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 #553 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 23 2006 Volume 09 : Number 553 In this issue: Letter: Hamstrung hunters Letter: Dubious registry figure OT: COLUMN: NO DETERRENCE IN SENTENCING YOUTH CRIMINALS Re: Lorne Gunter Column: Gun owners not breathing easy yet: My letter to several newspapers Editorial: Ottawa must not control the press Re: licencing vs registration, et al Re: licencing vs registration, et al Re: licencing vs registration, et al Police check if shootings related Four charged following standoff Imitation firearms should be restricted like other weapons, a ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:20:24 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Letter: Hamstrung hunters PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2006.06.23 PAGE: A20 BYLINE: TOM MCAULEY SECTION: Letter to the Edit EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Winnipeg MB WORDS: 100 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hamstrung hunters - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ John Ibbitson contends that hunters are a dying breed (Making Sport Of The Gun Registry -- June 20) and concludes that they can simply be ignored. He conveniently overlooks the fact that a big part of why hunting has experienced a decline over the past 30 years is the increasing weight of restrictions, costs, permits, licences, gun-control laws, prohibitions and bureaucracies that have purposefully been designed to keep people out of the sport. Older hunters just got fed up with the inane laws and hassles, laws that put up barriers that make it very difficult for young hunters to start. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:20:26 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Letter: Dubious registry figure PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2006.06.23 PAGE: A20 BYLINE: WILLIAM E. HENRY SECTION: Letter to the Edit EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Port Hope, Ont. WORDS: 160 - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dubious registry figure - -------------------------------------------------------------------- Frank J. O'Hara (Specious Gun Arguments -- letter, June 21) perpetuates the myth that police officers check the gun registry 5,000 times a day. In doing so, he is ensnared by a specious argument of his own making. While it may be correct to say that the registry receives 5,000 hits a day, much of that activity has nothing to do with direct police access and is, instead, generated by an automated link between the Canadian Police Information Centre's system and the gun registry. Every time CPIC is accessed by the police, one or more hits are recorded against the registry. Thus, a simple check for an outstanding warrant that has nothing to do with firearms will result in firearm-registry activity. Proponents of the long-gun registry continue to quote the specious 5,000 figure as evidence of system utility. In doing so, they spread misinformation that clouds thinking and distorts discussion on this contentious topic. - ----------------------------------------------------- AUDITOR GENERAL - 5,000 HITS A DAY: AN INDICATOR OF ACTIVITY - NOT EFFECTIVENESS 39th PARLIAMENT, 1st SESSION Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - EVIDENCE Ms. Sheila Fraser: I believe that the indicator of the 5,000 hits a day is more of what we call an activity indicator than an indicator of effectiveness. So those law enforcement people who use the registry would have to give an assessment as to whether or not it was useful to them. There could be 5,000 hits, and they could say yes, it was very helpful and helped me in this way; or they could say no, it wasn't helpful because the information wasn't correct. It takes an additional degree of interpretation or information to assess effectiveness. (Page 14) http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/cmte/CommitteePublication.aspx?SourceId=146767 - --------------------------------------------- Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security EVIDENCE number 07, UNEDITED COPY - COPIE NON ÉDITÉE Wednesday, June 7, 2006 * * * MP Dave MacKenzie: All I'm trying to indicate to Canadians, though, is that there are not 5,000 checks a day just for firearms registry. Those are automatic checks done by police officers on the street for names and for a variety of things. RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli: They're automatic CPIC checks that they automatically go over. I don't have the number of how many are direct checks. