Cdn-Firearms Digest Thursday, July 8 2010 Volume 13 : Number 949 In this issue: Montreal Gazette - Montreal police getting firearms off the street G&M - RCMP disclose details of police misconduct during Olympics CBC - EKOS: Liberal support down significantly NatPost - Liberals sink to lowest point in polls NatPost - How the Liberal elites lost touch with Canadians Re: Firearms community made out to be liars Thugs, hooligans and other citizenry Oshawa home invasion bust leads to recovery of stolen guns NatPost - City 'gun guy' scores win in bylaw appeal Winnipeg Sun - Shot at random: cops ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:31:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Montreal Gazette - Montreal police getting firearms off the street http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Montreal+police+getting+firearms+street/3246804/story.html#ixzz0t5RMweqh Montreal police getting firearms off the street Montreal Gazette July 7, 2010 Paul Cherry MONTREAL-A new emphasis on getting firearms out of the hands of street gang members is producing results, says Montreal police Deputy Chief Jacques Robinette. The person in charge of special investigations and the street gang dossier for the Montreal police said if the rate continues at its current pace the police force will seize twice as many firearms from gangs as they did last year. Last year, investigations involving street gangs led to 168 firearms being seized. So far this year police have already seized 144, Robinette said during a press conference where he announced violence related to street gang activity continues to be on the decline. He said that the greater priority placed on firearms was influenced by tougher federal legislation put in force last year. It created mandatory minimum sentences for weapons offences, including 4-year prison terms for using a firearm while committing a crime. "Better targetting, better analysis and better training of patrollers has, in a way, allowed us to seize more firearms on the ground," Robinette said, while also crediting prevention programs and the thousands of hours committed to patrolling problem-areas, as having contributed to the reduction in street gang violence. In 2007, there were 14 homicides attributed to street gang activity in Montreal. Last year, there were five. Robinette said only two of the homicides reported this year are related to street gangs. Both victims died in the March shooting inside the Old Montreal clothing boutique owned by Ducarme Joseph, an influential figure among street gang members, who escaped injury in what was believed to have been an attempt on his life. In 2007, 54 attempted murders were attributed to street gangs. Last year, there were 39 and this year, so far, there have been 12. Despite the reduction, Robinette said he has no plans to reduce the police force's heavy emphasis on street gangs. "We want to keep it that way because street gangs resort to violence and the use of weapons and because they are developing their criminal affiliations and because they are using youngsters and exploiting girls," he said. "We need to be present. We need to be vigilant." pcherry@thegazette.canwest.com letters@thegazette.canwest.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:44:45 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: G&M - RCMP disclose details of police misconduct during Olympics http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/rcmp-disclose-details-of-police-misconduct-during-olympics/article1629281/ RCMP disclose details of police misconduct during Olympics Rebecca Lindell Vancouver — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Jul. 05, 2010 6:29PM EDT Last updated on Monday, Jul. 05, 2010 9:47PM EDT Fifteen members of the RCMP Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit were sent home during the Games for misconduct that included skipping out of work to catch a hockey game and breaching a confidentiality agreement by taking pictures of Team Canada jerseys. Another officer was sent home for coming to work without bullets. The majority of the incidents, however, involved “inappropriate intoxication,” allegations of unwanted sexual advances, and altercations between police officers and staff on the cruise ship that housed members of the security unit. One officer, RCMP Staff Sergeant Suzanne Denise Marie Martel of Ottawa, was criminally charged with shoplifting at a Burnaby store. The incidents were disclosed by the BC RCMP at a news conference in Vancouver on Monday after receiving at least four Freedom of Information requests from the media. The ISU has handed over all the files to the officers’ home forces, which will decide on further disciplinary action, said BC RCMP Inspector Tim Shields in an interview on Monday. Another 33 incidents of alleged misconduct were also investigated, but none of the officers involved were sent home. The ISU was made up of 6,200 police officers from across Canada who provided security services for 90 days before, during and after the Winter Olympics. The officers involved in allegations of misconduct represented the RCMP, Abbotsford Police Department, Peel Regional Police and Ontario Provincial Police. Several of the incidents involved police officers leaving unsecured guns lying around, in places including a washroom, their bedrooms and Vancouver airport. A few other complaints involved officers using foul or disrespectful language. One officer was accused of trespassing into a rail yard and throwing rocks at parked train cars, while another