From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #305 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, August 8 2005 Volume 08 : Number 305 In this issue: The risk of owning guns Re: RFC.......help My letter to the Hamilton Spectator Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed Man, 27, dies after another shooting Julian Fantino license refusal??? Re: Julian Fantino license refusal??? Re: Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed Re: Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP NWEST STATISTICS ON GUN SMUGGLING? RISE IN HOMICIDES STRAINS RESOURCES Spike in seizures of U.S. stun guns alarms officials Letter: Gun debate goes on ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 12:23:18 -0600 (CST) From: "Clive Edwards" Subject: The risk of owning guns >"This issue is like drinking and driving was years ago," said Det. Sgt. >Gary Keys, in charge of >Toronto police's gun and gang task force. >"People have to start becoming more aware of the risk (of owning guns). If >they do own them, >they shouldn't let others know about it." Dissemblers such as Detective Keys need to be rebutted firmly. There is no comparison between drinking and driving and firearms. A firearm is a safety device. Its purpose is to save lives. Sporting use is secondary to this primary purpose. In contemporary Canada the primary risk of owning firearms comes from Government. Let us not deny the fact: official policy in Canada is to destroy the traditional Canadian culture of independence and personal liberty. The most important step in this social re-engineering process is to destroy the gun culture. An important step in destroying the gun culture is to prevent, by however means, people of that culture from sharing their culture and from being proud of their culture. In multi-cultural Canada such a policy would never be instituted against "new Canadians" and their culture of origin. Multi-culturalism is an important tool in destroying the Canada that has existed from before 1867 to the present day. The fact that Canadians are not permitted to exist officially without a hyphen is an important part of why we have such violence and dissention in our society. People are not allowed to be Canadian, so we are left to compete for survival in a wasteland where tribalism is the norm. Clive Edwards www.DiArmani.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 13:49:11 -0600 (CST) From: Christopher di Armani Subject: Re: RFC.......help >So why has someone not approached Gary Mauser. Here is a person of equal >stature (Professor from a more prestegious university [my view again]) and >quite capable of debate. He also has done research in the area so would be >able to run circles around Wendy in a debate (which of course would never >happen face to face however). Gary Mauser has already been approached to be the spokesperson/narrator for a documentary on the Firearms Act and has turned down the idea. I doubt he'd be any more interested in being the spokesperson for gun owners at the national level, unfortunately. Yours in Liberty, Christopher di Armani christopher@diArmani.com Our poison-tipped pens are greater than the mightiest of swords - diArmani.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:27:09 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: My letter to the Hamilton Spectator Just submitted, not yet printed. Have you written a letter today? - ----- Original Message ----- From: Bruce Mills To: Sent: Sunday, August 07, 2005 4:26 PM Subject: Re: Battling the gun What we need is not "fresh ammo". What we need is for the Federal Liberal Government to stop its ideologically driven persecution of law abiding gun owners. Almost 2 billion dollars have been wasted on this fiasco, which has not done one thing to stop the proliferation of illegal guns in the hand of criminals. Why aren't the media reporting on this? Any "war on guns" is doomed to failure, just like the "war on drugs", and the "war on alcohol" of the 20's. Prohibitions just do not work - trying to implement another one will be just as disasterous. When will hand-wringing do-gooders stop trying to blame the object, and start holding the actual criminals, who commit actual criminal acts, responsible? Divert the money being wasted on the Firearms Act to that end, not chasing down Uncle George because he forgot to register his duck gun. Liberty is wasted on you, Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:22:25 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=104458&n_date=20050807& cat=World Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP:- Toronto | August 07, 2005 10:42:12 AM IST Pressure seems to be mounting on Conservative party leader Stephen Harper to show the door to beleaguered Indo-Canadian MP Gurmant Grewal. Although Harper hasn't made up his mind just as yet, sources in the party caucus revealed to the South Asian Observer that the number of party members seeking the ouster of Grewal has increased manifold. Grewal faced severe criticism when he implicated his own party leader in the infamous Tapegate - the surreptitious recording of conversations between him and senior Liberals. In an interview with a British Colombia newspaper, Grewal first said Harper had approved his efforts to tape conversations with Tim Murphy, the prime minister's chief of staff, and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh. Grewal however later said he had informed Harper what he was doing but "no approval was sought or given". Some political observers feel that Grewal has now become a burden for Harper, whose popularity has been on the slide. Experts feel that while Harper should be talking taxes, healthcare and education, he has been forced to discuss the details of Tapegate. He has even defended Grewal by suggesting Murphy should have known that all conversations are on record. Of course there are some tricky optics at work as well. All political parties want to be seen as ethnically inclusive. They also want to welcome and support MPs from across the country. Grewal