Cdn-Firearms Digest Friday, August 29 2008 Volume 12 : Number 031 In this issue: Intruder shot dead during home invasion - Hamilton Spectator "Newfoundlanders have highest per-capita firearms ownership..." [BLOG] Gun Control: Signs of Desperation ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:36:07 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Intruder shot dead during home invasion - Hamilton Spectator http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/424589 Intruder shot dead during home invasion August 25, 2008 Dana Brown The Hamilton Spectator ST. CATHARINES (Aug 25, 2008) Niagara police are investigating a deadly home invasion that left an intruder dead and a resident of the home charged with manslaughter. The motive for the attack is still under investigation. Police said four men entered a home on Carlton Street, between Lake and Geneva streets, around 2 p.m. Saturday. They held four people captive for a short time before Pedro Bello, 19, was shot and killed. He was discovered in the basement when police arrived after receiving a 911 call. A 22-year-old, who suffered minor injuries, has been charged with manslaughter. Three other men, ranging in age from 19 to 23, were caught in a vehicle after fleeing the scene. "Police continue to investigate the matter and, at this time, it is believed that parties were known to one another," Niagara police said. "Police are not seeking any other involved suspects in this matter." One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said he saw men running from the home. "I walked out, two guys were running on the street with masks on." Marc Caron, who owns the home, said he had rented it out to a mother and her three sons, and the family had been living there about four months. Yesterday, police said they were still investigating whether the 22-year-old resident was the target of the invasion. Neighbours said they didn't hear anything unusual on the weekend to indicate trouble. Three men are facing charges in connection with the home invasion. They are all from St. Catharines and charges include forcible confinement, robbery with a firearm and breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence. Investigators are asking anyone with information about the invasion to call 905-688-4111, ext. 4302, or 1-800-222-TIPS. dbrown@thespec.com 905-526-4629 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:18:56 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: "Newfoundlanders have highest per-capita firearms ownership..." Subject: "Newfoundlanders have highest per-capita firearms ownership in country - St. John's Telegram" http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=165106&sc=79 Guns Galore Newfoundlanders have highest per-capita firearms ownership in country DAVID WHALEN The Telegram Last updated at 9:27 AM on 24/08/08 If the federal government's numbers are right, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are Canada's most heavily armed citizens, but also its least trigger-happy. According to the most recent numbers from the Canada Firearms Centre, the province has 70,977 registered firearms. Statistics Canada's latest numbers estimate the province's population at 508,270. That's one gun for every 7.2 people, the highest ratio of guns to people of any province in the country. Statistics Canada's most recent numbers on gun crime also reveal the province has the lowest annual rate of victims of firearm-related crime in the country, with just 11.4 victims for every 100,000 people. Gun owners and hunters in the province believe the numbers reflect the province's close ties to the environment and citizens' respect for the responsibilities of owning a firearm. "Hunting is very much a part of what we are," said Ward Samson, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Wildlife Federation. "Most people are extremely careful with guns. To us, it's something you treat with a tremendous amount of respect." Boyd Merrill, a firearms inspector with the Canada Firearms Centre and an RCMP officer, said Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are among the most law-abiding citizens in the world. "If there's a law that says you have to register firearms, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would be the first to abide by the rule," Merrill said. Elliott Leyton, a well-known anthropologist and a director of the St. John's Rod and Gun Club, has been hunting since his years growing up in rural Saskatchewan. "In that completely rural milieu, shooting is one of the few and obvious sports. I brought that with me everywhere I lived, whether it was in Europe, Western Canada or here in Newfoundland," Leyton said. Now a professor emeritus, Leyton, 69, spends much of his free time shooting competitively and hunting. "To be able to continue what has been all my life the greatest joy of smoking a clay target as it flies through the air is the closest thing I know to delivering perfect serenity," he said. Leyton said Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are among the most avid outdoorsmen in the world. "This is a society that's deeply rooted in the exploitation of the environment, whether it's fishing or sealing or moose hunting or rabbitting. It became the primary source of identity for many people," Leyton said. "Just drive up the Trans-Canada on a weekend and see how many cars are parked on the sides of the road." Despite the province's high registration numbers, the gun registry itself remains contentious. "Some of us are getting real peeved off with all the rules. Every time you go in the woods, there's a rule for this and a rule for that," Samson said. "You've got provincial jurisdiction, you've got federal jurisdiction, and sometimes they overlap." Laura Jackson, executive director of the Protected Areas Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, supports the registry. "It's probably a good idea and in the long-term (the government will) probably be glad they instituted it," she said. Helps police Merrill said the registry facilitates police work. For example, he said police responding to a call at a residence can check the registry to see if someone in the house has guns. "Having firearms registered is good for policing and firearm safety," Merrill said. Jackson added that hunters and people who use their firearms responsibly shouldn't be punished. "The people who are just trying to get an animal for their freezer for the winter aren't the people the government should be punishing. It's people who use their firearms in a criminal manner," Jackson said. "The careless use of ATVs has more of an impact on the environment than the number of guns." Leyton was a vocal critic when the Chretien government initiated the long-gun registry. While he applauds some of the provisions of the registry, such as mandatory