was found sleeping on the job. It was also alleged that an RCMP officer grabbed an Estonian dignitary and ripped his suit. The police also disclosed that one officer called 911 from his cruise ship accommodation while he was drunk. One of the more bizarre allegations was that a person wearing a balaclava at a Whistler gas station refused to take it off and showed police credentials before leaving. He could not be identified and the file was closed. There were three other instances where the police officers involved in the complaints could not be identified. “These [incidents] are unusual because we had more than a zero tolerance approach to any allegations,” Insp. Shields said. “We were watchful of any misbehaviour on or off duty, including what could be perceived as a minor incident in a bar after hours.” The most surprising action, Insp. Shields said, was taking the photo of the hockey jerseys. The officer snapped the picture almost immediately after signing the agreement not to do so and was turned in by a co-worker, he said. But the ISU is very happy overall with the performance of the police officers who worked the Olympics, Insp. Shields said. “Disciplinary matters were dealt with swiftly and decisively and virtually all the incidents were relatively minor in the whole scheme of things,” he said. “More importantly, the Games were safe and they were secure for athletes as well as spectators to the city.” ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:03:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: CBC - EKOS: Liberal support down significantly http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/07/07/ekos-poll.html#ixzz0t6O0txGo EKOS: Liberal support down significantly EKOS Support for the federal Liberal party has sunk to its lowest level in more than a year with the Conservatives taking a 10-point lead over their political rivals, a new EKOS opinion poll suggests. The poll, released exclusively to CBC, suggests that 34.4 per cent of respondents would vote for the Tories if an election were held today, compared with 23.9 per cent for the Liberals. In recent weeks, the Liberals had narrowed the Tory lead to three to four percentage points. But over the past week, the Liberals have taken a nearly seven-point drop in support. According to the poll, the Conservative Party is leading in every region except for Quebec and in Atlantic Canada, where they are tied with the Liberals, who are losing ground in some key areas and not leading in any region. In Ontario, the Liberals are 13 percentage points behind the Tories, where they had previously been on par or slightly ahead. The Liberals' numbers fell as Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been in the spotlight of late as host of the G8/G20 summits in Huntsville, Ont., and Toronto and attending events with Queen Elizabeth during her trip to Canada. The drop in support comes as Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is set to embark on a cross-Canada "Liberal Express" summer bus tour. Harper plans to spend his summer at Harrington Lake, the official country residence of the prime minister. Support for the New Democratic Party, the Green Party, and the Bloc Québécois has remained stable over the past few week with the NDP at 17.9 per cent, the Green Party at 11.2 per cent, and the Bloc at 10.5 per cent, the poll suggested. The random survey of 1,166 Canadians aged 18 and over was conducted June 30 to July 6 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:05:33 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: NatPost - Liberals sink to lowest point in polls http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/07/08/liberals-sink-to-lowest-point-in-polls-in-past-year-while-stephen-harpers-conservatives-shine/#ixzz0t6j3YCtN Liberals sink to lowest point in polls Mary Vallis July 8, 2010 If a federal election was held now, fewer than one in four Canadians would vote for the Liberals, a new poll suggests. Support for the Liberal party is at its lowest level in more than a year, an EKOS poll released today shows. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives now boast a 10-point lead over Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals. Fully 34.4% of the poll’s respondents — one in three — said they would vote for the Tories, while only 23.9% would vote Liberal. The NDP trailed in third place with 18.9% support, followed by the Green Party (11.2%) and the Bloc Québécois (10%). “The Conservative are the only clear beneficiaries of this Liberal swoon and now would have a legitimate minority government in an election were held today,” the polling firm said in a statement. “The Liberals should be particularly alarmed about newfound Conservative strength in Ontario, where they now have a sizeable lead. Even in supposedly security-wary Toronto, the Conservatives enjoy an unprecedented lead.” The results suggest Mr. Harper is assuming a “symbolic as well as political role” during recent appearances on Canada Day, where he stood alongside Queen Elizabeth, and during the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario, EKOS says: “…just as the Olympic hockey victory lifted Harper’s fortunes, the cumulative effect of these events seems to have exerted a similarly positive effect. If indeed Harper is now becoming a proxy for national pride, this may make the challenge for Ignatieff even more formidable [as confidence in national direction continues to be strong].” More than half of the respondents (51.9%) feel Canada is headed in the right direction. The poll was conducted between June 22 and July 6, 2010 and included a random sample of 3,508 Canadians. