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 #640 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, December 17 2004 Volume 07 : Number 640 In this issue: Poor Data Hampers Gun Policies, Study Says PELLET GUN LEADS COPS TO GROW OPERATION Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says Police investigate Grade 2 student who fired pellet gun during GANG UNIT ALERTED TO WESTSIDE SHOOTING SHOTS FIRED AT HOUSE IN OKOTOKS BUST IN HAMILTON MAN'S SHOOTING PLEA BARGAIN SHOCK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:44 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Poor Data Hampers Gun Policies, Study Says PUBLICATION: The New York Times SECTION: National EDITION: Late Edition - Final DATE: 2004.12.17 PAGE: 25 BYLINE: FOX BUTTERFIELD - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Poor Data Hampers Gun Policies, Study Says - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- A comprehensive study released yesterday by the National Academy of Sciences says a major national effort to improve knowledge about firearms is needed before anyone can judge the effectiveness of a variety of policies, from gun control to laws allowing people to carry concealed handguns. The study, by the academy's National Research Council, found that accurate research on what works to reduce gun violence had been made impossible by a lack of information on gun ownership and by scholars' lack of access to information like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' data on guns traced to crimes. The National Rifle Association and its supporters in Congress have long opposed collecting information on gun ownership and sharing the bureau's gun- tracing data, describing such steps as an invasion of privacy. Charles F. Wellford, chairman of the committee that wrote the report, said that among the major questions that need answers are whether gun violence could be better controlled if there were more restrictions on who can buy firearms, whether customers should be limited to buying one gun at a time and whether safety locks work. "These and many related policy questions cannot be answered definitively because of large gaps in the existing science base," said Mr. Wellford, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Maryland. "The available data are too weak to support strong conclusions." He spoke at a news conference in Washington, where the report was released. The report was particularly skeptical of research claiming that homicide rates fall in states that pass laws permitting its citizens to carry concealed weapons. "The committee found no credible evidence that the passage of right-to-carry laws decreases violent crime," it said. Thirty-four states now have such laws, some of them based on research by John R. Lott Jr., a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Mr. Lott has written that allowing people to carry concealed weapons does reduce violent crime, but his findings have been disputed by many other researchers. Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the N.R.A., which supports the right to carry concealed weapons, said, "I think these laws have been tremendously effective." Mr. Arulanandam said: "This is not rocket science, but common sense. The whole purpose of these laws is to allow people to defend themselves when the need arises." The report also cast doubt on research about how often guns are used to deter crimes. Some research has found that guns are used 100,000 times a year to defend against a crime, but other research has put that figure as high as 2.5 million times a year, the report pointed out. Such a wide variation calls the accuracy of the findings into doubt, leaving it unclear what is actually being measured, the study said. But it also questioned some favorite findings by advocates of gun control. It said, for example, that there was not enough evidence to conclude, as gun control advocates say, that owning a gun increases the risk of a gun injury. In addition, the report cast doubt on the effectiveness of some law enforcement programs to reduce gun violence that have been widely praised, like a Boston gun project in the 1990's that focused on juvenile gun possession, and Project Exile in Richmond, which gave stiffer federal sentences to criminals arrested in possession of a gun. These programs seem to have reduced gun violence, but they were confined to a single city and there is not enough evidence that they could be replicated nationally, the report said. "My sense is that people on both sides of the debate won't like the report," said Jens Ludwig, an associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University. "The main thrust of it is, we don't know anything about anything, and more research is needed." The report was commissioned by the National Institute of Justice, a branch of the Justice Department; the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Joyce Foundation; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:45 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: PELLET GUN LEADS COPS TO GROW OPERATION PUBLICATION: The London Free Press DATE: 2004.12.17 EDITION: Final SECTION: City & Region PAGE: B8 BYLINE: FREE PRESS STAFF COLUMN: Police Digest - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- PELLET GUN LEADS COPS TO GROW OPERATION - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Pot and a pellet gun have led to two people being charged by London police. Officers were called to a North Street address around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to reports of a youth firing a pellet gun at windows in surrounding buildings, police said. While at the home, officers found a small marijuana grow operation and charged the pair, police said. An 18-year-old youth and a 46-year-old woman are charged with possession and cultivation of marijuana. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:45 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL IDN: 043520132 DATE: 2004.12.17 PAGE: A16 (ILLUS) BYLINE: JEFF GRAY SECTION: Toronto News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: WORDS: 727 - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Tasers will save lives, deputy coroner says Police board urged to buy more stun guns, told medical safety review not needed - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- JEFF GRAY Ontario's deputy chief coroner, James Cairns, urged the Toronto Police Services Board to expand the use of tasers yesterday, saying they had not caused a single death but instead had saved countless lives in police standoffs. "I am absolutely convinced tasers will save lives instead of taking lives. And I hope some day, if I am in the position, please taser me before you shoot me," Dr. Cairns told the board at its meeting yesterday. Dr. Cairns, who has closely studied data on at least 50 deaths that have occurred after a taser was used by various police forces, also slammed the board's recent decision to get the city's medical officer of health, who specializes in communicable diseases, to rule on the safety of the controversial stun guns. "If I had SARS, I'd certainly want to see the medical officer of health. I consider this a matter of forensic medicine. . . . We're the ones that investigate these deaths, " Dr. Cairns said. Dr. Cairns's surprise appearance at the board, at the invitation of Police Chief Julian Fantino, who has been pushing for the purchase of more tasers, appeared to catch board chairwoman Pam McConnell off guard. "I am raising this issue again because I do not want to have the unnecessary death of a mentally ill or emotionally disturbed person on my conscience," Chief Fantino told the board yesterday. "Nor do I want one of our police officers to have to live with the knowledge that he or she had killed someone whose life could have been saved." Dr. Cairns said his office had amassed mountains of independent data on tasers in the course of investigating three cases in Ontario this year in which people died after being stunned by the devices. In all of those cases, and in another six across the country, tasers were cleared of causing the deaths, he said. The people who end up on the wrong end of these stun guns, which shoot a barb at the suspect and deliver an electrical jolt through a wire, are often in a state of "excited delirium," Dr. Cairn said. In this state, caused by psychiatric illness, overdoses of cocaine or other drugs, or alcohol withdrawal, people are "impervious to pain" and immune to other police restraint methods such as pepper spray, he said. They have "unbelievable physical strength" and tend to be paranoid and violent. If people in this state do not receive immediate medical treatment, they will likely die of a heart attack on their own, Dr. Cairns said. And if the person is armed or is considered a threat, police officers often have little choice but to use bullets. If a taser is on hand, they can be subdued and taken to hospital, he said. Dr. Cairns dismissed concern expressed in articles in The New York Times and in a report from the human-rights group Amnesty International on tasers, saying the overwhelming evidence, from independent studies in British Columbia, Australia and Britain, is that the risk of death from a taser was extremely low. Currently, only members of Toronto's tactical squad are equipped with tasers. Chief Fantino has asked that frontline sergeants be equipped with them, something that is allowed under provincial rules. But the board deferred the decision until April at its last meeting. Dr. Cairns said yesterday that all officers should eventually be given tasers. After hearing from the deputy chief coroner yesterday, the police board agreed to try to deal with the taser issue next month if possible. Chief Fantino also presented the board yesterday with a report on a pilot project conducted by his force on a new model of taser, the X-26, which is more effective but uses a lower dose of electricity than the M-26, currently approved for use. The newer stun gun also keeps track each time it is fired, to guard against possible police abuse. Yesterday, the board unanimously passed a policy forbidding leaders of the police union to endorse political candidates in election campaigns, threatening them with police discipline charges if they do. Toronto Police Association President Dave Wilson repeated a vow to defy the ban, saying it was meant to "muzzle" his union. "You can charge me when the time comes, and I will fight this policy in the courts," he told the board. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:45 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Police investigate Grade 2 student who fired pellet gun during recess Sender: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Reply-To: cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca PUBLICATION: The Leader-Post (Regina) DATE: 2004.12.17 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A4 BYLINE: Lana Haight SOURCE: Saskatchewan News Network; CanWest News Service - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Police investigate Grade 2 student who fired pellet gun during recess - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- A seven-year-old boy from North Battleford has been suspended from school for shooting a pellet gun during recess. "I don't believe there was any intent. This young boy made a very foolish error," said Ron Ford, Battlefords school division director of education. On Wednesday, the boy, who is in Grade 2 at McKitrick community school, was not in class when school started in the morning, Ford said. "At recess, he was out with an air gun and shooting some pellets at a garbage can. Some of them deflected and hit two students, we know of for sure. Whether he aimed at those particular students, I guess is something the police are questioning." RCMP are still investigating and haven't finished interviewing the children involved. "It certainly wasn't an accidental discharge. He didn't accidentally shoot it in the playground. We know that the weapon was pointed and fired at other school kids but none were struck