has already been sent on stress leave, an apparent bid to get him out of the limelight, at least for the time being. Some party leaders feel that it's high time for Harper to take a decision as the episode has already damaged the party's image. Some have suggested that Harper should refuse to sign Grewal's nomination paper for the next election. Grewal represents Fleetwood-Port Kells, British Columbia. - -- (IANS) ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:22:42 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/08/07/breakin-stabbing050807.h tml Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed Last Updated Sun, 07 Aug 2005 13:46:07 EDT CBC News A 19-year-old Nova Scotia man has died after being stabbed while breaking into a home Saturday night, police say. RCMP from the Queens detachment said an occupant of the house in Caledonia, about 120 kilometres southwest of Halifax, stabbed the man after he and several accomplices broke in. The intruders then fled the scene. The stabbed man later died from his injuries. Queens RCMP say the 19-year-old man who allegedly stabbed the intruder has been arrested. Police are continuing to investigate. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:27:31 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Man, 27, dies after another shooting http://www.canada.com/toronto/news/story.html?id=ac1f932c-e7ec-4ba4-9adf-3d 6840dc140c Man, 27, dies after another shooting Broadcast News Sunday, August 07, 2005 CREDIT: National Post Toronto has been gripped by a wave of violence in recent weeks including a series of fatal gun shootings. TORONTO -- A 27-year-old Toronto man has been killed in the latest in a string of shootings across the city. Officers responded to a call of a shooting at a townhouse complex last night in the city's northeast end. When they arrived on the scene, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound in the abdomen. The victim, identified as Melbourne Whittick, was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say they are looking for two suspects. The fatal shooting came just days after two drive-by shootings Wednesday left one man dead and five people wounded, including a four-year-old boy. © Broadcast News 2005 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:06:13 -0600 (CST) From: Christopher di Armani Subject: Julian Fantino license refusal??? Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone out there can remember and point me in the right direction. Wasn't it Julian Fantino, the former Chief of Police in Toronto, who's firearms license was refused? If not him, who was it, and where can I possibly find some information on it? Thanks! cc. Dennis Young Yours in Liberty, Christopher di Armani christopher@diArmani.com Our poison-tipped pens are greater than the mightiest of swords - diArmani.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:13:18 -0600 (CST) From: "Bruce Mills" Subject: Re: Julian Fantino license refusal??? - ----- Original Message ----- From: Christopher di Armani > I'm hoping someone out there can remember and point me in the right > direction. Wasn't it Julian Fantino, the former Chief of Police in > Toronto, who's firearms license was refused? If not him, who was it, and > where can I possibly find some information on it? Fantino's license wasn't actually "refused", his application was "returned" for further information because he put down as his place of birth "Italy" instead of whatever podunk town he was actually born in. No doubt that this shows up as one of the "refusals" in their stats, though. Liberty is wasted on you, Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:14:17 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Mills" To: Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 12:22 AM Subject: Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed > http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/08/07/breakin-stabbing050807.h > tml > > Man arrested after N.S. intruder fatally stabbed Arrested for self-defence ? Is this what this country is coming to? This is a disgrace on the police dept and "Canadian values" as propounded by Paul Martin. If this is his "Canadian Values: he can keep them!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will continue to support self-defence as a God-given right , that we are all born with! ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:14:48 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Mills" To: Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 12:22 AM Subject: Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP > http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=104458&n_date=20050807& > cat=World > > Pressure mounting to expel Indo-Canadian MP:- > > Toronto | August 07, 2005 10:42:12 AM IST > > Pressure seems to be mounting on Conservative party leader Stephen Harper > to show the door to beleaguered Indo-Canadian MP Gurmant Grewal. > > Although Harper hasn't made up his mind just as yet, sources in the party > caucus revealed to the South Asian Observer that the number of party > members seeking the ouster of Grewal has increased manifold. Bad move! It will just add another member to the Liberal party for IF he is ousted from the Conservative ranks you can bet your last dollar he will switch hit to the Liberals. ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:15:01 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: NWEST STATISTICS ON GUN SMUGGLING? RCMP SAY THEY HAVE NO RECORDS TO SUPPORT NWEST STATISTICS ON GUN SMUGGLING http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/news/newinfo2005.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:15:55 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: RISE IN HOMICIDES STRAINS RESOURCES PUBLICATION: The London Free Press DATE: 2005.08.08 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: A1 ILLUSTRATION: FAULKNER: Officers trained to be cautious around knives. BYLINE: MELINDA DALTON, FREE PRESS REPORTER WORD COUNT: 385 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SLAYINGS TAKE TOLL ON POLICE AS THE RISE IN HOMICIDES STRAINS RESOURCES, CONCERN ALSO CENTRES ON THE USE OF KNIVES. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The skyrocketing number of homicides in London has renewed concerns about knifings in the city and placed an unexpected strain on police. "I don't recall a time when the number of homicides was this high," said Paul Whitehead, a criminologist at the University of Western Ontario. "This is unusually high and we're only two-thirds of the way through the year." In June, the number of homicides in the city climbed into double digits for the first time in recent memory. That number was upped to 11 Friday when a man's lifeless body was discovered in the stairwell of an apartment building in the city's east end. A 24-year-old London man is charged with manslaughter in connection with that death. "One homicide in our city is too many," Coun. Ab Chahbar, chairperson of council's community and protective services committee, said yesterday. "It's very disturbing, and people should be disturbed . . . I know police services are doing everything they can, but our laws are a little lax when it comes to knives." The city has seen more than double the number of homicides in 2004 and nearly triple the number to date compared to similar-sized cities in the region. Windsor police have investigated three homicides in 2005. In Waterloo region, police have investigated five. since The prevalence of knives in the city has long been a concern of police. The rate of offences involving knives has been on the rise 2003. In spite of mounting concerns about the number of guns in the city, not one of London's 11 homicide victims died from gunshot wounds. Eight of the victims died from knife wounds. Knives are easy to conceal and a loosely punishable weapon, said police Chief Murray Faulkner. "One of the problems is anybody can use a knife," he said. "There is no extra punishment, like there is with firearms, for using that type of weapon to commit a crime." By April this year, police had already investigated 63 knife-related offences -- a 50-per-cent increase over the same period a year earlier. Officers are trained to be equally cautious around suspects with firearms and knives, Faulkner said. "If you are within 21 feet (about 6 1/2 metres), it is as dangerous as a firearm because of the time it takes you to react and unholster your weapon," he said. But an increase in weapons offences isn't the only strain on the force this year. The sheer number of homicides has proved taxing for investigators. "When you are doing a homicide investigation, the first 12, 36, 48 hours are the most important and intensive," Faulkner said. "That does crank up the overtime and puts stress on the officers investigating. It's (at) 11 already and we're just a little over halfway through the year, so we hope that we don't see many more." Faulkner said recent expansion of the police service has helped the force cope with a record-setting year of homicides. "Luckily, we started down this road three years ago by increasing the number of officers," he said. "I think we got ahead of the curve." While the number of killings in the city this year is alarming to police and citizens alike, Whitehead said it likely isn't a predictor of a more dangerous London in the future. "It's only surprising in the sense that it is atypical," he said. "When we look at this some years from now, it will look like an unusual blip." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:17:33 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Spike in seizures of U.S. stun guns alarms officials PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2005.08.08 PAGE: A2 (ILLUS) BYLINE: COLIN FREEZE SECTION: National News EDITION: Metro WORD COUNT: 984 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spike in seizures of U.S. stun guns alarms officials Those involved in organized crime eager to get their hands on weapons - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COLIN FREEZE Canadian authorities are alarmed about a shocking rise in seizures of smuggled stun guns, even as U.S. manufacturers are stepping up their campaigns to sell the weapons to American civilians. Fifty-nine Black Cobra model stun guns were found hidden in the body panels of a sport-utility vehicle at the Alberta border recently, pushing to 173 the number of stun guns seized by border guards so far in 2005. The Canada Border Services Agency says it seized only 95 stun guns in 2004, and 126 the year before that. The weapons, which are meant to disable victims by zapping them with non-lethal-but-powerful electric shocks, are banned from civilian use in Canada. Yet they are marketed and sold as "personal-protection" devices in the United States. Police on both sides of the border say that "thugs" and "organized-crime" members, particularly those in the drug trade, are eager to get their hands on them. A 22-year-old Florida man now faces criminal charges in connection with the Alberta discovery, the largest such seizure in recent memory. "It indicates there's a real spike in stun guns," said CBSA spokeswoman Loretta Nyhus. She added that "certainly they are more available and they are becoming more and more common." U.S.