Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, September 1 2008 Volume 12 : Number 043 In this issue: Re: "hold your nose and vote" (CFD V12 #35) Walter's Question (Reiterated in CFD Vol. 12, #40) Re: Former Liberal becomes Green Party's first MP (CFD V12 #36) Calgary crime fuels jump in women buying guns - CBC Washington Gun Ownership to Go Through One Man- New York Times ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:07:40 -0400 From: "William Blasius" Subject: Re: "hold your nose and vote" (CFD V12 #35) a On 30 Aug 2008, Trigger Mortis wrote: > OK. I'll agree that the Libertarian Party has a remote chance in the next > election, but if we want them in, we have to start voting for them > sometime, and the sooner the better. > > I do not like the idea of "hold your nose and vote" for the least > offensive of the established parties. > > I don't want to hold my nose any more. I have been doing that for > decades. I'd like to vote for the party that I actually like, before I > die. I've been vultching this debate for a while; my blood pressure rising and my intellect running for cover. Politics is a form of low-level warfare. There is strategy, and there are tactics, and it's important to know which is which and when they intersect. It's too bad Harper is going to blow up Parliament before the by-elections. In my not nearly humble opinion, it's an ill-considered tactic of a frustrated, loud-mouthed control junkie. It would have *much* smarter to have shut up, brought a confidence motion about some fundamental (and relatively popular) Conservative policy issue, and let Dion bring the government down. In any case, the GG has the option of allowing Dion (or even the NDP) to try to form a government, rather simply dissolving Parliament and triggering an election. Oops! She might just do that! If the by-elections had taken place, the RFC could have organized themselves in those four ridings to significantly surprise the pollsters. A harmless demonstration to show the CPC that we do (or ourselves that we don't) have the ability to influence the outcome of swing ridings. In a minority government, that's a big club to swing, That's heady stuff to a politician. If Harper brings down the government, I think the backlash is going to jeopardize the CPC. Doing anything to work against the re-election of individual CPC candidates is to work *for* Dion's accession to power. is rather counterproductive - kind of like putting a live grenade up your nether orifice and drinking a bottle of cod liver oil: do-it-yourself fragging. Harper's driven us into a corner, and we need to concentrate on preventing things from getting worse while we organize to make things better. One man's opinion. Wm Blasius ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:07:11 -0700 (PDT) From: redensign@yahoo.com Subject: Walter's Question (Reiterated in CFD Vol. 12, #40) To answer Walter's question: > Walter Martindalet wrote: > >> Who said we must hang together or surely we will all hang, >> separately? >> Walter Benjamin Franklin made that quip at the Continental Congress' deliberations on the wording of the 13 English colonies' independence declaration in 1776: John Hancock had warned the other delegates, "We must be unanimous. There must be no pulling different ways. We must all hang together." Dr. Ben Franklin replied, "Yes, we must indeed all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." Cheers, Red ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:30:52 -0400 From: "William Blasius" Subject: Re: Former Liberal becomes Green Party's first MP (CFD V12 #36) Cc: The National Post published an article from Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service on 30 Aug 2008, titled "Former Liberal becomes Green Party's first MP" It quoted Mr. Wilson, among other things, as saying: "I am extremely happy and proud to be able to join Elizabeth and the Green party and do something so positive for two core values that my family and I deeply believe in," said Mr. Wilson. "One of those obviously is protecting the environment and the other one is advancing the cause of democracy." Unfortunately, Mr. Wilson left out the third value: getting money to run his campaign for the election now looming closely on the horizon. In crime, "cherchez la femme"; in politics, "follow the money". Wm Blasius ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:42:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Calgary crime fuels jump in women buying guns - CBC http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/08/29/calgary-women-guns.html Calgary crime fuels jump in women buying guns Last Updated: Friday, August 29, 2008 | 6:42 PM ET Comments52 CBC News The number of women buying guns and taking target practice at a Calgary business has jumped six-fold partly as a response to rising crime in the city, says the owner. J.R. Cox, owner of the Shooting Edge in southeast Calgary, said business has doubled in the last five years, while the percentage of his female clientele has jumped from five to 30 per cent. He said one of the reasons is a growing sense of fear as more crimes hit Calgary streets. "I'd like to say no, but the reality is yes. I mean we've seen many times that the police, they're always there after, I mean they're not there during the event," he said. Cori