community, this useless white elephant never had any hope of reducing > violent abuses of firearms by criminals, but you just had to have it, > didn't you? Sounds good Mike, but it simply doesn't work that way. Even if the billion hadn't been wasted (and I believe the real figure is closer to a billion and a half at present), it wouldn't have been spent on police. Police underfunding, and underfunding of various other essential services has been going on in this country for much longer than the Firearms Act has been around. The RCMP has frequently been in feast or famine mode; what controls spending is the political clout (ie votes) that are purchased - or lost - tied to spending. I can remember periods when the police boats stayed at dock - long before the Firearms Act - because money was not authorized for running them. If that crime lab had become a public/media issue - the murderer of a child was not found before he killed again - those labs would have been fully funded even if they had to rent out empty rooms at the CFC to travelling bands of itinerant tinkerers to make up the difference. But because it is usually the rule that "out of sight is out of mind" it is an easy target for cost cutting. I t makes a good story, but unfortunately those setting budgets are far more cynical about security and public safety than even you have imagined. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:21:45 -0600 (CST) From: The Jordan's Subject: Re: The challenge ahead for the Responsible Firearms Community. From: Cdn-Firearms Digest Thursday, October 16 2003 Volume 06 : Number 585 Re: Notice of Termination of RFC-Ottawa Office Project In digest # 585, Robert wrote a very good comment in regards to the Ottawa Office Project. As he rightly points out "this IS our fault". He also states "Until we can develop a single message which we can take to Ottawa, and until that message can be digested by a centrist party (as it seems that only a centrist party will ever achieve power in Canada) then we are doomed to be a disorganized bunch of "angry old red-necked yahoos" who couldn't find the lobby of a large hotel." Robert also wrote: "Our only hope for the future lies in our (in?) ability to speak TODAY with one voice, and to provide for our ruling elite a proposed simple and effective gun control legislation which we can live with. It must enshrine Charter Rights, fairness and efficacy for legitimate firearms owners, but more importantly, it must be viewed as being effective by Canadians who do not own firearms." Again - right on. Robert et al... these reasons and comments you make all are part of why I presented the "Survey" to this forum and many others. We really need to find common ground and speak with one "loud" voice on "what we really want". Therefore - the survey. Five simple questions for starters. Sadly - like the RFC Ottawa Project - the replies have not been tremendous. I think from all the places I sent it (which were numerous) I have only had about 32 replies to date (total). Now I KNOW that there are over 32 people that read the email and I know that there are over 32 people on each and every list I sent the survey to. And many who did take the few minutes to reply indicated they had also forwarded the survey to others. AND some of "those" are included in the replies. But come on folks - 32 replies out of literally hundreds that saw it? Obviously, as much as the RFC wants to do the talk - there aren't enough who are willing to do the walk. We need ONE MESSAGE. No matter who delivers it - it must be one message and one voice, repeated by the masses. So those of you who haven't bothered to reply yet - please do so - and please forward the survey to everyone you know. Five simple questions for starters. A few minutes of your time. WHAT are you waiting for? To repeat the survey questions again: "What we would settle for? 1. What kind of license (or certificate of competence)? 2. Who may qualify for ownership? 3. Safe storage law will stay as is, is that OK? 4. Any other issue you can add here. 5. What about registration, what to do with existing data if it is dropped? Please reply to my direct email at: freefall7@shaw.ca Linda ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:26:41 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Alliance/PC Agreement http://www.canadianalliance.ca/pdf/agreement.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:27:04 -0600 (CST) From: Robert LaCasse Subject: Re: Police hunt four who robbed homeowners at gunpoint I seen these guys, quite a few times,...exact description, but they were wearing a blue uniform...exact description but the shot gun in the trunk of the squad cars... Oh well lot 'sa people look like that these days, no description of the "heaters" they were packing, unusual oversight maybe? So how many "old timer" firearms owners do look like that? relatively.... nada. They sure do leave out a lot of relative detail, that would actually help to nab these lowlife neanderthal idiots..........They never mention the type of handgun used because the general public don't know the difference between a "chunk" and a Sports Pistol. How about was it plastic or metal, long or short, a big bore or .22 type? Even the anti-gun people know some of that stuff, so this is the ill informed untrained Ca-nada Yours in Justice Bob ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 21:27:22 -0600 (CST) From: Robert LaCasse Subject: Re: Double standard Well of course it's a Double Standard, or haven't we noticed in the past 50 years...and especially lately. There 2 types of people here, the Enforcers and Suckers, Cops and Robbers. Wolf and Sheep, Predator and Prey! What kind of people were there in East Berlin 1932-1945, Nazis and Jews/Gypsies etc. The Jews walked along the Nazis for a long time, but all of a sudden they became prey to the Nazis, even after stringent passing of the cfrsc courses in those days! How many people can pass the very tricky CFRSC, not cops, hell most