From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #53 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, April 5 2004 Volume 07 : Number 053 In this issue: Girl gets a gun -- so she can graduate: Writer warned U.S. of firearms threat Suspect limps away from custody GUN KEY TO MAN'S FATE Polar bears stalk streets of town 3 SHOT IN PUB CHAOS POLICE TAKEDOWN College pub shooting injures 3 in Oshawa Column: PUBLIC'S E-MAILS REVEAL THREATENED FEELING Harper blasts defector during Maritime tour Polar bear boom leads to cull call ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:31:23 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Girl gets a gun -- so she can graduate: PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2004.04.04 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A3 BYLINE: Maria Canton SOURCE: The Calgary Herald DATELINE: CALGARY ILLUSTRATION: Photo: Marianne Helm, the Calgary Herald / 'A lot of myfriends think it's really cool,' says Leandra Lepko, 17, of her shooting course. - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Girl gets a gun -- so she can graduate: Alberta high school student earning credits for her course on how to handle handguns - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CALGARY - Like Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde or Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, Leandra Lepko is a girl with a gun. The Lethbridge, Alta., teen is making waves with a self-designed school project that has her studying handguns while perfecting the subtleties of becoming a crack shot. And she's earning five credits toward her high school diploma for the project that includes firing off rounds from her 9 mm handgun once a week. Ms. Lepko, who is in Grade 11 and needed to make up five credits, pitched the idea of a shooting class after learning about the special program offered by Alberta Learning. "A lot of my friends think it's really cool," said Ms. Lepko. "Shooting takes a lot of discipline and skill and safety is very important. You can never do anything that might endanger anyone else." Ms. Lepko, 17, travels from Lethbridge to nearby Taber every week for shooting and lessons with her instructor, who evaluates her progress. Cal O'Brien, Ms. Lepko's principal at Catholic Central High, said he was surprised when she pitched the idea, but found it met all of the criteria. When asked what the public's perception of a pistol-packing student might be, given high-profile school shootings, such as the one in Taber in 1999, in which a 14-year-old boy shot two students, killing one, Mr. O'Brien says he isn't concerned. "It's far less dangerous in a controlled environment," he said. Ms. Lepko's mother and stepfather, Joanne and John Schoorl, say they are amazed at the level of interest in their daughter's project. "We have had so many parents come up to us wanting to know how their kids can get credits for shooting," said John Schoorl. "If we can teach young people how to handle firearms responsibly and safely it will only prevent accidents in the future." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:31:53 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Writer warned U.S. of firearms threat PUBLICATION: Montreal Gazette DATE: 2004.04.04 EDITION: Final SECTION: Insight: Global Village PAGE: D7 COLUMN: Insight Obituaries SOURCE: New York Times NOTE: Obituary of Carl Bakal - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Writer warned U.S. of firearms threat - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carl Bakal, a writer, editor and public relations man who was author of an early warning about the proliferation of firearms in the United States, died on March 18 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 86. Bakal was the author of The Right To Bear Arms in 1966. It examined the Second Amendment to the Constitution and the tradition of firearms ownership in the U.S. The book argued that the easy availability of guns and weapons of any kind had increased the level of violence. Gun ownership, it held, bred criminals and criminality, a view that aroused debate then and since. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:32:07 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Suspect limps away from custody PUBLICATION: Calgary Herald DATE: 2004.04.05 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A6 SOURCE: CanWest News Services DATELINE: WINNIPEG - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suspect limps away from custody - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A broken leg couldn't keep him from breaking free. It took more than a dozen heavily armed police officers to arrest a suspect with a single good leg after an armed standoff at a Winnipeg home Saturday, but no one was around when the man limped out of hospital unchallenged eight hours later. The suspect walked away from Seven Oaks Hospital dragging an intravenous drip stand behind him only minutes after police left, said Insp. Blair McCorrister. "He told staff he was going out for a cigarette." The suspect hailed a cab and disappeared into the night -- eight hours after he was taken into custody. It was during his arrest that police discovered he had a broken leg suffered several days before the standoff. The suspect was rearrested about an hour after he escaped and brought back to hospital for surgery on his leg. Charged with numerous offences, including two counts of assault and discharging a firearm, is Jamie Roulette, 20. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:33:24 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: GUN KEY TO MAN'S FATE PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2004.04.05 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 32 BYLINE: ROB LAMBERTI, TORONTO SUN - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GUN KEY TO MAN'S FATE - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FATE of a Scarborough shopkeeper who fought back against a man intending to rob him may depend on Toronto detectives finding the missing pistol the bandit was believed armed with during the heist. "That's the issue at this time -- no firearm has been recovered," homicide Det.