Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, May 30 2008 Volume 11 : Number 491 In this issue: Replica pistol pendant causes holdup at airport; Toronto: Police seize cache of guns in Beach's apartment; Toronot Star Editorial: Wrong target on guns Globe & Mail: "SPORT SHOOTERS: DOCTORS, LAWYERS, VEGETARIANS..." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, May 30, 2008 9:52 am From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: Replica pistol pendant causes holdup at airport; PUBLICATION: The Toronto Star DATE: 2008.05.30 EDITION: Met SECTION: News PAGE: A07 ILLUSTRATION: Ron Bull toronto star Marnina Norys toys with the gun pendant that a security guard at the Kelowna, B.C., airport forced her to remove and place in her checked luggage. "I moved from shamed to irritated very quickly, because (the pendant) couldn't do any damage to anybody," she said. Norys has since received an apology. ; BYLINE: Brett Popplewell SOURCE: Toronto Star WORD COUNT: 322 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Replica pistol pendant causes holdup at airport; Woman prohibited from taking Colt .45 trinket aboard plane because of its symbolic importance - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Colt .45 hung cold around her neck, like a pendant. Because it was a pendant. On Monday, Marnina Norys, a 39-year-old PhD student of social political thought at York University, was forced to remove a piece of silver jewellery cast in the shape of an antique pistol by airport security in Kelowna, B.C., who feared the trinket posed a security risk to the passengers on her WestJet flight. Approaching the security desk, Norys says she was stunned when guards labelled the 5-centimetre pendant, with no bullets or moving parts, a replica firearm. "When the woman pointed at the pendant I had no idea what she was talking about," said Norys, who was informed that replica firearms are banned from planes. "They made me feel ashamed, as if I should have known that it was wrong to wear this type of jewellery." Flustered, Norys stuffed the pendant into her carry-on, but was surprised when the guards opened her bag and analyzed the trinket as if it were an actual gun. "I moved from shamed to irritated very quickly, because (the pendant) couldn't do any damage to anybody," she said. Despite the trinket's innocence, an unnamed security guard told Norys she'd have to check her jewellery in storage under the plane. After checking the trinket and arriving back in Toronto, Norys told her friend and creator of the pendant, Calvin Dana Munroe of Toronto's Bad Ass Jewellery, about the incident. "It's absolutely absurd if you ask me," said Munroe, 36. "It was the applied symbolism that was the issue here. So what if I have guns on my T-shirt ... or a gun tattooed on my neck? Is that going to make people uneasy?" Norys has since received an apology from the Canadian Air Transport Authority (CATSA). "The screening officer involved made a judgment call, rather than refer to CATSA's standard operating procedures," Dave Smith, director of screening operations with CATSA, wrote in a letter to Norys. "In retrospect, your revolver-shaped pendant is not a threat and should have been allowed on board the aircraft." But Norys isn't satisfied with the explanation and says the real issue is institutional. "The problem wasn't that she didn't follow operating procedures," she said. "It's that she didn't use her judgment at all and she's not allowed to use her judgment as an officer at the bottom of the line. "I blame the system, not just her." - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ YOU RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL BECAUSE YOU HAVE PREVIOUSLY INDICATED AN INTEREST IN FIREARMS AND GUN CONTROL ISSUES. IF YOU NO LONGER WISH TO RECEIVE THESE E-MAILS PLEASE REPLY TO THIS E-MAIL ASKING TO BE REMOVED FROM OUR DISTRIBUTION LIST. VOUS AVEZ REÇU CE COURRIEL PARCE QUE VOUS AVEZ MANIFESTÉ DE L'INTÉRÊT POUR LES QUESTIONS CONCERNANT LES ARMES À FEU ET LEUR CONTRÔLE. SI VOUS NE VOULEZ PLUS RECEVOIR CES COURRIELS, VEUILLEZ INDIQUER PAR RETOUR DE COURRIEL QUE VOUS DEMANDEZ À ÊTRE RADIÉ DE NOTRE LISTE DE DISTRIBUTION. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, May 30, 2008 9:39 am From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: Toronto: Police seize cache of guns in Beach's apartment; PUBLICATION: National Post DATE: 2008.05.30 EDITION: Toronto SECTION: Toronto PAGE: A8 BYLINE: Chris Wattie SOURCE: National Post WORD COUNT: 369 - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police seize cache of guns in Beach's apartment; Find comes day after two fatal shootings - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Police seized a huge haul of firearms yesterday, one day after two fatal shootings claimed the lives of two young men in the city's east end. Acting on a tip from a neighbour, officers raided an apartment in the Beach, in the Queen Street and Victoria Park area, and found a cache of 125 firearms and some ammunition. Late yesterday, officers in 55 Division were still counting and processing the rifles and handguns found in the apartment. "It's like a beehive in here," said one harried officer, answering the phone in the east-end police station. "There's people carrying boxes of weapons in all directions. I'm just trying to stay out of their way." The occupant of the apartment was a licensed gun collector and federal firearms officials are still trying to track the source and registration of all of the weapons. Peter Sedge, 56, of Toronto, has been charged with unsafe storage of a firearm and police say more charges may be laid. Meanwhile, police say two fatal shootings in Scarborough on Wednesday