with any amount of force or deliberation or in the faces," said Battlefords RCMP Sgt. Al Keller. Police have been getting mixed messages about why the incident happened, he says. "We know he went home to get the gun. We're not sure if there was an altercation (with another student before school started). We can't confirm that. He's a seven-year-old. It's pretty difficult." The children hit with pellets were not hurt. Teachers who were supervising the playground during the morning recess took the boy and the gun to the principal, says Ford. "We realize this is a seven-year old boy. At the same time, he's made a very serious mistake. We need the help particularly of the RCMP in a gentle way and also the counsellors to make sure he, first of all, and his guardians understand that this is just a situation that is not right. This is totally wrong," he said. No charges will be laid, says Keller. The boy is too young to be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. The owner of the gun will not be charged either because the low velocity pellet gun is not a restricted weapon. The school will arrange for the boy and his guardian to receive counselling, says Ford, who has never encountered any kind of shooting in his 30 years as an educator in Saskatchewan. The principal will decide when the youngster can return to school. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:46 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: GANG UNIT ALERTED TO WESTSIDE SHOOTING PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2004.12.17 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 3 ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos by Walter Tychnowicz, Edmonton Sun The body of a man is removed by staff from the medical examiner's office yesterday morning outside an apartment building at 15216 100 Ave., while an unidentified neighbour watches through the sliding glass door of his balcony. BYLINE: DAN PALMER AND PAUL COWAN, EDMONTON SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- MURDER IS A MYSTERY GANG UNIT ALERTED TO WESTSIDE SHOOTING - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Cops are probing links between a September drive-by killing and the city's 27th homicide victim found yesterday shot dead on the steps of a westside apartment. "We'll certainly look at all the angles," city police Det. Ron Johnson said. The gang unit has been alerted to the latest bloodshed and Johnson said one of the angles being probed is the possibility yesterday's killing is connected to the Sept. 12 slaying of Manfredo Pavel Jaimes. Jaimes, 24, was shot dead after two red vehicles were seen chasing the white Nissan he was driving. Jaimes stopped the Nissan near 152B Avenue and 67 Street before several shots were fired at the car and the two red vehicles sped off. A male passenger was seen bolting from Jaimes's car. Yesterday's 27th homicide - which ties Edmonton with record years set in 1990 and 1992 when there were also 27 deaths - was discovered by cops around 6:20 a.m. The victim was found on the ground north of the 15216 100 Ave. apartment building. Landlord Rod Verrier said the dead man did not live there and had no associates there. The victim, who appeared to be in his 20s, was found with at least two black bags - one with a Club Monaco label - beside him after someone called cops to report gunshots. Witnesses told cops they heard between one and four shots. Spent shell casings were recovered from the scene. Cops said a suspect with dark hair and clothing was seen running from the area. Edmonton Sun wholesaler Greg Bukmeier, 36, was repairing a Sun newspaper box outside the building when the shots rang out. "I heard two to three pops but I didn't think much about them," said Bukmeier after learning around noon there had been a shooting. "I looked up in case someone was doing something to my van but I didn't see anything and I carried on working on the box." Scott Leonard, who lives in the area, said he tried to buy a Sun from the box shortly before the shooting but gave up and went back to his apartment because it was jammed. "When I heard the bangs a couple of minutes later, I thought it was someone beating on the box in frustration," he said. "I realize now that was the gunshots I was hearing." Leonard said he noticed nothing unusual when he crossed the street to go to the box. "It was quiet," he said. Cops planned to canvass the neighbourhood this morning and a medical examiner is to conduct an autopsy on the body today, with the release of the victim's name to follow. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:02:49 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: SHOTS FIRED AT HOUSE IN OKOTOKS PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2004.12.17 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 21 BYLINE: KRISTEN ENEVOLD, CALGARY SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- SHOTS FIRED AT HOUSE IN OKOTOKS - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- Minutes after rejecting a phone request to step outside his Okotoks home, a young man and a woman were shot at as they sat on their couch. One of the three shots fired at 57 Cimarron Meadows Bay, a home in the south end of the town, came close to hitting a 19-year-old woman. She was struck in the wrist with fragments of flying glass, said Okotoks RCMP Sgt. Bruce Barkley. The woman was treated at High River hospital and later released. A 21-year-old man in the home, who apparently received the mystery phone call, was uninjured. Mounties found another bullet lodged in the arm of the couch, near where the shots were fired through a front window. Barkley said the incident happened shortly after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. "The male received a call from a person he did not know, and he refused to go outside as the caller had asked," he said. "Not five minutes later, shots were fired," said Barkley. A green, older model Jaguar was seen leaving the area. Mounties don't know what kind of firearm was used in the shooting, and they say none