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The full poll results can be found here (http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2010/07/liberals-wilting-in-summer-heat-july-8-2010/). ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:10:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: NatPost - How the Liberal elites lost touch with Canadians http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/07/lorne-gunter-how-the-liberal= - -elites-lost-touch-with-canadians/#ixzz0t2tzfZjS How the Liberal elites lost touch with Canadians I used to be a Liberal — big time. There, I’ve admitted it. I handed out campaign pamphlets on a street corner in my hometown when I was 10, was a member of the party’s national youth council while in university and chief of staff to a minister in the last Trudeau cabinet. Then I smartened up.Part way through my time on Parliament Hill in the early 1980s, it dawned on me the Liberal party I was working for was not the Liberal party I had joined. And although it sounds clichéd, I was convinced the party had left me, rather than the other way around. Sometime during the Trudeau years, the Liberals ceased to be the party of the individual and became the voice of special interests, the face of elitism. The transformation began under Lester Pearson, when the Liberals launched huge new social programs — universal medicare and pensions — that were uncharacteristically collectivist for the party. Their central characteristic was the suspension of personal responsibility. Canadians were to be guaranteed health care and retirement income regardless of whether they had made plans and sacrifices during their healthy working years for the time when they became sick or old. They were have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too programs. Pearson set the Liberals on the road to socialism, but it was the technocrat Pierre Trudeau who turned the party into the elitist family compact it remains to this day. Trudeau convinced the party that bureaucrats knew better than the public what should be watched on television and listened to on the radio, and so gave the CRTC more power to regulate Canadian content. Trudeau was convinced that politicians could tell, better than businessmen and consumers, which investors were good for our economy (i.e., not foreign ones), and that experts oblivious to market forces could decide the “fair” price of oil. Government could (and should) use massive transfers and equalization payments to manipulate where Canadians live and work. Multiculturalism and mass immigration could help the world and reshape Canada. And public services should reflect the country’s two-language history. Trudeau completed the transformation of the Liberals, begun by Pearson, from a party that believed in equality of opportunity (classic liberalism) to one that sought equality of outcome (socialism). In short, the Liberals have become “elitist” — because they no longer trust ordinary people to make the right choices for themselves. And so it is fascinating for me to read a surprisingly candid series on the future of the Liberal Party of Canada on the blog (glenpearson.ca) of the party’s London North Centre MP, Glen Pearson. “The essential meaning of liberalism today would be found in the empowerment of the individual,” writes Mr. Pearson, a retired fire captain. “Yet following a history as Canada’s ‘natural governing party,’ today’s Liberal party spends an inordinate amount of time talking about institutional politics and policy as opposed to the key role of the citizen as an agent of progress. One of our key weaknesses as a national party at present is our distance — physical, emotional, empathetic — from the average lives of citizens.” Unfortunately, he barks up the wrong tree when it comes to putting this observation into practice; he thinks the Liberals need to attract more unionists, social workers, environmentalists, anti-poverty activists and, maybe, small business leaders. Frankly, such advocates for special interests are typically as far removed from ordinary Canadians’ lives as the Liberals themselves. Joining forces with them would only reinforce the Liberals’ aloofness. What the Liberals need are more supporters such as farmers, entrepreneurs, duck hunters and self-employed tradesmen. Symptomatic of the Liberals’ remoteness is their demand for universal, government-regulated daycare versus the Conservatives’ policy of giving every family with children under six a tax credit they can use for whatever kind of child care they choose. That’s individual empowerment versus the Liberals’ faith in a big government solution. It is unlikely the Liberals will ever break with the powerful and fashionable interest groups that control their caucus and drive their policy. But, as Mr. Pearson concludes, unless they somehow can reinvent themselves as the party of the individual, they are doomed “to recurring years in the wilderness.” National Post lgunter@shaw.