Van Der Leest said she bought a gun to protect herself after moving from Taber to Calgary a few years ago. "I'll warn you now I am not that good of a shot," says Van Der Leest as she loads her 9 mm handgun at the shooting range. "If something was to ever happen, then I know I have that back behind me," she said. "Not saying to use it but just in your mind that as long as you know you can shoot a gun, then you can pretty much handle anything." Cox says he knows police are doing their best to protect Calgarians, but he understands why a growing number of people are learning how to use a firearm. Sexual assault reported in southwest Calgary On Friday, police asked for public assistance in finding a man wanted in a sexual assault early that morning. They said a woman was walking through a grassy area west of Macleod Trail between 78th Avenue and Heritage Drive S.W. when a man briefly engaged her in conversation and then forced her to the ground. The man was described as Caucasian, about 30 to 35 years old, about 5-foot-10 with a medium build and short, brown hair. This month, police released surveillance photos of two men who jump-kicked a woman from behind and continued to kick her as she was on the ground. Police believe the attack, which occurred as the victim was leaving a downtown bar, was random. In July, police released a sketch of a man wanted in the sexual assault of a woman who was walking downtown early one morning. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:05:08 -0600 From: "David R.G. Jordan" Subject: Washington Gun Ownership to Go Through One Man- New York Times Washington Gun Ownership to Go Through One Man http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/washington/01guns.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y&oref=slogin By WILL BARDENWERPER Published: August 31, 2008 WASHINGTON — Residents here who buy a gun to keep legally at home, now that the Supreme Court has overturned the city’s ban on handguns, will find that a bureaucratic maze leads them to an unmarked door on Good Hope Road Southeast where Charles W. Sykes Jr. does business. Mr. Sykes does not sell guns, but on Tuesday he is expected to become the only federally licensed dealer in Washington to serve as the transfer agent for the carefully controlled transactions that will put guns in the hands of district residents. There are no gun stores here, and a resident who buys a gun elsewhere must have the weapon shipped to a licensed dealer in the district. Mr. Sykes’s permit will allow him to receive the weapon and, for a transaction fee of $125, he will ensure that the requisite paperwork is prepared for approval by federal and district officials before handing over the weapon to its new owner. Mr. Sykes has been handling this kind of transaction since 1994 for security firms, police officers and the like. His enterprise, CS Exchange Limited and located in the southeast Washington neighborhood of Anacostia, is not listed in the telephone book, and he does not advertise. But his name is commonly known in local gun circles, and he can be found on the Internet. Mr. Sykes said his firearms work was a sideline — he would not name his full-time employer — and he had no thoughts of selling guns. “I don’t know of any firearms dealer in the greater metropolitan area that hasn’t been broken into,” he said. “I don’t want the headache of having to secure a stockpile of weapons.” There may be a few other holders of federal firearms licenses in the city, but according to the police, he will soon be the only one to offer this service. There was a surge of people contacting him after the Supreme Court’s ruling, but Mr. Sykes said some people had lost interest upon learning how long it was taking him to receive the necessary approval. As of Tuesday, however, if all goes according to plan, a resident of the District of Columbia who purchases a gun should expect to receive the weapon within three weeks of purchase. Mr. Sykes relocated his business in February; the new location was certified by the federal firearms agency in July. He applied for an annual license from the District Police Department, and that is the license he should receive Tuesday, said Traci Hughes, a police spokeswoman. At that point, prospective new gun owners will for the first time be able to obtain weapons from out of state and have them duly licensed in the district. Mr. Sykes said that so far only about 10 district residents had approached him for the transfer of newly purchased weapons. Still, there are indications that business may pick up eventually. Dale Metta, the manager of Atlantic Guns in nearby Silver Spring, Md., said he had received “lots of interest from D.C. residents, but the problem has been that Mr. Sykes was not yet ready for business.” Mr. Metta said in the weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling he received at least 10 visits a day from Washington residents interested in buying a gun. Also, the District Police Department has provided 412 firearms applications to the public, Ms. Hughes said. Mr. Sykes, meanwhile, is counselling patience. “You’ve waited for 33 years,” he said. “What is another month or two?” Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V12 #43 ********************************** 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".)