Cdn-Firearms Digest Tuesday, September 28 2010 Volume 14 : Number 100 In this issue: Re: CTV Montreal - Police union protests $35 M in budget cuts Re: FSIN wants registry exemption The right to bear grudges Tracking of 'old' firearm purchases Timeline - Implementing the Firearms Act ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:05:05 -0400 From: "mred" Subject: Re: CTV Montreal - Police union protests $35 M in budget cuts SORRY I HEARD IT ON THE TV NEWS LAST NIGHT BUT NEVER CAUGHT THE ISSUE BUT i THINK IT WAS THE LATEST ONE. ED/ON - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Mills" To: "undisclosed-recipients:" Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 6:45 PM Subject: Re: CTV Montreal - Police union protests $35 M in budget cuts > --- On Mon, 9/27/10, mred wrote: > >> Quebec has the highest rate of crime >> and corruption in Canada according to >> a recent McLeans magazine .. > > Do you have a link or a headline for that, ed? > > Yours in TYRANNY! > Bruce > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:52:30 -0600 From: 10x@telus.net Subject: Re: FSIN wants registry exemption At 05:33 PM 9/27/2010 -0400, you wrote: >----- Original Message ----- >From: <10x@telus.net> >To: >Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 10:56 AM >Subject: Re: FSIN wants registry exemption > >> At 03:51 PM 9/25/2010 -0400, you wrote: >>>----- Original Message ----- >>>From: "Joe Gingrich" >>>To: "undisclosed-recipients:" >>>Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 11:57 AM >>>Subject: FSIN wants registry exemption >>> > http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/FSIN+wants+registry+exemption/3572169/story.html > >> The treaties entrenched their treaty rights at the time the treaty was >> signed - not before the European invaders stole their country from them. >> >> Like it or not their treaties are one of the best arguments we have that >> the entire firearms act is NOT constitional. >> >> Like it or not Native Americans covered by treaty have the same rights to >> bear arms as we do under common law. >> >> You would see their rights extinguished? > > >Get a life ~! No where did I say that their rights should be >"extinguished ". > >Those are YOUR words - all I said is if they want to hunt and gather as >described in their treaties they should do it like their ancestors did not >like the white man did. > >I did NOT say they couldn't hunt and gather , what I said was they should >do it like their ancestors did, not like the white man. > >Not one treaty says that they should use guns for hunting, or nets for >fishing, especially commercially. > >They used spears or dams to catch fish.Bows and arrows, or drives in,the >case of buffalo (bison) hence the location name "Buffalo Jump" out west. > >And if their so called "rights " are going to help us in the" bearing of >arms for our defense "? and the rest of the Constitutional claptrap ?,, >when is it going to start helping us.? > >Yes they have the same rights as we do as long as they register and get an >FAC - NOTHING wrong with that ~! > >But to hunt with guns is NOT in their ancestry, they were stone age people >when the white man stole their land (no argument there) and they were so >far advanced they never even developed the wheel~!!!!!! > >Just please explain to me where the "equality under the law starts"? At the time the treaties were signed the Native Americans who signed them were using firearms. At that time firearms were essentual to their economy - for sustainance, income, self defence, and to steal the odd pony (part of the culture at the time). Having the firearms laws turfed under the treaties is beneficial to all gun owners. If the gun laws do not apply to the Native Americans, then for all of us other folks to be equal they should not apply to us either. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 21:33:17 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: The right to bear grudges The right to bear grudges By Iain Hunter, Victoria Times-Colonist September 27, 2010 Comments (4) > http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/right+bear+grudges/3583450/story.html In the U.S. citizens have the right to bear arms. In Canada, they have the right to bear grudges. In the U.S. citizens have the right to bear arms. In Canada, they have the right to bear grudges. Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald In the U.S. citizens have the right to bear arms. In Canada, they have the right to bear grudges. I believe this has a lot to do with the expressed determination of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to keep trying to trash the federal gun registry, which he came so close to doing last week. I realize that the registry, set up in 1995 after the École Polytechnique de Montréal massacre, was unable to stop other horrors such as the murder of four Mounties in Mayerthorpe, Alta., 10 years later or the shootings at Dawson College in Montreal in 2006. I know that drug gangs and other criminal elements tend not to register the weapons they will use in breaking the law and causing mayhem. I believe, too, that firearms courses, licensing requirements and background checks on those applying to acquire long guns to try to ensure they are used with as little risk as possible are more effective than the registry itself. And I'm aware that the thing has cost far too much, was sold to the public for being able do things it couldn't and that its operation has been found wanting by the