From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #481 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, June 2 2006 Volume 09 : Number 481 In this issue: Column: Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on LETTER: FAULTY GUN REGISTRY CAN ENDANGER LIVES Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on southern NDP MP Cullen to back gun registry repeal OPP Officer Shot Near Smiths Falls Ottawa Citizen Column: Letter to a foolish politician Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research Re: Column: Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on LIBERAL MP EXPOSES ERRORS IN GUN REGISTRY Re: Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on Officer survives being shot in Smiths Falls standoff EDITOR (That all sounds good, but doesn't make us any less Letter: Police guns adequate ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:10:56 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Column: Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun DATE: 2006.06.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: Editorial PAGE: A13 COLUMN: Stephen Hume BYLINE: Stephen Hume SOURCE: Special to the Sun WORD COUNT: 702 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on society - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismantles the national gun registry, a nasty souffle of received wisdom rises above the discourse, puffed into shape by American-style rhetoric and political opportunism. A Liberal folly, we're told, useless, because, as everyone knows, criminals don't register weapons and law abiding folk shouldn't have to register the guns they need to defend themselves. Interesting. Only 14 per cent of robberies in 2004 involved a firearm and 99 per cent of gun owners say they don't acquire firearms for self-defence. Guns are indeed used in 34 per cent of murders but the homicide rate has plummeted to the lowest in 35 years. Only 17 per cent of murders involve a stranger. Half involve an acquaintance, a third are committed by a family member. Even then, most gunshot casualties are either accidental shootings or suicide attempts. In other words, your biggest risk of being shot comes not from some gangster; it comes from somebody you know -- a family member, a hunting buddy, yourself. The chance someone will be murdered by another family member jumps almost threefold in a home with a gun. Risk of suicide by gunshot jumps almost fivefold. What data is available tells me that the real folly is to write off the billions already spent on the gun registry just to appease an ignorant clamour. I'm the first to agree the registry was bungled but pitching out the baby because we don't like the way the bathwater was poured -- wasting the tax money already invested -- is just lousy management. What's needed here is not demagoguery but leadership that addresses gun problems which are real rather than imagined. We do have a problem with misuse of firearms. Unfortunately the misuse is not only just by criminals, it's also by gun owners who see themselves as law-abiding citizens. Criminal violence remains a concern. Yet, most firearms casualties are victims not of criminals, but of passions, alcohol, carelessness and mental imbalance. Extrapolating from annual estimates by Statistics Canada and the justice department, more than 50,000 Canadians have been killed with firearms since 1970. Almost that many have been wounded. True, most casualties involved suicide attempts. So? We should shrug that off? These are casualty numbers you expect from full-scale war. For example, the number of Canadians killed with firearms over the past 25 years is 100 times greater than the number of Canadian soldiers killed in combat during the entire Korean War. It's many times the total number of military deaths so far for the United States-led coalition forces in the Iraq war. It's thousands of times greater than the number of Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan. A scientific paper published in 1997 estimates the economic cost of our home-grown gun slaughter at about $6 billion per year. Project that over 25 years and the cost is about $150 billion, which makes budget overruns in the firearms registry look like small change. The Alberta Centre of Injury Control and Research has pointed out that while the province ranks first nationally for the percentage of homes owning guns, it also has one of the highest death rates from firearms in the country. Alberta's children die by gunshot at almost twice the national average. In Alberta, a home with a gun is five times more likely to experience a suicide and three times more likely to be the scene of a murder than is a home without guns. These are the numbers we should be discussing. Yes, the gun registry was mismanaged, but at least it was an attempt to grapple with this profound problem. Yes, a crackdown on crime may be warranted, but let's acknowledge that it addresses the smaller part of the problem -- the bigger part is the rest of us, who have convinced ourselves that it's all about somebody else. If we want to shut down the gun registry because it doesn't work, fine. But if we're going to shift the priority to fighting crime, let's find out why it was being accessed 6,500 times a day by law enforcement agencies. And let's have a public discussion of how the third leading cause of death among young Canadians aged 15 to 24 came to be gunshot wounds. Whether victims of accidental, deliberate or self-inflicted shootings, the social and economic price is surely intolerable. shume@islandnet.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:11:14 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: LETTER: FAULTY GUN REGISTRY CAN ENDANGER LIVES PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun DATE: 2006.05.28 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 32 COLUMN: Letters to the Editor FAULTY GUN REGISTRY CAN ENDANGER LIVES SHEILA FRASER reported the information contained in the firearms registry is inaccurate and incomplete. An inaccurate database is worse than useless. It can endanger the lives of those who rely on the data. Spending one dollar or $1 billion on such a database is as good as burning the money. What benefits have been delivered by the expenditure of $1 billion? None. Of what use is a registry of bogus data? None. How many crimes have been solved or prevented by harassing responsible gun owners? None. The demise of the registry is long overdue. Robert Cohen EDITOR (It was little more than a make-work project for bureaucrats.