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:20:36 -0600 (CST) From: 10x <10x@telus.net> Subject: OT: COLUMN: NO DETERRENCE IN SENTENCING YOUTH CRIMINALS At 07:01 AM 6/23/2006 -0600, you wrote: > > >PUBLICATION: The Winnipeg Sun >DATE: 2006.06.23 >EDITION: Final >SECTION: News >PAGE: 5 >BYLINE: TOM BRODBECK >WORD COUNT: 429 > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >DECISION IS OBSCENE NO DETERRENCE IN SENTENCING YOUTH CRIMINALS > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >The Supreme Court of Canada's decision to uphold a one-day sentence for >a Manitoba youth who killed a man with a pool ball in a sock represents >everything that's wrong with our justice system today. > >Years of misguided legislation by confused politicians, compounded by >mindless court rulings and bizarre judicial interpretations, now allow a >teen in Canada to kill someone with a pool ball -- a weapon of choice on >the streets these days -- and only spend one day in jail. Now will the judges that allow the release this young murderer be held as accomplices when he kills again? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:20:47 -0600 (CST) From: "mred" Subject: Re: Lorne Gunter Column: Gun owners not breathing easy yet: - ----- Original Message ----- > PUBLICATION: Edmonton Journal > DATE: 2006.06.23 > EDITION: Final > SECTION: Opinion > PAGE: A18 > COLUMN: Lorne Gunter > BYLINE: Lorne Gunter > SOURCE: Freelance > WORD COUNT: 811 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Gun owners not breathing easy yet: Conservatives may substitute a > paperless registry for the existing one > > > But are they really getting rid of it? > > As Staines points out, registering the sale of each gun, as the > Conservatives propose, could easily amount to the same thing as > registering each gun. The only difference for gun owners and buyers > would be that they themselves might not have to obtain a federal > certificate for each firearm in their possession. The paperwork would be > held instead on Ottawa's computers. Owners would not face jail time for > failing to have registration documentation for all their firearms -- a > nice change from the current setup -- but they would nonetheless still, > effectively, have to register any new guns they acquire. > > "If the new regulations require that each gun being transferred be > uniquely identified, and that that identity be filed with Ottawa before > the transfer goes through," Staines explains. "Then you still have > registration. It's just paperless registration." > > Let's hope the Conservatives don't attempt such a slight-of-hand. Well if the sale of guns from dealers goes to the Feds we are back at square one again. It will give hackers an opportunity to hack the lists to see who has what. If the CPC requires this registration by the back door so to speak ? we have been lied to again this time, by our "friends " in government Better to have the Liberals back in again ? at least we KNOW who are enemies are then ? If these reports are true then we must embark on some serious letter writing this summer. If we delay then it will be too late. ed/ontario ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:27:17 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: My letter to several newspapers Just submitted, not yet printed. Have you written a letter today? - -------- Original Message -------- Subject: One Day In Jail Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:17:26 -0400 From: Bruce Mills To: Bruce Mills Why is it that when Judges agree with one law or another, they say that their "hands are tied" and they are "constrained by the legislation". But when it's a law they don't agree with, suddenly it would "remove their discretion" and "impair their independence"? Do I smell hypocrisy in the air? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 07:52:57 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Editorial: Ottawa must not control the press I wonder if they investigated liberal bias in the media... See the report here: http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/tran-e/rep-e/repfinjun06vol1-e.htm http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1151013012005&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795 Editorial: Ottawa must not control the press Jun. 23, 2006. 01:00 AM Canadians are remarkably well-served by their news organizations, according to the latest industry checkup. "Canada is fortunate to have strong newspaper organizations and a robust broadcasting system," concludes the Final Report on the Canadian News Media by a Senate committee steered chiefly by Sen. Joan Fraser, after a three-year study. While that is good to hear, the Senate does have concerns about Canada's concentration of media ownership. Also, it has strong opinions about the direction of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., which it says needs revamping. And it argues that journalism across the country could be strengthened, and offers reasonable suggestions on how to do that. This report is a thoughtful one, produced by people who care about journalism. It deserves serious debate. Today the Star will address its proposal to give Ottawa oversight over media mergers. We will deal with its proposals to strengthen journalism and reform the CBC in later editorials. The committee launched its study in the wake of CanWest's purchase of most of Canada's big daily newspapers. In Canada, relatively few groups such as CanWest, Bell Globemedia, Quebecor and the Irving family control large stables of newspapers and/or broadcasting outlets. The panel's remedy? Give elected politicians oversight over mergers. The report proposes the Competition Act be amended to provide for an automatic review of a merger if the ministers for industry or heritage feel the public interest might be adversely affected. Or if the merger would give one media owner more than, for example, 35 per cent of the readership, audience or share of news outlets, however the market is defined. A panel would then be appointed to review the purchase. And finally the federal cabinet would decide whether the merger could go ahead, and under what conditions. While the report argues oversight would "in no way interfere with the internal workings of news organizations," the risk does exist. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government should find it sufficiently worrisome to reject this idea out of hand. While the Star's comments on this subject are those of an interested party, because its parent Torstar Corp. has a significant media presence in southern Ontario, this is an issue that affects every Canadian. That's because press freedom is guaranteed in the Charter of Rights. And that freedom would be compromised by an oversight process led by politicians. Giving elected politicians the power to make decisions that influence the survival and health of newspapers and other media would undermine public confidence in MPs and news gatherers alike. Would politicians approve mergers to curry favour with media owners? Would the media tailor coverage to win political approval for mergers? Even if decisions were above board, would the public feel better served? It's hard to see. Even the committee "strongly agrees that news gathering organizations must be free from government interference." If that is the case, an arm's-length relationship is key. As Sen. Pat Carney argues, in a dissent, press freedom is a fundamental freedom, and media companies must not be "treated differently from other companies" under the Competition Act. The trend in Canada and elsewhere toward media cross-ownership and concentration does not always serve the audience well. It can lead to reductions in journalists and bureaus, cheapening the product. But owners who put profit before credibility invite their audience to go elsewhere. And there is no scarcity of options. In Toronto, the Star competes for readers with the Globe and Mail, the National Post and the Sun, with the free subway newspapers, and with a battery of television and radio broadcasters, plus websites of all sorts. The public interest is well served. And where media concentration is a fact of life, such as in Vancouver, the public has never had a more varied choice of news sources. Nationally, the most-visited Canadian Internet sites include the Microsoft network, Yahoo! and Google (which all feature news), the Canadian government, Blogger.com (where anyone can be a publisher), CNN, the CBC, the British Broadcasting Corp., and the Globe and Star. The media world has changed dramatically, even since 2003 when the committee started its study. There once were huge barriers to publishing a newspaper. Those barriers are falling as technology makes it less costly. No one can monopolize a market today. People can get news locally, nationally, globally, with the click of a mouse. Citizen journalism is a reality. Opinion and information is more diverse and readily accessible than ever. The real challenge facing the media today is to produce quality journalism that stands out in a fiercely competitive marketplace. That means having strong media companies that can compete with not just the best in Canada, but with the best in the world in this new era of global media. The senators have put forward proposals to strengthen the media in other ways, which we will examine in the coming days. But it is hard to see the merit in giving politicians an oversight role that would infringe on press freedom and could compromise the very foundation of a free press, which is its independence from government. While well-intentioned, this proposal risks creating a situation that is more problematic than the one it seeks to address. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 08:48:48 -0600 (CST) From: "Todd Birch" Subject: Re: licencing vs registration, et al We can yell at each other all we want about the pros and cons of licensing/registration, etc., but the inescapable reality is that we are stuck with some form of governmental control whether we like it or not. Ranting about the need, effectiveness or legalities of it won't change that. Things changed after 911 in an unalterable way for the foreseeable future. It doesn't matter that many of us have fond memories of the pre-FAC era and beyond. Grand daddy might have been able to waltz into the general store and buy Jr. a .22 and few boxes of ammo with no eye brows raised, but outlets now walk you to the check out counter with your intended purchase - after you've produced a note from your mother and a thumb print from God. Walking down anything but a remote rural road with a gun of any kind is sure to bring swift response from some fearful maven, particularly if there is a school within rifle