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:24:54 -0600 From: 10x@telus.net Subject: Re: Firearms community made out to be liars At 03:08 AM 7/8/2010 -0600, you wrote: >Firearms community made out to be liars > >By Greg Illerbrun Provincial Firearms Chair Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation > >July 7, 2010 > >Once again we are hearing the Chiefs of Police coming out in favor of the >long gun registry. These are the same guys who promoted the original Bill >C-68 when Allan Rock said it would only cost taxpayers 20 million and the >firearms community said it would cost 1 billion plus. snip >The 11,000 hits the police keep referring to can still be done under the >licensing system, so this is nothing more than smoke and mirrors intended >to confuse the general public. The 11,000 hits per day have always been done on the firearms license holder database. That is the database that contains the names of gun owners. The actual gun registration database does NOT have the name of the gun owner but has the firearms license number of the gun owner. It seems that few know the details of what they debate... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:27:05 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: Thugs, hooligans and other citizenry Douglas Bell critiques the movers and shakers in Canadian politics. An anti-G20 protester flashes a peace sign near the temporary detention centre in Toronto on June 27, 2010. Thugs, hooligans and other citizenry July 8, 2010 Douglas Bell > http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/douglas-bell/thugs-hooligans - -and-other-citizenry/article1632841/?cid=art-rail-bureaublog Many, many props to my colleague Adam Radwanski for calling out Tim Hudak on his law-and-order screed in the Toronto Sun. Radwanski hits a walk off home run when he writes: “It would be perfectly reasonable to argue that police should be given some benefit of the doubt on their controversial behaviour over the course of the G20 weekend, and to express sympathy for the very difficult position they were put in. But Hudak went a step further, effectively arguing that if you defend your civil liberties – or even talk about them - you’re no better than the idiots who were smashing up storefront.” And that Hudak’s posturing in this regard “doesn’t reflect the kind of seriousness or sense of responsibility that you’d like to see in a potential premier.” Taking seriously the concerns of citizens who saw the police effectively curb, if not suspend, civil liberties during the G20 is not to side against the cops and with over-privileged affluent white kids with white teeth aka thugs and hooligans, as Christie Blatchford suggested in this newspaper yesterday. The police board inquiry is, one hopes, the thin edge of the wedge. As Toronto councilor Adam Vaughan correctly pointed out, given that policing at the G20 was a multijurisdictional affair, a provincial inquiry is likely the only way to hold all the various levels of government to account. Last night I spoke to Liam McHugh Russell, the former federal NDP candidate in Etobicoke Lakeshore. He sent me the following video: it’s worth a look if you’re at all concerned that the police may have overstepped their bounds. - ---- Video attached to the article G20 Toronto- Police surround and attack small group of protesters at Queen and Spadina > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aohGLp00MmU&feature=related ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:32:05 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Oshawa home invasion bust leads to recovery of stolen guns http://www.newsdurhamregion.com/news/crime/article/157686 Oshawa home invasion bust leads to recovery of stolen guns Jul 06, 2010 - 03:47 PM OSHAWA -- An investigation into an armed home invasion robbery has led police to a significant cache of firearms stolen in late June from a north Oshawa home. A handgun found in the possession of three youths, busted after a home invasion on Sandcliff Drive in Oshawa June 26, was found to be one of the guns stolen two days earlier from a home on Ritson Road North, Durham police said. A total of eight guns, including shotguns, rifles and handguns, were stolen from the Ritson Road home during a day-time break-in June 24. On June 29, Durham cops executed a search warrant at an Oshawa residence and located another handgun from the Ritson Road home. Evidence from that search led officers to a property on Old Scugog Road near Concession 6 in Scugog Township, where more guns from the break-in were found buried. Seven of the stolen guns have now been recovered; officers located an additional six guns on the property and seized them. Five youths, aged 16 and 17, have now been charged in connection with the Ritson Road break-in. Their identities are protected by law newsroom@durhamregion.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:46:16 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: NatPost - City 'gun guy' scores win in bylaw appeal http://www.nationalpost.com/City+scores+bylaw+appeal/3248397/story.html City 'gun guy' scores win in bylaw appeal Natalie Alcoba July 8, 2010 7:00 am Charles Taylor, a.k.a. the gun guy, is standing in the workshop of a carefully watched warehouse, with pieces you may have seen at a theatre near you strewn on a table beside him. He transfers the reading glasses that were hanging off his shirt to his nose, and recites the highlighted passages of a bylaw that, two years ago, banned operations like his in Toronto. Mr. Taylor doesn't own a gun club, but his company owns plenty of guns. They are all resting on retail-style hooks, behind two steel reinforced vault doors that once protected silver, in a nondescript brick building in the studio district. This is Movie Armaments Group, which has outfitted film production companies with toys of war, or things that look a lot like them, for any number of blockbusters, from Resident Evil to Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker. On