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:11:33 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on southern (Lethbridge Herald) DATE: 2006.06.02 CATEGORY: Western regional general news PUBLICATION: cpw WORD COUNT: 315 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on southern Alta. reserve - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CARDSTON, Alta. (CP) _ A retired police officer on trial for shooting a pit bull and a Rottweiler says dangerous dogs on the Blood Reserve pose a constant threat to the public. Norman Many Fingers served with the reserve police in the late 1970s and spent 22 years with the Calgary police force. He says he fired at the animals as a last resort, fearing for the safety of neighbouring residents and almost two dozen children playing in the street. Many Fingers is charged with possession of a dangerous weapon, careless use of a firearm and possessing a firearm without a licence. His lawyer, Michael Dietrich, said he will be requesting a stay of the charge of possession of a firearm without a licence. Dietrich pointed out the federal government plans to scrap the gun registry and give amnesty to shotgun and rifle owners who fail to register their weapons. On Thursday, court heard from several Crown witnesses including the 17-year-old boy who owned the two dogs that were shot. A self-admitted drug dealer who had the dogs for protection, he testified he was walking with his pets on the reserve townsite when two stray dogs initiated the fight last fall. One dog was chased away but the other remained. The youth used a golf club a neighbour had brought out to hit the dogs in an effort to separate them. He said the Rottweiler let go but the pit bull held on to the other dog's neck. The boy went to retrieve a pipe to try to pry open the pit bull's mouth when the animal was shot. The Rottweiler was also shot and was already dead when the boy went to check on it. Not wanting his pit bull to suffer, the boy asked Many Fingers to ``finish it'' and the man shot the dog in the head. The boy told court his dogs were not vicious and he didn't believe they'd turn on the 15 to 20 children that were in the street and witnessed both the fight and the shooting. But Many Fingers said he wasn't as confident. ``I was afraid at any time they could attack someone and kill someone because they go for the throat,'' he said outside court. ``I am proud to have been able to help my fellow citizens on the reserve in a moment of grave danger.'' ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:12:11 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: NDP MP Cullen to back gun registry repeal THE INTERIOR NEWS Cullen to back gun registry repeal By Thom Barker Jun 01 2006 By Thom Barker http://www.interior-news.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=31&cat=23&id=65 8276&more= Last week, Roy Rempel, a spokesperson for Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Stockwell Day said the government wants to introduce a bill repealing the registry in June. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:14:26 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: OPP Officer Shot Near Smiths Falls http://www.cfra.com/headlines/index.asp CFRA News OPP Officer Shot Near Smiths Falls Man Barricaded inside Home Friday, June 2, 2006 An OPP officer is recovering in hospital after being shot last night. OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae says the officer was responding to a call at a residence on Highway 29 in Jasper when he was shot. The officer is in an Ottawa Hospital in stable condition with non-life threatening injuries. It is not clear what prompted the shooting, or who was involved. The OPP Emergency Response Team is currently at the residence, negotiating with a barricaded man. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:30:29 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Ottawa Citizen Column: Letter to a foolish politician PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2006.06.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PNAME: Editorial PAGE: A14 COLUMN: John Robson BYLINE: John Robson SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen WORD COUNT: 818 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Letter to a foolish politician - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: The Hon. Michael Bryant, attorney general of Ontario Dear Sir: In a recent letter to my friend Dennis Young (reference #M06-01001) you explain that you asked the federal government to impose a total handgun ban because criminals may steal handguns from legitimate owners and, I quote you here, "No hobby is worth a life.'' I wonder if I might prevail upon you not to babble in this fashion. Surely you realize many more people drown in Ontario than are fatally shot by criminals. And most drownings result from hobbies such as swimming and boating or (says a Canadian Institute for Health Information press release) "walking near water,'' whereas many firearms murders don't involve collectors' or sports shooters' stolen weapons. If you seriously believe "No hobby is worth a life,'' consistency requires that you seek a ban on these other recreational activities first. If not, why did you say it? Cynics might claim that, as a politician, you were simply seeking a plausible formulation to seize the rhetorical high ground in defence of a policy you hadn't really thought through but it polled well and every cool person you knew instinctively supported it. Not me. I charitably grant that you are as confused as you sound. As Henry Hazlitt complained 60 years ago, government policy