Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, July 7 2008 Volume 11 : Number 660 In this issue: Flurry of weekend violence has police yearning for peace- G & M USA - Tragedies of suicides and handguns needs further examination Mayor Miller urges U.S. to tighten gun control 9 hurt in weekend of the knife ... and gun- Toronto Sun ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 12:58:26 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Flurry of weekend violence has police yearning for peace- G & M http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080707.BCSHOOTINGS07/TPStory/TPNational/BritishColumbia/ Flurry of weekend violence has police yearning for peace July 7, 2008 VANCOUVER -- There was so much gun violence over the weekend - with two shootings in 24 hours - that Constable Tim Fanning, a media spokesman for the Vancouver Police Department, started signing off with a new handle. "Tim 'hoping for peace tonight' Fanning," he wrote in a BlackBerry message to media outlets Saturday night, after running from one crime scene to another to keep the public posted on shootings in East Vancouver and in the west end. The latest incident took place early Saturday morning when a man, whose identity hasn't yet been released, was gunned down outside the Hai Lua restaurant in East Vancouver. "At 1:54 am this morning an argument broke out between two groups of people inside a restaurant in the 2500 block of Nanaimo Street," Constable Fanning stated in an e-mail. "There were approximately 20 people involved. They went outside, where a 25-year-old man was shot. Police and EHS [Emergency Health Services] were called to the scene. The victim was rushed to the hospital, but he died of his injuries." Constable Fanning reported that everyone at the restaurant had left the scene before police arrived - a practice that has become increasingly common at violent crime scenes in Vancouver, where gangs are heavily armed and witnesses often reluctant to come forward. On Friday evening, however, police were so quick to respond to a shooting in the west end that they not only found witnesses, but caught one suspect on the run and lost another in pursuit. Constable Fanning said the incident occurred at 5:15 p.m., when three men were seen arguing in the south lane of Davie Street, at Thurlow, near St. Paul's Hospital in a mixed commercial and residential area. Two police officers, half a block away on patrol, were so close that they heard a shot fired and responded even before witnesses had made 911 calls. "They found the victim and saw one of the suspects running away west down the lane," reported Constable Fanning. The first responding officers broadcast a description of the suspect and other police members caught him about a block and a half away, on Davie Street between Bute and Jervis streets. "The suspect, a 25-year-old man, had a loaded handgun," Constable Fanning said. Behrang (Ben) Khosrav has been charged with attempted murder, carrying a concealed weapon and three other firearm offences. "Officers believe they know who the second suspect is. We will be hunting him down," Constable Fanning said. After the shooting, an unnamed witness gave first aid to the victim, a 21-year-old man, whose identity was not released by police. After a flurry of gang shootings last year, many of them on the street or in restaurants, police throughout the Greater Vancouver Regional District formed a special gang task force to try to curtail the violence. Organizing highly visible patrols in areas gang members frequent in a push to remove guns from the street, police appeared to be having some success in suppressing shootings. There have been several shootings in East Vancouver restaurants in the past few years. Two people were killed and six injured at the Fortune Happiness last August; one man was killed at Café Bien Ho in November; and in April, 2006, one person was killed and a second injured at the Kwong Chow Congee & Noodle House. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:35:02 -0600 From: Dennis & Hazel Young Subject: USA - Tragedies of suicides and handguns needs further examination July 7, 2008 Tragedies of suicides and handguns needs further examination http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080707/OPINION11/ 807070322/1004/OPINION News last week that suicides accounted for most of the firearm deaths in homes is no reason for handgun ban activists to feel vindicated in their opposition to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Second Amendment. The decision focused on citizens' ability to defend themselves from home intruders in Washington, D.C. But research shows that surprisingly often, gun owners use the weapons on themselves. Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Gun-related suicides have outnumbered firearm homicides and accidents for 20 of the last 25 years. In 2005, homicides accounted for 40 percent of gun deaths. Accidents accounted for 3 percent. The remaining 2 percent included legal killings, such as when police do the shooting, and cases that involve undetermined intent. But in all the statistical analysis being offered, some unanswered questions remain. One public-health study found that suicide and homicide rates in the nation's capital dropped after the ban was adopted. The district permitted shotguns and rifles in homes if they are registered, kept unloaded and taken apart or equipped with trigger locks. Researchers in other fields have questions about the public-health findings on guns. For example, a Florida State University survey found that there are more than 1 million incidents each year in which firearms are used to prevent an actual or threatened criminal attack. This is a cost-benefit analysis that needs further probing by public health officials. But research trend in public health for too long has not included gun violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was a primary funder of research into guns and gun-related injuries, spending more than $2.1 million a year in the mid-1990s. But then Congress stepped in 1996 ordering that none of its funding to the CDC be used to promote gun control. It's valuable to know as definitely as possible what aspect of gun ownership significantly contributes to or has no measurable influence on suicide prevention. Congress should free the CDC to engage in this inquiry. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:36:32 -0600 From: Dennis & Hazel Young Subject: Mayor Miller urges U.S. to tighten gun control Mayor Miller urges U.S. to tighten gun control Sunday, July 06, 2008 - 10:20 AM By: 680News staff http://680news.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20080706_102040_1484 Toronto - With 11 murders in Toronto so far this year, Mayor David Miller is once again calling for more action south of the border to stem the flow of illegal U.S. guns into Canada. Miller wants Ottawa to exert diplomatic pressure on Washington to change what he calls "incredibly lax" U.S. gun laws in a number of states. Miller says Canada should make it a national security issue. But Corporal Norm Massie of the RCMP's B.C. border-integrity unit says Canadian and U.S. customs and law-enforcement agencies cooperate closely to try to curb gun smuggling. "We're dealing contact with all those agencies in Canda and the U.S. We exchange intelligence; we profile quite frankly where the weapons are being purchased from; we profile who they're going to, and how they're moving between the countries," explained Massie. "That exchange allows us to do some enforcement activities." And federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says Canada is already working closely with the U.S. to counter gun-smuggling. He says he's not interested in wading into the American gun-control debate. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 13:06:11 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: 9 hurt in weekend of the knife ... and gun- Toronto Sun http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2008/07/07/6086146-sun.html 9 hurt in weekend of the knife ... and gun By CHRIS DOUCETTE, SUN MEDIA Mon, July 7, 2008 One man was shot and eight others were stabbed in four different incidents during a violent weekend. The bloodshed began shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, when a 30-year-old gunshot victim turned up at Toronto East General Hospital after an incident in Scarborough, Toronto Police said yesterday. The man had been in the rear parking lot of 40 Teesdale Pl., north of Pharmacy and Danforth Aves., when he became involved in "a dispute with an unknown male," Sgt. Jim Adamson explained. "The (shooter) pulled out a handgun and shot at the victim three times, striking him once in the left leg." His injury is not considered life-threatening. BLOOD SPILLED More blood was spilled in East York a few hours later when a man, 25, was stabbed at Palmer and Secord Aves., northwest of Danforth Ave. and Dawes Rd. "And all of the sudden one of the men produced a knife and stabbed the other man in the neck," Adamson said. That man underwent life-saving surgery and was in stable condition as of last night. The blood continued to flow in the northwest part of the city around 2 Sunday morning when a man stumbled into a Shell gas station parking lot near Jane St. and Trethewey Dr. and collapsed. Adamson said the victim suffered stab wounds to his lower back, but he will be okay. An hour later, violence erupted nearby as 20 to 30 young men brawled outside a home on William St. using broken bottles as weapons -- an incident that left four men bleeding. All four are expected to recover. A 21-year-old man was stabbed in the back by five men as he got out of a cab at 1:30 p.m., which dropped him off in the Islington Ave. and Dundas St. area, but escaped with minor injuries. Then, at around 8 p.m., a man in his 40s was stabbed further north on Islington Ave., near Bergamot Ave. He's in serious condition. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V11 #660 *********************************** 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".)