gunsmiths and gun store owners had a real problem in the last set of written and 2 very tacky practicals. CFO/CFI's live on a commission, and that spells it out, right there, as far as the nature of the CFRSC for the last 10+ years! The "authorities" have a carte blanche from the UN/NWO types to fool around all they want. As Trudeau originally gave them that power in his needed triple standard environment! Yours in Justice Bob ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 22:00:05 -0600 (CST) From: "Richard A. Fritze" Subject: NP article 2003 10 16 Asking the right questions about rape George Jonas National Post Tuesday, October 14, 2003 It was just a matter of time. As the media frenzy surrounding Los Angeles Laker star Kobe Bryant was increasing in volume, I knew that any moment a commentator would pop the question that's supposed to end all arguments in rape cases. The rhetorical query emerged from the women's movement in the early '70s. Feminists consider it unanswerable. Sure enough, the question came last week from Court TV's Nancy Grace, the attractive blond ex-prosecutor with eyes like a basilisk. Ms. Grace's stock-in-trade is substituting intensity for intelligence. She doesn't so much talk as sizzle. "Why would a woman lie," she hissed triumphantly on the Larry King show, "about being raped?" People who ask this in a debate don't expect an answer; they mean to deliver a fatal thrust they think cannot be parried. The question is supposed to be the coup de grāce, the cold steel running through the fussy suggestion that a complainant's evidence needs to be tested, or that an accusation of rape, like any other accusation, is only the beginning of an inquiry, not the end. Demanding "Why would a woman lie about being raped?" is to reverse the onus in sexual assault cases. When the complainant's story is the prosecution's entire case, feminists try to nullify the most fundamental principle of our legal system: the presumption of innocence. Their question is designed to make people dismiss out of hand the possibility that a woman might lie on the witness stand. If the courts need not even consider that an accusation may be false, there's no need for a trial. If women never lie about rape, why put them to the trouble of testifying? In a perfect matriarchy it should be enough for a complainant to drop a postcard to the authorities to lock up an accused. The late Auberon Waugh suggested this in jest some 30 years ago -- but in our times jests have a way of coming uncomfortably close to reality. "Why would a woman lie about being raped?" is a meaningless question. It's like asking "Why would a man rape?" It's true that considering the trouble and humiliation it makes no sense for a woman to falsely accuse someone of rape, but considering the risk and the penalty it makes equally little sense for a man to rape someone. It's especially senseless these days, with the ready availability of willing sexual partners in liberated Western-type societies -- not just for popular athletes like Mr. Bryant, but for almost any man. Except, of course, making sense isn't the test. Some men do senseless things, as do some women. While few, if any, defence lawyers would have the nerve to seek acquittal for their clients on the basis of "Why would a man rape?" prosecutors routinely seek convictions in threadbare cases -- charges based solely on the uncorroborated evidence of the complainant -- bolstered by the feminist mantra of "Why would a woman lie about being raped?" But this isn't the question in court. Who knows why anyone would lie? The question in court is: Who is lying? Women rarely lie under oath, about having been raped or anything else. But focusing on the rarity can lead to confusing frequency with importance. Perhaps only one woman in a million lies about being raped -- but that's of no consolation to the accused if she happens to be the one in the courtroom. Nor is it a consolation to justice. Courts don't try statistical or philosophical abstractions but concrete cases. "Why would a woman lie about being raped?" may be a valid question on a psychiatrist's couch; it doesn't belong in a courtroom. The same is true of "How often do women lie about being raped?" The probable answer is "not very often," just as men don't commit rape very often. But since some men do rape and some women do lie, the proper question for a court is: "Did this particular man rape or did this particular woman lie in this particular instance?" As we're not in court at this moment, we can ask why men rape and why women lie. The psychological reasons are probably endless. Psychiatrists have argued that rape isn't a sex-crime but a hate-crime. Men who rape aren't primarily looking for sex; they hate women and want to hurt them. The same thing may also be true for some women who lie about having been raped. They may simply hate and want to hurt men. The question "Why would a man rape?" could probably be answered only with reference to abnormal psychology. Men rarely have a reason to rape, unless they're sailors on two-hours' shore leave after a year at sea. (While this wouldn't be an excuse, obviously it would be a reason.) The situation is different for women. They may have practical as well as psychological reasons for lying. Historically, some have lied to cover up consensual relationships from parents or boyfriends; some have lied to extract revenge for affairs gone sour; and some have lied for money. A woman can sue for millions in damages if she succeeds in convicting a prominent man of rape. What does all this tell us about Kobe Bryant's case? Not a thing -- and that's the point. One hopes that, in spite of the climate, Mr. Bryant won't be tried on a rhetorical question -- "Why would a woman lie about being raped?" -- but on the evidence. © Copyright 2003 National Post ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 23:48:52 -0600 (CST) From: "Tom Falls" Subject: The botched SQ hit on the Emu gang Could be the SQ thought the Emu posed a threat to the Hells Angels. Some will recall that in the mid 90's a young boy was killed in by a car bomb during an HA/Rock Machine turf war. The police had to act, and so formed a joint unit to shut down the bike gangs. They followed what appeared (to them) a logical plan to tackle one gang at a time, so they crippled the Rock Machine. At which point they ran outa cash and had to fold the unit. "Say," people said: "Didn't you just do the Angels job for them?" The SQ admitted the optics were less than optimal. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 23:49:23 -0600 (CST) From: "garry.d" Subject: RE: Notice of Termination of RFC-Ottawa Office Project Shame on us. Garry Dormody Yellowknife ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 00:06:57 -0600 (CST) From: "jim davies" Subject: crime in britain Crime down, Mr Blunkett? By NIC CECIL Political Correspondent ARMED gangsters, thugs and sex fiends are terrorising Britain, soaring crime figures revealed last night. They showed violent attacks jumped 12 per cent last year - despite boasts by Home Secretary David Blunkett that overall crime is falling. Murders, manslaughters, threats to kill, serious wounding and other life-threatening offences soared seven per cent. Muggings, harassment, less serious wounding, possession of weapons, common assaults and attacks on kids rose by 12 per cent. Sex crimes soared by five per cent in the three months to June compared to the same period last year. Criminal damage increased six per cent and drug offences two per cent. Gun offences rose three per cent to 10,250 in the year to March, compared to 2001-02. The figures came after a summer of firearms violence. Toni-Ann Byfield, aged seven, was killed by a shot in the back in North London. Marian Bates, 64, was shot dead in a robbery at her jeweller's shop in Nottingham. Overall crime recorded by the Home Office is UP 7,000 - a rise of nearly 0.5 per cent. And it leapt a staggering 4.3 per cent over the first six months of this year. Murders and manslaughter soared by a sickening 13.2 per cent in the same period. Yet astonishingly David Blunkett boasted that overall crime is FALLING. He seized on British Crime Survey figures which exclude offences against kids and businesses. And Home Office Minister Hazel Blears insisted yesterday: "Crime overall is continuing to fall." But the Home Office's own official figures for the three months to June compared to the same period last year clearly show: Violence UP from 208,500 to 233,200. Murder and life-endangering acts UP from 9,700 to 10,300. Sexual crime UP from 12,100 to 12,800. Criminal damage UP from 284,800 to 300,700. Drug offences UP from 33,100 to 33,700. Household burglaries were down four per cent. Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin stormed last night: "No statistical manipulation can disguise that millions up and down the country are victims of crime." Norman Brennan, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said: "Violent and gun crime is out of control." Lancashire Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said: "We must target those individuals who use physical violence and weapons." a.. A DAD was shot dead on his doorstep yesterday as his teenage daughter slept yards away. Two gunmen blasted him five times after he answered the door of his second-floor flat in Bermondsey, South London. He is believed to be dad-of-four Mick Jones, in his fifties. The 14-year-old girl was unhurt. A police source said the 1am shooting was linked to a drug dispute. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 08:21:24 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: RCMP ignore summons from gun registry foe http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2003/10/17/fNovaScotia157.raw.html >From Halifax Herald Friday, October 17, 2003 Herald staff Al Muir: 'I should be arrested, I'm breaking the law.' RCMP ignore summons from gun registry foe By Cathy von Kintzel / Truro Bureau Lorne - No matter how hard Al Muir tries, he just can't get arrested. The staunch opponent of Canada's gun registry wanted the RCMP to make an appearance at a publicized one-hour, bird-hunting trip he staged Thursday near a Pictou County gravel pit. The police were a no-show. "I should be arrested. I'm breaking the law," said Mr. Muir, who isn't licensed to possess firearms and was toting an unregistered 12-gauge shotgun and shell. He was somewhat surprised police didn't show up to at least seize his gun. "Now, I guess it goes back to the public to ask themselves if we have this law and spend a billion dollars on it, what's it all for." Wayne Noonan, spokesman for the RCMP in Nova Scotia, said Mr. Muir shouldn't have been surprised by the police absence. "Mr. Muir has been told by the RCMP on many occasions that he's not going to use us as a soapbox." Sgt. Noonan said the gun owner's activities are more a political statement than criminal. Mr. Muir, wearing a bright orange coat and accompanied by three supporters, said everyone should be treated fairly under the law, so if the RCMP don't charge him, they shouldn't charge anyone else. The Plymouth, Pictou County, resident is a member of the Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association which believes parts of the country's Firearms Act, in particular registration and licensing, violate at least eight parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Those include rights to privacy, security of person, presumption of innocence, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. "If we can get into court, we believe we can have this law overturned on those grounds," Mr. Muir said. Members have held similar hunts across Canada, but haven't gotten their day in court. Firearms were seized during some of the other events. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #587 ********************************** 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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