-based Black Cobra, which sells its cigarette-pack-sized stun guns on the Web for $30 to $50 (U.S.) says that jolts from its handheld weapons are "capable of incapacitating even the biggest of assailants." More discriminating stun-gun users, particularly police forces, prefer $400 to $1,000 models sold by NASDAQ-traded Taser, whose brand is to stun guns what Kleenex is to facial tissue. Because its products have become synonymous with its type of weaponry, Taser International takes pains to point out that, unlike dozens of lower-end competitors, it runs background checks on customers, registers them and engineers the weapons to leave behind an identifying trail of confetti once fired. Despite selling 100,000 stun guns to American civilians in the past decade, the company says that criminals have used Taser-brand stun guns very rarely. While cheaper stun guns only work pressed up against the victim, Tasers fire electrically charged darts from a distance -- up to 4.5 metres for civilian versions, or 7.6 metres for police models. Apart from brisk sales to Canadian law-enforcement agencies, "Taser-brand products are not crossing the border," said company spokesman Steve Tuttle in an interview. He added that "it's completely prohibited [in Canada] and no one [from Taser] is going to Ottawa to change that." South of the border, however, Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, and manufacturers have lobbied against laws that would curtail stun-gun sales. Dozens of accounts of accidental deaths involving police-used stun guns exist, though the precise causes of death are often contentious. Because sales to law-enforcement agencies remain brisk, Taser and its competitors are seeking to leverage police enthusiasm for stun guns into broader commercial sales. Mr. Tuttle, the Arizona-based company spokesman, goes so far as to describe the stun gun he keeps on his nightstand as a family-friendly alternative to the .357 Magnum he keeps locked in a safe. "If, God forbid, my children were to find the Taser, they would at least go to school the next day," he said. Stun guns, he added, are "an issue of personal protection. We have a right to personal protection in the United States." Police, however, say that criminals on both sides of the border are seizing upon the increasing availability. In one spectacular example, New York mobsters are said to have applied a stun gun to the testicles of a businessman, as part of a shakedown scheme involving a U.K. porn baron. In Canada, stun guns have been seized during raids on Hells Angels properties in Western Canada and also during an investigation into a loan-sharking ring working out of the Montreal Casino. Toronto Police recently also seized a stun gun and other weapons when they busted up a violent robbery ring known as the "Pee-Wee Herman gang" for its leader's peculiar hairstyle. "It would be fair to say they are used for threats and intimidation and robberies," said Constable Paul Brown, a Winnipeg officer seconded to the RCMP's weapons enforcement unit. "It's all types of criminals, from organized crime and your everyday street thugs." He added that "if you've ever seen someone pull the trigger on a stun gun, it's very intimidating, the crackling electricity." Compared to stun guns, border seizures of firearms still occur about 10 times more frequently, and the ones that do get through remain a paramount concern. Yet, even in Canada's largest city, stun guns are "absolutely a huge concern," according to Sergeant Tony Gollob, a Toronto-based Mountie who last year caught a twice-deported Caribbean drug dealer with a stun gun and $3,000 worth of cocaine. Shocked and stunned From terrorists to hockey goons, stun guns have felled the mighty -- and occasionally been used to zap the weak. Embraced by police, and to a lesser extent U.S. civilians, the ranks of the tasered include: Yasin Hassan Omar: Last month, this 24-year-old subway-bombing suspect was hit with 50,000 volts of electricity in his Birmingham apartment. Unlike a young Brazilian man whom police shot eight times after mistaking him for a terrorist suspect, Mr. Omar lived. Bob Probert: An unstoppable NHL enforcer in his prime, Florida police last year used stun guns to subdue the 40-year-old, who has had frequent brushes with the law and substance abuse. The 75-year-old and the six-year-old: South Carolina police tasered a woman who refused to stop visiting a friend in a nursing home, and Miami police used the weapon on a six-year-old student who wouldn't let go of a shard of glass. These, and other cases, have fuelled criticism of police being too eager to use stun guns. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 08:17:54 -0600 (CST) From: Breitkreuz@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca, Garry - Assistant 1 Subject: Letter: Gun debate goes on PUBLICATION: The Daily News (Halifax) DATE: 2005.08.07 SECTION: Readers' Forum PAGE: 15 BYLINE: WORD COUNT: 221 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gun debate goes on - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To the editor: Re: Jon Coates's letter, Firearms Restrictions, in the Aug. 1 Daily News: Coates states that guns are for "a single purpose: to kill living things." If this is true, my guns must be defective. All they ever do is put holes in pieces of paper or break clay discs in the air while providing education and entertainment for my family. Guns were originally designed to provide food for the table and safety for families threatened by four- and two-legged predators. The sport of target shooting evolved out of these defensive and hunting activities, much as the yo-yo or the game of darts has evolved from martial origins. Today, we are fortunate we can hire professional police to protect us and butchers to kill our food. Of interesting historical significance, it was the advent of firearms that allowed the common masses to wrest power from the aristocracy and establish our democratic form of government. Despite Coates's claim that gun owners want "unrestricted gun ownership," we do not want gun anarchy. We want a coherent system of gun laws that are constitutional, effective, appropriately targeted, enforced and cost-effective. These laws must severely deter and punish the violent criminal and abuses of firearms, while promoting the dissemination of firearms safety and knowledge. We remain willing to work with any government or agency to achieve this goal. We also want an end to the type of cultural bigotry displayed by people like Coates. Michael Ackermann, Secretary St. Mary's Shooters Association Sherbrooke ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V8 #305 ********************************** 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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