shot. This has become the norm. As long as we have groups of misguided martyrs planning and staging acts of terror and gang bangers popping each other on the street, the perception is that a 'man with a gun' poses a potential threat. It is going to take a long time to erase this from the public mind, perhaps not in this generation. TB ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:04:39 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Re: licencing vs registration, et al Todd Birch wrote: > As long as we have groups of misguided martyrs planning and staging acts > of terror and gang bangers popping each other on the street, the > perception is that a 'man with a gun' poses a potential threat. It is > going to take a long time to erase this from the public mind, perhaps > not in this generation. But deluding ourselves, and deluding others, by buying into the completely mistaken belief that "licensing" has any benefical effect, except perhaps on "public perception", isn't going to change that perception, is it? Giving in before we've even started isn't any way to win a war. Yours in Liberty, Bruce Hamilton Ontario ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:53:48 -0600 (CST) From: Edward Hudson Subject: Re: licencing vs registration, et al On 2006 Jun 23, at 9:04 AM, Bruce Mills wrote: >> > > But deluding ourselves, and deluding others, by buying into the > completely mistaken belief that "licensing" has any benefical effect, > except perhaps on "public perception", isn't going to change that > perception, is it? > > Giving in before we've even started isn't any way to win a war. Thanks, Bruce, for your tenaciousness. Sincerely, Eduardo ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:56:08 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Police check if shootings related PUBLICATION: The Daily News (Halifax) DATE: 2006.06.23 SECTION: Local News PAGE: 4 BYLINE: Richard Dooley ILLUSTRATION: Murder scene: An RCMP officer keeps a watch on aninvestigation scene on Sheppards Run in Beechville. WORD COUNT: 458 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Police check if shootings related - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homicide investigators say they are taking a serious look at an earlier shooting incident that may have involved murder victim Wayne Nicholas Marriott. Marriott, 21, was gunned down outside 25 Sheppards Run in Beechville late Tuesday night. Another man, Jeremy Alvin LeBlanc, 24, was wounded in the incident, which sent neighbours scrambling to their windows after hearing between eight and 12 shots in the street around 11 p.m. The Daily News reported yesterday that a vehicle with a bullet hole in it was recovered near 43 Keyworth Lane on Sunday morning, after residents of nearby Mountain Road heard shots fired early that morning. Police found blood, broken glass but no victims when they went to Mountain Road around 6:50 a.m. Marriott, a convicted cocaine dealer, once gave Keyworth Lane as his home address in court documents. A bail hearing for Marriott last year listed the address as his mother Cindy's home. Investigators now believe Marriott resided on Sheppards Run at the time of his death. "We are looking at that incident to see if the shooting Sunday is related to this homicide," said Halifax RCMP Const. Joe Taplin. "We're still trying to figure out the correlation." It's not known if Marriott was the person wounded in the earlier attack, or even if he was present at the time of the shooting in his old Kline Heights neighbourhood. While friends and relatives gathered to console each other over Marriott's death, police revealed they were looking for James Bernard Melvin Jr., a notorious Spryfield drug dealer. Melvin was released from prison earlier this year and given a court-ordered curfew at the request of the police. He allegedly violated the curfew and police began looking for him on June 16. Halifax Regional Police issued an appeal for information about Melvin's whereabouts yesterday and a warning not to approach him. Police say Melvin is armed and dangerous. Melvin is reputed to have once been a part of the street gang Spryfield MOB, which stands for Money Over Bitches. He is an associate of Jason Terrance Dorey, one of two men sentenced in the March 2002 murder of Parker Vaughan (Dinky) Sparks. The other man convicted in the Sparks slaying is Brian James Bremner, also called B.J. Marriott. Bremner is Wayne Marriott's first cousin. The other man shot with Marriott on Sheppards Run is Jeremy Alvin LeBlanc. LeBlanc was an associate of Bremner and Dorey and was arrested on lesser charges during the Sparks murder investigation. Police aren't saying if Melvin is considered a suspect in the Marriott murder or in the earlier shooting on Mountain Road. "We are still looking for suspects in the shooting Tuesday night," said Taplin. Police are looking for at least two suspects, but have yet to release descriptions. It's believed the suspects fled the area in a silver minivan. Taplin said investigators think a silver minivan seized from behind 1435 St. Margarets Bay Rd. could be a key piece of evidence. He asked anyone who saw the van in Beechville before the shooting to contact police at 490-5331. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Secure web tips can be made at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca. rdooley@hfxnews.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:56:32 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Four charged following standoff PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen DATE: 2006.06.23 EDITION: Final SECTION: City PAGE: F6 BYLINE: Vito Pilieci SOURCE: The Ottawa Citizen WORD COUNT: 201 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Four charged following standoff - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ottawa police have charged three men and one woman with weapons and drug-related offences after a standoff in Gloucester on Wednesday. According to police, following a takedown at a residence on Bethamy Lane, investigators found a loaded .38-calibre handgun, a .32-calibre handgun, cocaine and a quantity of money in the home. Charged with 10 Criminal Code offences relating to the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition is Pierre Aubin, 43, of Ottawa. Charged with 13 offences - -- including 10 counts of firearms-related offences, one count of possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) for the purpose of trafficking, one count of possession of proceeds of crime and one count of obstructing justice -- Elias El-Feghali, 49, of Ottawa. Charged with 13 offences -- including 10 counts of firearms-related offences, one count of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, one count of possession of proceeds of crime and one count of obstructing justice -- is Patrick El-Feghali,21, of Ottawa. Charged with 10 firearms-related offences is Melanie Fortin, 30, of Gatineau. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:56:57 -0600 (CST) From: owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Majordomo User) Subject: Imitation firearms should be restricted like other weapons, a PUBLICATION: The Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal DATE: 2006.06.23 SECTION: City News BYLINE: Julio Gomes WORD COUNT: 369 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Treat fake guns like real thing, says jury - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BY JULIO GOMES THE CHRONICLE-JOURNAL Imitation firearms pose a serious threat to police and society, and should be restricted like other weapons, a coroner's jury says. At Thursday's conclusion of a four-day inquest into the death of Michael Kolisnyk, a panel of four men and a woman made five recommendations. Two deal with getting pellet guns or air pistols treated in the same way as regulated firearms and two deal with how police officers are treated following a traumatic incident, such as a fatal standoff. The inquest was looking into the Oct. 29, 2005 shooting death of Kolisnyk. A career criminal, the 51-year-old had spent five days injecting cocaine with a woman when he startled a passerby on Red River Road with his paranoid behaviour and showed him what looked like a handgun. A call to 911 alerted police officers, who attempted to stop Kolisnyk's black GMC Jimmy. A chase led to a head-on crash with a cruiser in the parking lot of a Dawson Road strip mall. The jury heard that Kolisnyk's vehicle was boxed in by four police cars. He was waving a gun inside his SUV and had pointed it at the head of the woman and at his own head. After ignoring calls to come out, he was shot when officers saw him turn the gun in their direction. Kolisnyk was hit three times and died a short time later from a perforated lung. A Beretta model 92 FS .177-calibre air pistol was recovered at the scene. "I was sure he was going to kill her," Const. David Tinnes told the jury of why he fired his service weapon at Kolisnyk. Four other officers also testified. Tinnes was the subject of a Special Investigations Unit probe of the shooting. He was found to be legally justified in shooting Kolisnyk. Thunder Bay Police Supt. J.P. Levesque said it seemed as if a weight had been lifted from the officers' shoulders after they left the stand. Several of them, including Tinnes, were emotional while testifying. "In some ways this has been beneficial to the officers, to be able to explain what happened, in detail, in a public forum," Levesque said in an interview. None of Kolisnyk's family or friends attended the proceedings. The jury and Levesque expressed their condolences. The first series of recommendations encourage the provincial and federal governments to harmonize legislation regarding imitation firearms. The second set of recommendations is addressed to the SIU, Thunder Bay Police and the police association. It suggests they work together to find a humane way to deal with officers involved in traumatic incidents. All agencies named by the jury have one year to respond to the recommendations. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V9 #553 ********************************** 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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