-Sgt. Frank Skubic said. "The prime issue is the use of force." He said Kayan Kayson Smith, 24, died of blunt force injuries in the March 24 fight at Manhattan's Fine Clothing on Lawrence Ave. E. Skubic said Smith and two other men entered the store intending to rob the 28-year-old shopkeeper. An "altercation" erupted between Smith and the shopkeeper, Skubic said, and Smith was beaten. Police sources said that during the fight, Smith pulled out a pistol and that's when the shopkeeper fought back. Smith's two buddies abandoned him in the store. Skubic said the handgun hasn't been recovered. "His fate lies in the balance" of what detectives are able to uncover, Skubic said. "It's important we determine what happened inside the store before" considering charges against the store owner or ruling it justifiable homicide, Skubic said. Jermaine Watson, 20, of Etobicoke and Devonne Latcha, 20, of North York are charged with robbery. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:33:53 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Polar bears stalk streets of town PUBLICATION: The Kingston Whig-Standard DATE: 2004.04.05 EDITION: Final SECTION: National / World PAGE: 28 BYLINE: Bob Weber SOURCE: The Canadian Press ILLUSTRATION: Photo: The Canadian Press / Inuit hunters are asking to killmore bears, saying they're becoming a menace as they walk the streets of Arctic hamlets - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Polar bears stalk streets of town - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inuit hunters in three Arctic villages want to be able to kill more polar bears, saying there are now so many of the fearsome predators along the east coast of Baffin Island that the streets of their communities are no longer safe. "They walk through the streets," said Teema Palluq, a wildlife officer in the community of Clyde River. "You can see one every day in the fall." The Nunavut government, hunter's groups and land claim organizations in the territory are working out "substantive" increases to the annual bear hunt after years of steady population growth in the area, said Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a bear biologist with the government of Nunavut. "Right now, the bears are so abundant there's a public safety issue," he said. Hunters from the communities of Pond Inlet, Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq complain that bears are destroying facilities and equipment. Cabins have been trashed. Seats have been eaten off snowmobiles. Caches of seal and caribou have been gobbled up. "When you have half the hunters in a community complaining that they've lost their summer's work, then there's a problem," said Taylor. But polar bears, which can weigh up to 650 kilograms, have no fear of stalking humans, and the biggest worry is on the streets. Hunters are forced to scare the bears off, firing guns in the air while keeping wary hands on the throttles of their snowmobiles. Preliminary results from the last survey of the so-called Baffin Bay bear population suggested there were about 2,100 of them in 1997. Because hunting quotas were set conservatively low - Clyde River is allotted 21 tags a year - numbers have been growing slowly and steadily ever since. Taylor puts the number at around 2,400 bears. Local hunters think it's as high as 2,600. Under Nunavut's wildlife legislation, hunting quotas for each community are negotiated between local hunters and the territorial government. Those quotas must be approved by the wildlife management board, then get the final OK from cabinet. Many Inuit feel those quotas were set too low, said Bert Dean, assistant director of wildlife for Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., which administers the Nunavut land claim. Southern sport hunters pay up to $20,000 per bear for the privilege of shooting one. But most of the bear tags go to the Inuit, who eat the meat and use the skin, and Dean said profit isn't really the motive for increasing the hunt. "It's not that communities are looking to increase the sport hunt," he said. "It's become a safety issue and it's a cultural issue." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:34:31 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: 3 SHOT IN PUB CHAOS POLICE TAKEDOWN PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2004.04.04 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 10 ILLUSTRATION: photo by Dave Thomas AN UNIDENTIFIED man who was shot at a Durham College pub yesterday is taken to hospital after police chased down an SUV he was riding in during a high-risk highway takedown. BYLINE: CHRIS DOUCETTE - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 SHOT IN PUB CHAOS POLICE TAKEDOWN - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police arrested seven people in a rented limousine after three men were shot at a Durham College pub early yesterday. Durham police say gunfire erupted around 1:25 a.m. in the entrance to the students pub on the college campus in Oshawa, hitting two men and sending seven people scrambling into a SUV limousine. "We were lucky (the shooter) didn't decide to empty a full whatever it was he had, and that there weren't more people injured," Durham Police Sgt. Paul Malik said yesterday. He said there were about 200 patrons were inside the pub at the time. 'METAL DETECTORS' "There actually is metal detectors in the facility, but this was just outside the metal detectors," Malik said. A Durham officer spotted the fleeing SUV 30 minutes later on Hwy. 401 in Pickering and followed, he said. With help from Toronto police emergency task force officers, the Durham officer stopped the vehicle when it exited the highway in Scarborough and headed south on Kennedy Rd. A third gunshot victim was located in the SUV but police are still trying to determine who shot him. No names or ages were released and no charges were immediately laid as officers continue to investigate the incident. Malik said the victims were all in stable condition and the driver of the limousine had been cleared of any wrongdoing. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:34:51 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: College pub shooting injures 3 in Oshawa PUBLICATION: Toronto Star DATE: 2004.04.04 SECTION: NEWS PAGE: A7 SOURCE: Staff Reporters BYLINE: Raju Mudhar and Noah Love - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- College pub shooting injures 3 in Oshawa - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Students at Oshawa's Durham College woke up to find their campus the latest site of gun violence in the GTA. Three people were sent to hospital yesterday and seven others were arrested after a shooting melee at E.P. Taylor's, the campus pub. Police received a 911 call at about 1:25 a.m. reporting a shooting. At the scene, officers found two people had been shot at the pub. Doogie Braxton, Phillip Marx and Tyler White live in a campus residence and were at the club when the shootings occurred. It was the second Friday that Flow 93.5 radio station hosted an event at Taylor's. "We were there and after they went live to air on Flow, a lot of outsiders came in who most of the people didn't know," said Braxton, 22. "All of sudden, 20 seconds later, we heard gunshots, probably about three or four rounds. Most of us just fled. I believe in the aftermath one of the bouncers got hit in the leg and one of the students who goes here got hit in the stomach twice." The altercation occurred near the entrance of the club. The suspects were seen leaving the scene in a stretch limousine. While police near the pub attended to the victims, other officers saw the limo driving west on Highway 401. Durham and Toronto police forced the limo to pull over as it exited the 401 at Kennedy Rd. in Toronto. Seven people were arrested. Officers found one of the men in the car had also been shot and he was taken to hospital. The three men who were shot are now in stable condition at various hospitals around the GTA. As part of their investigation, police closed down a portion of the westbound 401 near Whites Rd. to search for evidence around 5 p.m. yesterday. Administrators closed the college for most of yesterday so police could investigate. Classes were cancelled and the library was closed. Wayne Williams is the program director of Flow and was at the Durham College pub last night. He says they have discussed improving security at clubs where the station has live broadcasts. The student centre, where the pub is located, was cordoned off as police gathered evidence. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:35:23 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: Column: PUBLIC'S E-MAILS REVEAL THREATENED FEELING PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2004.04.04 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 28 BYLINE: BOB MACDONALD - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- READERS RECALL DEATH PENALTY PUBLIC'S E-MAILS REVEAL THREATENED FEELING, LESS SAFE THAN IN THE PAST - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A binding referendum should be held in the next federal election to have capital punishment reinstated. The latest version of young offenders legislation should be scrapped because it's still too soft on youthful criminals. The much-criticized federal gun registry should be scrapped and the $1-$2 billion it has cost Canada's taxpayers turned over to the country's police forces to hire more front-line police officers. There should be mandatory legislation to have immigrants who commit crimes, especially violent crimes, deported to their home countries. Prisoners -- especially those convicted of violent crimes --should have to serve their full terms without early parole. More prisons should be built -- and not of the "Club Fed" variety with all the comforts of home. Hard labour should be reintroduced to discourage prisoners from repeating their crimes when they are finally released. More police should be hired to permit police forces to have more officers walking beats and becoming familiar with the people in their neighbourhoods. These are just a few of the recommendations I've received from readers commenting on my last Sunday's column. In it I asked if they felt as safe as they did five years ago, 10 years ago and beyond. And I asked what they thought should be done to improve the situation. To put it mildly, I was deluged with e-mails, phone calls and letters. Obviously, many people today -- especially in the Toronto area -- feel threatened and less safe than in the past. And they demanded that their elected representatives get with it, toughen the laws and give much more support to law enforcement. And they want judges to be much tougher and stop permitting plea bargaining deals between prosecutors and defence lawyers. "The people who robbed my house are not first-time criminals. It's time they paid for the crimes they've committed not only against us but others," Sandy MacNevin wrote. MacNevin told how the family home in Toronto -- where their 80-year-old mother also lives --was burglarized recently and had valuables stolen, including the late father's war medals. Later, a couple was arrested at a pawn shop, but they are out on bail pending trial. Police said a lack of jails means judges allow even repeat offenders to be given bail. So, the fact the accused are still on the loose makes the family afraid. "If we need to build more jails, then so be it; I've seen my tax dollars spent on far less important ventures," MacNevin said. Another reader, lamenting the many murders in the Toronto area, especially during robberies and those involving children, put it this way: "We feel the death penalty should be reinstated --there should be a binding referendum asking people to vote on capital punishment being returned." "The young offenders act should be scrapped -- some of these 15-year-olds are street wise and tough," Roy Cornwell wrote. Anne Chiaramonte recalled growing up in the High Park area years ago: "The streets were always paroled by policemen in uniform and it was a very different world