of the evidence presented so far suggests this was a random act. "We've recovered the slugs, and they're being sent to the crime lab for analysis, Barkley said. Police are continuing their investigation into the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Okotoks RCMP detachment at 938-7046, or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:03:30 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: BUST IN HAMILTON MAN'S SHOOTING PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2004.12.17 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 42 BYLINE: ROB LAMBERTI, TORONTO SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- BUST IN HAMILTON MAN'S SHOOTING COPS HUNTING FOR 2 OTHER SUSPECTS WITH T.O. TIES - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- ONE MAN was arrested and two drifters, considered armed and dangerous, are being sought for the shooting of a Hamilton man earlier this month. The victim, 23, was shot three times in the abdomen after gunmen entered his Melvin Ave. apartment on Dec. 5. Hamilton Police said the three then fled with a woman in her 20s who had been in the apartment. Detectives say they won't discuss motive other than the shooting was not gang-related. They say it is unclear if the woman was a victim, an accomplice or simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the woman, who knows all four men and was in the bedroom with the victim at the time of the shooting, apparently left willingly with the shooters, said police. Police said the victim, who remains in hospital recovering from his wounds, knew the shooters' identities and is co-operating with investigators. On Wednesday, a suspect was arrested as he was leaving a Main St. E. apartment. A search of the home later found a quantity of cocaine and marijuana, police said. Gary St. Aubin Brown, 22, is charged with attempted murder, possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and possession of drugs. Glenn Richard Thomas, 25, and Jeff Kerlew, 22, both drifters with friends in Toronto and Peel, are wanted on warrants for attempted murder. Anyone with information is asked to call Hamilton police at 905-546-2957 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 17 Dec 2004 18:03:42 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: PLEA BARGAIN SHOCK PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2004.12.16 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 10 ILLUSTRATION: 1. photo by Ernest Doroszuk Man linked to Wonderland murder gets year 2. 2 photos MAURINE WILSON, aunt of Jesse Lamonday wipes away tears outside the Newmarket court yesterday after a plea bargain dismissed murder charges against one of the accused in the 21-year-old's death. Marcel Lamonday, the victim's father was livid. BYLINE: JASON BOTCHFORD, TORONTO SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- PLEA BARGAIN SHOCK - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - ---- A FATHER exploded with anger yesterday in court when the man originally charged with murdering his son was sentenced to one year in prison. Sirvon Edwards, 22, had been ordered to stand trial after a preliminary inquiry for the first-degree murder of Jesse Lamonday, 21. But Edwards reached a plea bargain with the Crown attorney that shocked the dead man's family. Edwards, of Toronto, pleaded guilty to four counts of weapons offences and the Crown dropped the murder charge. He was sentenced to 50 months in jail yesterday for the weapons offences, but was given 38 months credit for time served -- meaning his sentence is one year. "How can they make deals like this?" Marcel Lamonday said outside court. "It's inexcusable and disgusting. I feel so betrayed and so helpless. There's nothing I can do. What kind of system is this? Why wouldn't they let a jury decide?" BROKE DOWN When the sentence was read, the father shouted and stormed out of the courtroom. His son's girlfriend, Luci Papi, 20, ran out screaming "murder" and crying. Others in the family broke down in tears instantly. Earlier this year, the Lamondays had cheered in the same Newmarket courthouse when a provincial court judge ordered that Edwards and co-accused Donald Justin Berry, 19, be tried for first-degree murder. But Crown attorney Doug Kasko said there wasn't enough evidence to continue with Edwards' case. "The admissible evidence is not supportive of a conviction on a charge of murder," Kasko said in court yesterday. The court heard that on May 11, 2003 -- Mother's Day -- Edwards had threatened Jesse Lamonday on phone messages before he brought a loaded, semi-automatic 9-mm handgun to Canada's Wonderland looking for a confrontation. Edwards, known as "the weedman," claimed Lamonday owed him $10 for an outstanding marijuana debt. One phone message said, "Where's my money? I want my money tonight or else watch out." TOOK GUNS TO PARK Just hours after the message was left, Lamonday was dead. Edward's girlfriend tipped him off that day that Lamonday was at the amusement park with his girlfriend. Edwards went to the park with pal Berry, who didn't know Lamonday. Both had loaded handguns. At the time, Edwards was under a probation order that prevented him from carrying a handgun. After a fist fight was broken up by park security, Berry pulled out a gun and shot Lamonday in the chest in front of dozens of families, court heard. Lamonday died, crumpled over a turnstile while Edwards picked up a stuffed toy Papi had dropped and left the park. Berry has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 12 years. "(Berry) didn't even know my son," Marcel Lamonday said. "He had no problem with Jesse before (Edwards) brought him to Jesse." In his judgment yesterday, Justice Ted Minden said Edwards has lived a life premised and dependent on crime. "Sadly, it would appear the prospects of rehabilitation seem remote," Minden said. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V7 #640 ********************************** 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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