appear to be unrelated. Both victims were young men, known to police, and both cases involved gunmen walking up to their targets and firing at them repeatedly, but detectives say there are no substantive links between the incidents. Detective Sergeant Dan Sheppard says the first shooting occurred across the street from a high school in the Neilson Road and Sheppard Avenue area. Shammal Ramsey, 19, was shot repeatedly from behind by a gunman who appears to have been trailing him. "He was walking down the street at about 10:30 a. m. with the assailant behind him," Det. Sgt. Sheppard said. "Once the victim reached the corner, for whatever reason this individual pulled out a gun and began firing." There was a city work crew and several students from nearby Mother Theresa Catholic Secondary School on the street at the time of the shooting. "This was a very brazen shooting," Det. Sgt. Sheppard said. Later the same night, Levis Taylor, 17, was shot down by two men near the Agincourt Mall, in the Sheppard Avenue and Birchmount Road area. "It was a crazy night," said Detective Sergeant Dan Nielsen. "It's been a while fortunately since we've had shootings like this clustered together." It is not known whether gangs or drugs were tied to the two killings, but Det. Sgt. Nielsen said police have already determined that the two victims were not connected. "There's no evidence the victims knew each other or were tied together in any way," he said. "We're still searching for motives." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, May 30, 2008 9:36 am From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: Toronot Star Editorial: Wrong target on guns PUBLICATION: The Toronto Star DATE: 2008.05.30 EDITION: Ont SECTION: Editorial PAGE: AA06 WORD COUNT: 489 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wrong target on guns - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Toronto officials have misfired with a well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed plan to reduce gun violence. Unfortunately, rather than making a difference on the street, the strategy going to the city's executive committee next week is likely to do nothing but inconvenience target shooters, including at least one Olympic contender. Put simply, municipalities - including Canada's largest city - lack the power to make meaningful regulatory change that would reduce the number of handguns threatening society. That hasn't stopped Toronto officials from trying. A staff report recommends invoking land-use rules to block any new effort to manufacture, assemble, warehouse or discharge firearms within the city. The military and police would be exempt, but the measure would effectively ban new firing ranges and gun- making businesses. Also recommended is the closing of two existing shooting ranges on city property: one at Union Station and the other at the Don Montgomery Community Centre in Scarborough. This has riled recreational shooters, including Avianna Chao, a Canadian Olympic pistol shooter who is to compete in the Beijing Games this summer. They have good reason to complain, as the city's plan would have virtually no impact on the number of handguns available to criminal gangs and other thugs. There are several reasons. First, much of the firing at shooting ranges is done with rifles, not handguns. And Chao makes a convincing case that the specialized, single-shot pistols used in elite competition are of limited use to criminals. Finally, closing shooting ranges and banning the creation of new ones wouldn't take a pistol out of anyone's hands. That's because the city cannot force legal gun owners to surrender their weapons. Despite those drawbacks, Mayor David Miller, citing the bloody toll of death and injury caused by handguns in the city, has strongly defended the proposed firing range shutdowns. Miller's concern over handgun violence is understandable. Just this week, two teenagers were slain in separate Scarborough shootings. In light of such tragedy, Miller's plan to ease the violence would be well worth supporting - if it worked. Sadly, what's proposed is unlikely to prevent even one person from being shot. A nationwide ban would be far more effective in keeping pistols from criminals by draining the pool of legal handguns available for them to steal. There are currently about 215,000 legally registered handguns in Ontario, providing a ready arsenal for criminals to tap. There is no indication that the city's plan would, in any way, shrink that supply. Indeed, it appears to do little more than unfairly target a subgroup of licensed gun owners: those who use recreational firing ranges. Toronto's impotence in this area underscores the need for strong federal action. Ottawa should tighten its border surveillance to cut the flow of pistols into this country from abroad. And it should introduce a nationwide ban on handguns, with room for a narrow exemption for elite competitive shooters like Chao. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 11:44:48 -0400 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: Globe & Mail: "SPORT SHOOTERS: DOCTORS, LAWYERS, VEGETARIANS..." Subject: Globe & Mail: "SPORT SHOOTERS: DOCTORS, LAWYERS, VEGETARIANS . . .'Basically, shooting is a fun thing to do'" PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: 2008.05.30 PAGE: L1 BYLINE: JOSH WINGROVE SECTION: Globe Life EDITION: Metro WORD COUNT: 860 Image & Caption York University student Violetta Szyszkowski, 25, practises at the Union Station gun club in Toronto. Gun clubs have come under fire from Mayor David Miller following a shooting death this year. (Tibor Kolley/The Globe and Mail) - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SPORT SHOOTERS: DOCTORS, LAWYERS, VEGETARIANS . . .'Basically, shooting is a fun thing to do' - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the grand hall of Toronto's Union Station, as commuters stream from one train to another, three young people are standing, quite still, their packs and bags sitting on the floor. Matthew Kao is a 16-year-old high-school student who likes golf and tennis, and hopes to be a doctor one day. Violetta Szyszkowski, 25, goes to York University. Prakash Nanjappa, 32, is a software engineer born and raised in India. They stand chatting and smiling amid the bustle. You would never know they're armed. The three are sport shooters. Their bags carry locked cases with competition pistols inside. They hope to compete for Canada in the 2012 Olympics, but face eviction from their shooting range after Toronto Mayor David Miller proposed closing the city's gun clubs. To justify the move, Mr. Miller cited the case of John O'Keefe, 42, who was shot dead with a registered gun earlier this year. "After John O'Keefe's tragic killing, I don't think there is any defence for sports shooters any more," Mr. Miller said this week, effectively linking sport shooting to gun crime. Patrick Haynes is a sport shooting coach with the Union club, set in the rafters above the station's grand hall. He said sport shooters follow a strict set of rules and thinks Mr. Miller is unfairly targeting them. "What gives him the right to question my character?" said Mr. Haynes, who works for a bank. Mr. Haynes has a physical disability limiting use of his left arm and took up sport shooting as a child because "there's not a lot of one-handed sports." He coaches shooters including Avianna Chao, who will compete for Canada in the 2008 Olympics "I teach discipline. I don't teach people to go out and hurt others," Mr. Haynes said. "The people that want to do something positive are the only ones who will be affected by this." The Union gun club has 140 members. President Thomas Bradbeer said they are a mix of professionals, young and old, from diverse backgrounds - teachers, engineers, doctors, lawyers and students. Patrick Liao is a Toronto-area obstetrician and gynecologist who says sport shooting calms him and makes him better with a scalpel. "One person making an illegal move does not make all the gun owners illegal," he said. "Our good mayor has been under the gun, shall we say, about doing something about gun violence," said Mr. Bradbeer, a soft-spoken information technology manager who has been married 33 years and taught his 20-year-old daughter how to shoot. "We are scapegoats." His club's members need a gun licence, authorization to transport the weapons, 12 weeks of probation training and registration for each gun to be able to shoot. "Basically, shooting is a fun thing to do," said Calvin Martin, 75, a Toronto lawyer and member of a gun club in Sharon, Ont. "We're not out there to supply drugs ... Cities damn well should condone sport shooting, because it's a legitimate sport like anything else." Judith Ross, 69, a retired psychology professor at the University of Toronto (which closed its range last year, saying there is no place for firearms on campus), was a founder of an association of female shooters in Canada. At the Sharon Gun Club, where she's now a member, they eat breakfast together on Saturdays before they start shooting. "The stereotype that many people have of people who shoot is not accurate," Ms. Ross said. "There's nothing embarrassing about it ... I'm proud of how I've done in the sport." The Union shooting range is run by the CNRA (that's Canadian National Recreation Association, not to be confused with the NRA, the National Rifle Association in the United States). The CNRA is referral-only, Mr. Bradbeer said, and members can only be referred if they have a gun licence, which requires a police background check. He said there haven't been any gun injuries since the club opened in 1927. "People have been walking through the grand hall with a gun case for 80 years," Mr. Bradbeer said. "Now, it's a clandestine sport." News of the proposed ban has reached recreational shooters across the country. Michael Ackerman, a sport shooter and family physician in Nova Scotia, said it's an insult to law-abiding gun owners. "There are no skeletons in my closet. The federal government said there aren't, because I have a gun licence," Dr. Ackerman said. The closings are being proposed just as Ms. Chao prepares to compete in the 2008 Olympics. "Closing the range is like closing one event of the Olympics," said Ms. Szyszkowski, a former women's youth champion shooter in her native Poland. A vegetarian, she abhors hunting but finds target shooting calming. "I just love it. It's comforting. You have to be so focused. It's just you and the pistol." If the clubs close, they can no longer endorse their members, which the government requires them to do to keep their transport licence. Members would then have to start anew, on extended probation, at another club outside Toronto. The CNRA is campaigning to stop Mr. Miller's proposal, which will be debated at City Hall next week. "The idea we support a gun culture that's based on violence because we're here, it's crazy. It's offensive," Mr. Haynes said. "[Mr. Miller] has gone for these people that are law abiding, and they'll do what he tells them to, because that's what we do. We follow the law." http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080530.wlgunclub30/BNStory/lifeMain/home ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V11 #491 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:drg.jordan@sasktel.net List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)