frequently lags behind Adam Smith. So let me explain to you the concept of "tradeoffs.'' In life, including public policy, every course of action involves both benefits and costs. If nothing else, a decision to spend time doing something we enjoy means that same time cannot be spent doing something else we also enjoy. And most pleasant activities, even golf, not only consume valuable time and money but are also more risky than, say, cowering in our basements. Forget skydiving or white-water rafting. Do you have any idea what might happen if someone were hit in the head by a croquet ball? Or ran into a tree chasing a Frisbee? Before banning all such reckless pastimes because "No hobby is worth a life,'' you might need to chat about tradeoffs with your colleague Jim Watson, the minister of health promotion. He may regard moderate physical activity not just as a pleasant diversion for persons under the care and supervision of the benevolent state, but also as useful in reducing premature death due to being a big fat slob, thus saving the public health system much lovely money. He may even mention the "jogger's dilemma" that while people who exercise tend to live longer, at any given moment the risk of death is higher while working out than not. Possibly some state facility could be established at which low-risk aerobics could be conducted in close proximity to advanced medical equipment and far from lakes, ponds and other death traps. And there are plenty of hobbies that look safe. Like stamp collecting, where lethal paper cuts are rare. Or chess: Who ever choked on a rook? So it might seem that a ban on any hobbies mathematically shown to increase fatalities would not impose an undue burden of boredom on the good people of Ontario. Alas, it is not that simple. Do you have any idea how many car accidents involve people travelling to and from chess clubs, yoga classes or smoke-free social gatherings, as well as really scary things like recreational softball where heart attacks, concussions and food poisoning from the potato salad cannot be ruled out entirely? And forget banning automobile travel for frivolous or alarming recreational purposes. Pedestrians can be run over, succumb to heat exhaustion, be stung by bees or otherwise perish on their way to art class. It's an abattoir out there. Of course, if we take tradeoffs seriously, we might also have to ask Mr. Watson whether high tobacco taxes, which undermine border security by increasing smuggling, are worth the frisson of virtue from stamping out the sin of smoking. For regrettably one tradeoff in thinking more clearly about policy is realizing some cherished nostrums don't work. But a trade-off in avoiding clear thinking is doing and saying dumb stuff. Trade-offs are everywhere ... except in your letter. Finally, stress is a significant factor in premature death. And the modern world has reduced previously significant sources of anxiety, such as frenzied Huns sweeping suddenly over the horizon, but has created others, from the frantic pace of work to people driving while cellphoning to politicians who meddle with law-abiding citizens because they can't control predatory thugs, then rationalize their conduct in foolish ways. Even if silly statements are a traditional politicians' hobby, they are bad for my blood pressure. And remember: No hobby is worth a life. John Robson's column appears weekly. - ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE CANDIAN LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE ASSOCIATION'S LIST OF THE RISKIEST HOBBIES "They said the following list is of rated activities is common to all life insurers in both content and scope: parachuting/skydiving; ballooning; hang gliding; flying ultra lights; motorcycle or automobile racing; scuba diving; aviation; mountaineering; drug usage; tobacco usage; and alcohol usage." http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns79.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:30:43 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Alberta Centre for Injury Control & Research Does anyone know anything about these guys? http://www.med.ualberta.ca/acicr/pages/facts/Firearm%20Facts.pdf They seem to be playing fast and loose with "the facts", even quoting the completely disgraced "Kellermann" study. Yours in Liberty, Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:31:12 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Column: Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on - ----- Original Message ----- > PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun > DATE: 2006.06.02 > EDITION: Final > SECTION: Editorial > PAGE: A13 > COLUMN: Stephen Hume > BYLINE: Stephen Hume > SOURCE: Special to the Sun > WORD COUNT: 702 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Time to come to grips with the toll guns take on society > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This post is so erroneus and outright misleading I just cant be bothered to comment on it. ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:47:56 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: LIBERAL MP EXPOSES ERRORS IN GUN REGISTRY MAY 31, 2006 - LIBERAL MP EXPOSES ERRORS IN GUN REGISTRY http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/2006_new/60.htm ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 08:48:05 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on - ----- Original Message ----- > (Lethbridge Herald) > DATE: 2006.06.02 > CATEGORY: Western regional general news > PUBLICATION: cpw > WORD COUNT: 315 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Retired police officer on trial for shooting dogs on southern Alta. > reserve > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > CARDSTON, Alta. (CP) _ A retired police officer on trial for shooting a > pit bull and a Rottweiler says dangerous dogs on the Blood Reserve pose > a constant threat to the public. It is common practice on Northern Ontario reserves to have the police shoot the dogs which are "owned " by someone but allowed to run loose and in packs..nobody seems to care much until they pose a threat....they are allowed to breed like....well dogs...none are neutered. The real danger is that they have been known to pursue people when packed up so it is not only a safety procedure but a health one as well, because NONE of the reserve dogs, or very few(maybe one in 1000 ) are inoculated against any diseases that dogs are wont to encounter. This occurs about once a year on most reserves from the information I have.Especially the ones not accessible by road. ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:14:17 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Officer survives being shot in Smiths Falls standoff PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2006.06.02 PAGE: A10 BYLINE: OLIVER MOORE SECTION: National News EDITION: Metro WORD COUNT: 71 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Canada in Brief Officer survives being shot in Smiths Falls standoff - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Oliver Moore An OPP officer was shot and injured last night while responding to a call at a rural property near Smiths Falls, Ont. The officer was taken to hospital in Ottawa with a wound not believed to be life-threatening. Sergeant Kristine Rae said little was known about the person who injured the officer. Hours after the shooting, tactical officers were still surrounding the home where the man had barricaded himself. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:15:00 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: EDITOR (That all sounds good, but doesn't make us any less PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Sun DATE: 2006.06.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: Comment PAGE: 13 BYLINE: OTTAWA SUN COLUMN: Letter of the Day WORD COUNT: 322 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LETTER OF THE DAY COLUMN - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RE "A CASE of border insecurity" by Greg Weston (May 30): I would like to clarify certain points in Weston's article. Canadians should be assured that Canada's new government has made the fight against terrorism a cornerstone of our national security policy. In total, $1.4 billion is being devoted to protecting Canadian families and communities by putting more police on the streets, enhancing emergency preparedness, strengthening security for air and rail travelers and effectively protecting our borders. We are determined to ensure that any identified security gaps are closed. In that regard, I can assure you that CSIS screens 100% of all immigrants who apply for their refugee and/or permanent residency status from within Canada. CSIS also screens 100% of all the applicants who applied at our embassies and consulates abroad referred to them as a security risk. Immigration officials conduct all remaining screenings of all entrants into the country. There may be ways to make this screening more effective and we will examine all options for doing so. This government is determined to strengthen the current legal regime for combating terrorism. That is why we listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization. We will choke off the ability for terrorist groups to operate in Canada. That said, we are clearly not immune from the possibility of an attack. To reduce the possibility of such an attack we must increase our vigilance. That is why reducing the threat of terrorism is one of the top five priorities of the RCMP. That is why CSIS is also focused on preventing and disrupting possible planning for terrorist acts as a top priority. The public should be confident that Canada's new government is taking all means necessary to prevent and disrupt any terrorist attack. The public is a vital partner in the fight against terrorism and we encourage all Canadians to exercise vigilance and report any suspicious matters to their local police. Working together, we will defeat the terrorist threat both in Canada and abroad. Stockwell Day Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness EDITOR (That all sounds good, but doesn't make us any less worried about Hooper's remarks) oped@ott.sunpub.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 09:15:50 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Letter: Police guns adequate PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2006.06.02 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PNAME: City Editorial PAGE: F4 BYLINE: Nick Tilgner SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen WORD COUNT: 201 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Police guns adequate - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I certainly hope the Ottawa Police Service board added an extensive budget for small- arms training and yearly ammunition consumption when it decided to adopt the C8 carbine for its arsenal. While it is true that this firearm has been used by the Canadian Forces to great effect in their mission in Afghanistan, this is, by design, strictly a military weapon. As such, extensive training is necessary for the weapon to be used safely in built-up areas. Most professional shooters, both military and civilian, would suggest that a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 rounds should be fired every year by each user to ensure maximum levels of competence, and therefore safe handling. We have a police team in Ottawa with specialized training in weapons and tactics for a reason: certain officers show better aptitude for firearms of this class. The round is a high-velocity, high-penetration projectile, capable of travelling though most urban walls. This should raise some concerns among the general public. The shotguns now in use are more than adequate for the needs of the average police officer in Ottawa. These guns offer both the stopping power and safety that is required in a day-to-day patrol environment. Nick Tilgner, Stittsville ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #481 ********************************** 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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