back then. There was capital punishment then and kids could play on the streets till all hours and our parents didn't live in fear as most parents do today. It is very sad, what has happend to our once beautiful and safe city. I agree with you in every detail of your proposal and demand for action by our politicians." "Unless the government wakes up and greatly toughens the laws regarding crime, immigration, young offenders, etc., Canada will go to the dogs," Dorothy Johnston wrote. "I heartily agree that those using a lethal weapon in committing a crime should be given a mandatory 10-year sentence," she said. Some recounted how they had moved away from Toronto in recent years because of the increase in violent crime and deterioration in the city with its explosion of panhandlers and street garbage. And one said he and his family avoided coming to Toronto because they feared violent crime. Whatever, our lib-left politicians and their trendy supporters should think about the concerns of the city's many peaceful, law-abiding citizens. They should respond to them -- and not just keep caving in to the latest opportunistic demands to soften our criminal justice system. Many may find it hard to believe that this city was called Toronto the Good not that many years ago. Why should we be content to settle for less today? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 08:30:22 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Harper blasts defector during Maritime tour http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=21702300-c242-4ae4-baa2-dfdd98d9ba00 Harper blasts defector during Maritime tour Richard Foot CanWest News Service April 5, 2004 Conservative Leader Stephen Harper unofficially launched his party's campaign for power this weekend with a series of speeches across the Maritimes, including one that singled out a primary target -- PC-turned-Liberal MP Scott Brison. In Brison's Nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants on Saturday, Harper made it clear he intends to use Brison -- along with the Quebec sponsorship scandal -- as an example of what he calls Liberal "dishonesty and corruptibility," the central focus of his campaign. Brison, a former Progressive Conservative leadership candidate, defected to the Liberals days after the PC-Alliance merger last year, saying the new united party was too reactionary. Embraced by the Liberals as an attractive, high-profile catch, Brison was appointed parliamentary secretary for Canada-U.S. relations by Prime Minister Paul Martin. "There is no better place to start cleaning up the government of Canada -- restoring decency and trust to our system -- than by electing a new Member of Parliament in the riding of Kings-Hants," Harper told hundreds of cheering Nova Scotia Conservatives who gathered to choose Bob Mullan, a popular doctor, as Brison's opponent. A dozen Nova Scotia Tory cabinet ministers and legislature members came to the meeting to serve notice the party's provincial establishment, along with Harper and his Ottawa strategists, have Brison in their sights. "This is an important riding," Harper told reporters. "I feel badly for what's happened here, but obviously the election is a chance for voters to rectify that situation." Asked by reporters if he was waging a personal vendetta against Brison, Harper said "it's not personal . . . it's more about integrity and honesty. That's the issue we're running on in the next election. We obviously want to undo what was done here, which is an extreme example of lack of integrity in government. But Brison was ready for the attack. At a speech of his own in Halifax the same day, he said he wished he could take the Conservative leader around his constituency to meet residents door-to-door. He predicted Harper would not be welcomed. "Atlantic Canadians," he said, "will reject Stephen Harper's vision, his party and his leadership." Harper's main challenge in Atlantic Canada may not be any mistrust of his leadership, but his lack of profile. "Never heard of him," said one merchant at the Saint John City Market. © The Calgary Herald 2004 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2004 08:31:08 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Polar bear boom leads to cull call http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=1d599ed6-e270-4bdf-b16d-78e9460263ff Polar bear boom leads to cull call The Canadian Press April 5, 2004 Inuit hunters in three Arctic villages want to be able to kill more polar bears, saying there are now so many of the fearsome predators along the east coast of Baffin Island that the streets of their communities are no longer safe. "They walk through the streets," said Teema Palluq, a wildlife officer in the community of Clyde River. "You can see one every day in the fall." The Nunavut government, hunters' groups and land claim organizations in the territory are working out "substantive" increases to the annual bear hunt after years of population growth in the area, said Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a biologist with the government of Nunavut. "Right now, the bears are so abundant there's a public safety issue," he said. Hunters from the communities of Pond Inlet, Clyde River and Qikiqtarjuaq complain that bears are destroying facilities and equipment. But polar bears, which can weigh up to 650 kilograms, have no fear of stalking humans, and the biggest worry is on the streets. Preliminary results from the last survey of the so-called Baffin Bay bear population suggested there were about 2,100 of them in 1997. Because hunting quotas were set conservatively low -- Clyde River is allotted 21 tags a year -- numbers have been growing slowly and steadily ever since. Taylor puts the number at around 2,400 bears. Local hunters think it's as high as 2,600. © The Calgary Herald 2004 ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #53 ********************************* Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:moderator@hitchen.org 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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