Auditor General of Canada. I recall stories about chainsaws being registered and I've had the damnedest time squinting at serial numbers on the ancient fowling pieces in my inherited arsenal that I've won a possession licence for. But there are two reasons given for scrapping the registry that I find pretty well beside the point, if that point is government doing as much as it can to keep the public safe. It is called, by the grouches and grousers among us who bear grudges so easily, an intrusion by the state as offensive as its sometime intrusion into the nation's bedrooms. It's said to assume we're all prospective criminals. It involved us in irritating paperwork (or at least it used to) and cost gun-owners money (or at least it used to) and took up time we'd rather spend at the tennis club or snowmobiling or fiddling with computer gadgets. I don't like laws that impose penalties on citizens for not doing something -- like not filling out forms. I approve of those laws that impose penalties for doing something -- like shooting someone. But I'm not aware that anyone has been fined or imprisoned for simply failing to register a long gun since the registry was set up, though the risk is still there in the law. A second reason given for doing away with the registry is that public opinion is against it. Only 16 per cent of us, according to the most recent Angus Reid poll, think it prevents crime. Fifteen per cent of us are unsure, but the rest of us apparently think it's useless. These folk aren't all grouches and grousers -- a lot of them probably wish a registry system could save lives -- but it's pretty pathetic if governments, on an issue as important as public safety, can be led by what public opinion polls tell them. I don't know many who are overjoyed by, say, new stricter drunk driving standards. (Here in British Columbia, motorists now face a three-day driving ban and $200 fine if caught with a blood alcohol concentration of more than .05.) I know I wouldn't like having to wear a bicycle helmet -- if I could still get on a bicycle without falling off. But those who have studied these things have said they prevent injury and death among those who use our roads. So governments have imposed strictures on their use in the interests of public safety, which is an important responsibility and duty of governments. But our present government, supposedly so keen on law and order issues, would scrap a long-gun registry that at least is an investigative tool, if not much of a preventive. And it seems disinclined to look for something to replace it or to consider modifications. Modifications of anything, however, don't come easily to a government of us-or-them. Only coalitions compromise. Harper sees political advantage in pitting rural folk against urban dwellers, gun-toting males against hand-wringing females, duck hunters against mushroom gatherers. And he's doing it by appealing to one of our nastiest characteristics -- our determination to bear a grudge and get even on voting day. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:29:25 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: Tracking of 'old' firearm purchases I have mentioned on previous occasions that 'underground' gun owners should not be surprised if they receive a 'knock' on their door because their paperwork is in disarray. The fattened police budgets many have cheered as their wallets were pilfered, can easily afford scads of police people going through years of archived files. I noticed these comments in the John Dixon article of old, recently posted by Len. It reaffirms what has been written before. But, I thought I had also read some time back that the RCMP had later trashed many/all of these records. > So why not go for a universal gun registry? The short answer, arrived at > by every study in the Department of Justice, was that universal > registration would be ruinously expensive, and could actually yield a > negative public security result (more on this in a moment). Besides, in > 1992 Canada already had two systems of gun registration: the complete > registry of all restricted firearms, such as handguns (restricted since > the 1930s) and a separate registry of ordinary firearms. > > This latter registry, which started in the *early 1970s*, was a feature > of the firearms acquisition certificate (or FAC) required by a person > purchasing any firearm. Every firearm purchased from a dealer had to be > registered to the FAC holder by the vendor, and the record of the > purchase passed on to the RCMP in Ottawa. So we were already building a > cumulative registry of all the owners of guns in Canada purchased since > 1970. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:33:38 -0400 From: Lee Jasper Subject: Timeline - Implementing the Firearms Act [I bumped into this a few days ago; you might find some useful info in this summary of key events of the gun control saga]. GUN CONTROL Timeline Implementing the Firearms Act Last Updated: Monday, September 13, 2010 | 3:30 PM ET CBC News > http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/06/f-gun-registry.htm When Canada's auditor general tabled her December 2002 report, she set her sights on Ottawa's controversial gun registry program. Sheila Fraser blasted the federal government for exceeding its estimated budget, saying that by the time the smoke cleared and all gun owners and their guns were registered, the program would have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion. Opposition critics were quick to point out that figure is 500 times more than the original $2-million estimate. A look at internal audits conducted by the Canadian Firearms Program suggests the cost of the program has been an issue from the beginning. Here's a look at the key moments in the gun registry debate, and the rising costs over time: [Period: 1995 - 2010] 1995 Bill C-68, the strictest gun-control legislation in Canadian history, receives Senate approval. It calls for harsher penalties for crimes involving the use of guns, creates the Firearms Act and requires that gun owners be licensed and registered. The government says the registry will cost about $119 million, but the revenue generated by registration fees would mean taxpayers would only be on the hook for $2 million. 