the work table today are assault rifles being readied for Steven Spielberg's alien drama Falling Skies. "We call it everything from muskets to machine guns. Any conflict that you can think of that has ever happened in this world, we have weapons that are appropriate to be used in movies," said Mr. Taylor, a gunsmith who has been repairing and building guns for movies for more than two decades. He has appealed By-law No. 1151-2008 to the Ontario Municipal Board, along with the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, and yesterday scored a victory. City council approved a proposed draft of revised zoning, which has not yet been made public. The original wording of the bylaw prohibits new gun clubs, shooting ranges, the manufacturing of firearms and their commercial display. It was championed by Mayor David Miller in 2008 as a way to combat gun crime, but sparked outrage from lawful gun owners and businesses who felt it punished the wrong people. Mr. Taylor learned about the law after it passed. When he called the city to voice his protest, officials didn't seem to understand how it affected his business. He modifies guns to shoot blanks on movie sets. "You're legal non-conforming," they told him, which means he can continue to operate at that location. Mr. Taylor believes the city has no business outlawing an operation that is licensed, regulated and inspected by federal and provincial agencies. "They didn't do enough investigation before they wrote this thing," he said. "They didn't consult with us, or the industry. The film industry specifically. And here's the Mayor touting the film industry in Toronto," said Mr. Taylor. "My personal opinion, this is somebody's political brainchild who said we have done something that is going to make the city a safer place. But guess what? Know what it accomplishes? Zero." "What do we have to do with gun crime?" added his business partner, who prefers not to be publicly identified. Movie Armaments Group isn't open to the public and deals only with film companies or law enforcement it trains. If you are a military paraphernalia aficionado, this is your candy store. There are rows of army-issued gear on display, and a "Rubber Gun Room" with pistols that look real until you squeeze them. The historic and modern weaponry on display spans continents and generations. "We know that the majority of the general public don't like guns," said Mr. Taylor. "A lot of people don't like guns in movies. But this business is required here and we fill that requirement. It is legal, we follow all the rules by the letter of the law." nalcoba@nationalpost.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 11:55:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Winnipeg Sun - Shot at random: cops http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/07/05/14621631.html 'Peg man shot at random: cops Suspect was banned from carrying a gun By PAUL TURENNE, QMI Agency WINNIPEG - A city man accused of getting off a transit bus and fatally shooting a man who was apparently a complete stranger was subject to a court-ordered weapons ban and was not supposed to be carrying a gun. Jheruel Mananghaya, 24, was arrested Sunday afternoon in relation to the fatal shooting of 24-year-old Darren Walsh. The shooting occurred about 2 p.m. Sunday as Walsh was waiting for a bus near the corner of Main Street and Euclid Avenue. “It appears the victim and the suspect have had no contact in the past and it appears to be random at this time,” Const. Shaun Chornley, a spokesman for Winnipeg police, said Monday. Chornley said Mananghaya allegedly got off a bus on the opposite side of Main Street, crossed the road and approached Walsh, who himself was waiting for a bus. “There was an interaction at the bus shelter,” Chornley said. “Then the victim was hit multiple times.” Chornley identified the murder weapon only as a long gun, meaning it was either a rifle or a shotgun. He said the suspect was believed to have had the gun with him on the bus, somehow concealed on his body. Mananghaya was arrested near Jarvis Avenue and Robinson Street, a few blocks away from the shooting site, shortly after the incident. He had been pinned down by a citizen who apparently saw the whole incident unfold and followed him there. He did not have a gun with him by the time police arrested him, Chornley said. Mananghaya was banned from carrying a gun due to 10-year weapons prohibition that had been slapped on him as a result of a robbery conviction in February 2005. He also received a one-year jail sentence in relation to that conviction. Mananghaya has more recent convictions for impaired driving and theft. He has now been charged with second-degree murder and a variety of weapons offences in relation to Sunday’s shooting. Despite the arrest, police are still actively investigating the case. A cruiser car was guarding a taped-off parking lot across Main Street near the Mount Carmel Clinic Monday, and Chornley confirmed that the scene was linked to the shooting. Chornley also said police are looking to speak with some people who may have had contact with a shirtless male while driving near the corner of Sutherland Avenue and Robinson Street Sunday afternoon. Police are asking anyone who has additional information to contact detectives at 986-6508. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V13 #949 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's email: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca 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".)