Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, August 29 2008 Volume 12 : Number 028 In this issue: [COLUMN] City pulled off the real crime - Toronto Sun McCain Veep is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:49:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: [COLUMN] City pulled off the real crime - Toronto Sun http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Warmington_Joe/2008/08/29/6603191.php City pulled off the real crime Closing range won't end killings By Joe Warmington Fri, August 29, 2008 The final shot for the Canadian National Recreation Association Gun Club's shooting range in Union Station was fired Wednesday night -- the fatal round coming from Toronto Mayor David Miller. Bull's eye! Are you feeling safer today with the eviction and closure of this pistol range? Or did you even know it was there, since nothing terrible happened there in the eight decades when it was a CN-owned property and then later when it was turned over to the municipality? Unfortunately for the 130 members who had never had an incident or accident in 81 years, Miller found out they were tucked away on the seventh floor and that was the end of them. "It's a crime," said club president Tom Bradbeer, a member since 1982. "We feel very sad." He described a sombre scene of about 20 defeated members gathering around telling stories and each taking a final shot in the range that helped train everyone from police officers to Olympians like Avianna Chao, just back from Beijing. "There were some speeches," Bradbeer said. "We cleaned out the filing cabinets. When we left, the lock codes were changed and we can no longer get in any more." Just like that. They were evicted from their only home since 1927. "It's just awful," said Councillor Doug Holyday, who fought and voted against this. "It's a shame because these are honest and ordinary people partaking in a eye-to-hand sport in a safe, confined environment." The question for Mayor "We Must Ban All Handguns" Miller, of course, is now that you have put the squeeze on some legal guns and owners, how are you doing on the illegal ones? Dismally, say the statistics. It's been a whole year of shooting murders. Thanks to research by Sun crime reporter legend Rob Lamberti, the dead with their shooters still on the loose are Hou Chang Mao, 47, Shawn McLean, 22, Tristan Wright, 23, Sasha Haroutiun, 35, Shammal Ramsay, 18, Levis Taylor, 17, Dylan Ellis, 26, and Oliver Martin, 25, Claudio Andres Alamos, 19, Justin Brunet, 21, Michael Sean Williams, 27, Brendan MacDonald, 20, Kurt Atiba Charles, 27, Adrian Inglis Bannerman, 29, and Devon Wynter. It's a shocking number and none had anything to do with the CNRA at Union Station. "We feel like scapegoats," said Bradbeer, who was first introduced to Sun readers by columnist extraordinaire Sue-Ann Levy, who originally broke this story. "We have never had an incident and yet feel we have been labelled." Although rare, there have been incidents with licensed handguns, namely the shooting death of John O'Keefe on Yonge St., allegedly perpetrated by a suspect possessing a registered handgun. It's also a fact these pistols are sometimes stolen and end up the hands of criminals. "I don't think there's any defence for sport shooters any more," Miller told reporters after the O'Keefe murder. "It's a hobby that creates danger to others." The truth is it's a paltry number of hobby shooters who cause problems, compared to the guns which come over the border. Miller's spokesman Stuart Green said the "mayor's position -- and that of city council -- is shooting clubs don't belong on city property. They will be allowed to stay open on private property." The thing is, even with this crazy move, these members still have their guns and will now travel with them to other clubs. Not one registered gun has been taken out of commission. In fact, not one gun has been removed from circulation. The truth is a lot more people have killed in cars or on motorcycles, on horses or Sea-Doos, airplanes and even on treadmills than by legally owned guns. "What's next, are they going to ban cars because people die on the roads?" asks target shooter James Gard, who then realizes he does not want to give them any ideas. 'Decent, law-abiding' Gard describes this decision "deceivingly dishonest" and that "decent law-abiding citizens have had their freedoms suspended in the guise of stopping gun crime." He believes it's too simple to call it gun crime. "This problem has everything to do with illegal drugs, public housing and primarily the ruthless gangs who emanate from those dwellings and make huge profits from the procurement and sale of illegal drugs." Toronto's drug trade will continue to operate while the pistol shooting range at Union Station will not. "It is a real injustice," said Bradbeer. "But he won." You got your target shooters, David. Let us know when you get the murderers. You can call Joe Warmington at (416) 947-2392 or e-mail at joe.warmington@sunmedia.ca Have a letter for the editor? E-mail it to torsun.editor@sunmedia.ca ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:29:49 -0600 From: Joe Gingrich Subject: McCain Veep is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/sarah_palin_vp/2008/08/29/126138.html McCain Veep is Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Friday, August 29, 2008 10:37 AM DENVER - John McCain kept his vice presidential pick a closely guarded secret mere hours before the high-stakes announcement Friday and speculation moved to darkhorse candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as other, more prominent prospects dropped away. Two GOP strategists close to the McCain campaign said all indications pointed to Palin, a self-styled "hockey mom" and political reformer. The strategists spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by the McCain camp to discuss the matter. There was no confirmation from McCain or his advisers. With an announcement scheduled in Dayton, Ohio, an associate of Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said the governor had been informed he is not McCain's pick. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for Pawlenty, who had all but ruled himself out. "I'm not going to be there. I plan to be at the state fair. You can draw your conclusion from that," Pawlenty said on his weekly call-in radio show on WCCO-AM in Minneapolis. He also called it "a fair assumption" that he will not be McCain's running mate. Associates close to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney were saying the same thing, telling The Associated Press that the former presidential candidate had not been offered the job by McCain. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., who has been an energetic supporter of McCain for months, was also eliminated from contention, according to a Republican official. Palin is a first-term governor credited with reforms of her out-of-the-way state. Newly minted Democratic nominee Barack Obama is making an aggressive play for the traditional GOP stronghold and its three electoral votes, and polls show the race close. At 44, Palin is younger than Obama and, like McCain, she calls herself a maverick. A Gulfstream IV from Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Middletown Regional Airport in Butler County near Cincinnati about 10:15 p.m. Thursday, said Rich Bevis, airport manager. He said several people came off the plane, including a woman and two teens, but there was no confirmation of who was aboard. "They were pretty much hustled off. They came right down the ramp, jumped in some vans here and off they went," Bevis said. "It was all hush, hush." Among the other possible running mates: former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and former Rep. Rob Portman of Ohio. The Arizona senator decided on his choice for vice president early Thursday, but the campaign has given no hint on the selection that will be announced on his 72nd birthday. The speculation sent a buzz throughout Denver, where Obama accepted his party's nomination and put Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on his ticket. Jill Hazelbaker, McCain's communications director, gave nothing away during an interview on CBS' "The Early Show." "John McCain is going to make the choice from his heart. He's going to choose someone who can be a partner in governing. He's going to choose someone who brings character and principle to the table and who shares his priorities. And I'm confident that he's going to make a great pick," Hazelbaker said. Republicans kick off their national nominating convention next week in St. Paul, Minn., and McCain's campaign hopes the announcement of his running mate will stunt any momentum Obama might get from the just-concluded Democratic National Convention. McCain was mum on the subject Thursday as he and his wife, Cindy, boarded a plane in Phoenix bound for Dayton. © 2008 Associated Press. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V12 #28 ********************************** 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".)