firearms training, he's still worried the registry is a mechanism for the government to eventually outlaw certain firearms. "It's just driven all of us crazy," Leyton said. "I've spent a lifetime assembling my little battery of guns that I use for target shooting and bird-hunting, and I don't really want to be told suddenly that 'you can't use this one, you can't have this one.' It's authoritarian." david_whalen@hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:50:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: [BLOG] Gun Control: Signs of Desperation http://newsbusters.org/blogs/howard-nemerov/2008/08/29/gun-control-signs-desperation Gun Control: Signs of Desperation By Howard Nemerov August 29, 2008 - 17:47 ET It is a sight to behold when a journalist is so enthralled by anti-self-defense fantasy that they would contradict themselves and publicly display ignorance of the facts, especially in a newspaper nicknaming itself The Facts. Michael Morris, assistant managing editor of the online version of the Brazosport Facts, is not happy with the Harrold school district's decision to allow trained staff carry concealed handguns on campus. Morris's editorial quickly leaps into hyperbole: The argument is that if teachers were armed at the time these shootings started, the carnage could have been reduced or eliminated entirely. Or, some say, the idea of handguns on campus would serve as a deterrent to a would-be gunman even thinking about assaulting a school or its students. These are fine theories put forth by those who believe every American, everywhere, at any time should be able to whip out an assault weapon, no questions asked.1 In his book The Bias Against Guns, John Lott examined the relationship between gun availability and multiple murders. He concluded: If right-to-carry [liberal concealed carry] laws allow citizens to limit the amount of attacks that still take place, the number of persons harmed should fall relative to the number of shootings... And indeed, that is what we find. The average number of people dying or becoming injured per attack declines by around 50 percent.2 Lott also found that both the total number and rate of multiple murders in right-to-carry states are one-third that of restrictive states.3 It is no accident that nearly all mass murders occur where schools and businesses bar law-abiding gun owners from carrying. Morris suggested hiring a school resource officer--a police officer in the school4--yet stated that police only hit their intended target 20% of the time. Though he implies that police are better-trained shooters than civilians, he cites no data showing that concealed carry licensees are more dangerous. Morris said "the number of accidental gun deaths involving children 14 and younger has gone down precipitously in recent years" yet he believes guns don't belong in schools.5 This apparent contradiction bears examination. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that between 1995 and 2005 the accidental firearm death rate for children decreased 60.3%, outpacing the non-firearm drop of 23.1%. These decreases are consistent across categories. Children's firearms homicide rate dropped 52.2% while the non-firearms rate decreased only 11.9%. Children's firearms suicide rate decreased 56.2%, but the non-firearms suicide rate increased 17.9%. Texas's child mortality rate trends for these categories compare favorably: overall firearms mortality, -57.6% (better than U.S. trend); firearms homicide, -51.9% (slightly worse by only 0.3%), firearms suicide, - -72.7% (much better), and accidental firearms death, -61.0% (slightly better).6 These data show that America's children have become far safer in relationship to firearms, despite the 4.9 million firearms sold annually during this time period.7 More guns correlates with lower rates of firearms mortality for children. Morris states: "Simply put, the answer to gun violence in schools - or society in general - will not be found in the barrel of a gun." 8 In 2006, states like Texas that license law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns had a 27.3% lower violent crime rate, and a 33.3% lower murder rate, than states without liberal concealed carry laws.9 In 2001, the North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics asked 201,881 people across the country if they kept firearms at home. Collating this survey data with CDC mortality data and FBI crime data shows that states with the lowest levels of firearms ownership had the highest rates of overall homicide, firearms homicide and non-firearms homicide. States with the highest firearms ownership rates had the lowest rates in all three homicide categories, as well as the lowest violent crime rates. More guns correlates with less murder and violent crime.10 Morris says: They've distilled what could be a legitimate security discussion into the simplistic ideal that the right to bear arms means everyone should be walking around loaded for bear.11 This anti-self-defense stance espouses the simplistic ideal that restricting the right to bear arms makes everyone safer, but the facts show otherwise. About the Author Howard Nemerov is a columnist for Texas State Rifle Association's TSRA Sportsman and "unofficial" investigative analyst for NRA News. His new book, Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn't It Working?, deconstructs the gun control agenda. He can be reached at HNemerov [at sign] Netvista.net. Endnotes [1] Michael Morris, Guns on campus not best means of security, Brazosport Facts, August 27, 2008. http://stories.thefacts.com/story.lasso?ewcd=5b99628a10f8947b 2 John R. Lott, Jr., The Bias Against Guns, page 123. 3 Ibid, page 107. 4 SRO Concept, Texas Association of School Resource Officers. http://www.tasro.org/html/sro.html 5 Michael Morris, Guns on campus not best means of security, Brazosport Facts. 6 Find relevant data at: WISQARS Injury Mortality Reports, 1999 - 2005, Centers for Disease Control. http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/mortrate10_sy.html or email request for spreadsheet. 7 Small Arms Production in the United States, National Shooting Sports Foundation, 2008. Compiled into Excel spreadsheet; email request for copy. 8 Michael Morris, Guns on campus not best means of security, Brazosport Facts. 9 Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled into spreadsheet; email request for copy. 10 For more in-depth examination of this data, see Howard Nemerov, Is Philadelphia's Violence Due to Firearms Availability, News With Views, May 28, 2008. http://www.newswithviews.com/Nemerov/howard1.htm 11 Michael Morris, Guns on campus not best means of security, Brazosport Facts. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V12 #31 ********************************** 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".)