2000 In a report released early in 2000, the Canadian Firearms Program notes that implementation costs are rising, and cites the following as contributing factors: - - Major backlogs in registration, largely as a result of firearm owners waiting until the last minute to apply. - - General increase in costs. - - Fee waivers for early applications. - - High error rates in applications submitted by firearm owners. December 2001 The cost has risen to an estimated $527 million. The Canadian Firearms Program says a major factor behind the ballooning costs was the difficulty it had keeping track of licence fees collected. This was blamed, in part, on the computer system used to process applications. And, according to the audit, that problem could not be resolved without "massive change," including "significant investment" in the computer system. April 2002 The tab for implementing the registry rises to $629 million. Here is a breakdown of the costs: - - $2 million to help police enforce legislation. - - At least $60 million for public-relations programs, including television commercials ($18 million of which went to ad agency GroupAction, which received millions in sponsorship scandal contracts). - - $227 million in computer costs. Complicated application forms are slowing processing times and driving costs higher than anticipated. - - $332 million for other programming costs, including money to pay staff to process the forms. June 2002 Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., a group overseeing the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, files a lawsuit against the federal government. The group argues the gun registry goes against an understanding that Inuit would be able to hunt, trap and fish without licensing or fees. December 2002 Auditor General Sheila Fraser reveals that the gun-registry program is more over budget than previously thought and that Parliament was ignorant of some of those escalating costs. Fraser reports that the bill for gun registration would reach $1 billion by 2005, with registration fees offsetting that by only about $140 million. The story: Auditor general takes aim at gun registry's $1-billion price tag http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2002/12/03/auditor021203.html January 2003 Seventy-five per cent of all gun owners meet the Jan. 1, 2003, deadline for registering their non-restricted firearms, signing up 5.8 million million firearms. But that doesn't stop gun owners and politicians from expressing opposition. Days after the deadline passes, Ontario Safety and Security Minister Bob Runciman calls on the federal government to put the program on hold, calling it an "unconscionable waste of taxpayers' money." His demands are echoed by justice ministers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. Others who doubt the efficiency of the gun registry include Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino, who says the program would neither prevent crimes nor help solve them. But Ottawa police Chief Vince Bevan pledges his support on behalf of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, saying: "We have seen ample evidence of the gaps in the old law that this legislation has addressed. If this legislation saves even one life, it will have proven its worth." Soon after the registration deadline passes, several gun owners challenge law enforcement authorities to arrest them for possessing unregistered firearms. *Jim Turnbull*, leader of the *Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association*, and "another man are arrested" for having firearms at a rally in Ottawa, and anti-registry protesters call the fact that Turnbull isn't charged under the Firearms Act for his unregistered gun both a moral victory and proof the new law is ineffective. At the same time, workers at an Edmonton postal outlet are quarantined for anthrax testing after receiving a letter destined for the Canadian Firearms Centre. The letter, which contains a white, powdery substance, would be the third anthrax scare related to the gun registry. In each case, tests show no anthrax was involved. The stories: Police arrest two in Parliament Hill gun protest http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/01/02/gun_registry030102.html [*Jim Turnbull*, who organized the protest, was arrested "when someone brought him part of a gun, known as a receiver". *Turnbul* is head of the "Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association". Mounties arrested him "and another man" for having a firearm in a public place or gathering. Demonstrators said the fact the RCMP didn't charge *Turnbul* under the Firearms Act for not registering his gun was a moral victory and proved the registry is ineffective. In Edmonton, a smaller group gathered at the Alberta legislature to support the former sergeant-at-arms, *Oscar Lacombe* in his protest against the registry.] Three provinces join Ontario's call to suspend gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/01/06/gun_registry030106.html Gun registration deadline looms http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2000/12/28/bc_guncontrol.html March 2003 Despite widespread condemnation of the rising costs, the Liberals vote to bolster the gun registry with an additional $59 million in funding. On March 24, the bill is approved on two separate votes — 173-75 and 173-76. Some Liberal backbenchers threaten to vote with the opposition against the funding, but sit out the vote after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien threatens to expel them from caucus. The story: Liberals approve more spending for gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2003/03/25/gunregistry_030325.html July 9, 2003 Judge Robert Kilpatrick grants a temporary injunction protecting Inuit from the federal firearms registry until a lawsuit filed by Nunavut's Land Claims organization goes to court the following year. Requiring Inuit to register their guns could interfere with their traditional way of life, the judge says. Jan. 7, 2004 Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin says the gun registry is under review. "We are committed to gun control and we are committed to the registration of weapons, but at the same time, common sense dictates that there have been a number of problems," he says. "They will be looked at and dealt with." Feb. 13, 2004 Documents obtained by Zone Libre of CBC's French news service suggest that the gun registry has cost $2 billion so far. The story: Gun registry cost soars to $2 billion http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2004/02/13/gunregistry_rdi040213.html May 20, 2004 The Liberal government, just days before an expected election call, eliminates fees for registering and transferring firearms. Ottawa says it will also limit its spending on the gun registry to $25 million a year, spending that has averaged $33 million a year and reached as high as $48 million. Licensing of gun owners and firearms will continue. June 2005 In the 2004 Report of the Commissioner of Firearms on the administration of the Firearms Act, the Canada Firearms Centre estimates that the cost of running the registry for the year ending Dec. 31, 2004, was less than $100 million. The report says costs are continuing their downward trend and should fall to approximately $85 million beginning in fiscal 2005-2006. May 16, 2006 Auditor General Sheila Fraser reports that the former Liberal government twice misinformed Parliament about tens of millions of dollars of overspending at the Canada Firearms Centre. Fraser finds the planned computerized gun registry system is three years overdue and so far has cost $90 million, three times more than expected. The story: Liberals misinformed Parliament about millions spent on gun registry: AG http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/05/16/gun-registry.html May 17, 2006 Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says the Conservative government will introduce legislation to eliminate the long-gun registry. Day announces a number of measures that would effectively gut the registry while it is still in effect: - - A one-year amnesty for those who have not yet registered their non- restricted firearms. - - Long-gun owners will no longer have to pay to register their weapons, and the government will provide refunds to those who have already registered their long guns. - - Responsibility for the registry will be transferred to the RCMP from the Canada Firearms Centre. - - The annual operating budget for the program will be cut by $10 million. The story: Tories gut Liberals' gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/05/17/gun-registry-changes.html June 19, 2006 Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government introduces legislation to abolish the long-gun registry. Day introduces a bill to amend the Criminal Code and Firearms Act so that owners of non-restricted rifles and shotguns will not have to register their weapons. But the handgun registry will remain in place, as will bans on fully automatic firearms and assault weapons. The story: Tories table bill to kill long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/06/19/gun-control.html Oct. 5, 2006 Hayder Kadhim, 18, who was shot during the Dawson College rampage on Sept 13, returns to the college to crusade for better gun control in Canada and to save the gun registry. Kadhim, who was shot three times — and still has a bullet lodged in his head and neck — challenges Harper to a debate about gun control during a media interview. The story: Dawson shooting victim launches national gun control campaign http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/11/01/kadhim-guncontrolcampaign.html Feb. 22, 2007 Nunavut hunters circulate petitions to pressure the federal government to push ahead with its plans to drop the long-gun registry. According to the group, the registry is seen as a huge waste of money — ineffective and largely unnecessary in the North. Although Inuit are currently exempt from having to obtain a licence to own a firearm, the registry still causes problems in the region, because a licence is required to legally purchase ammunition. The story: Nunavut hunters circulate petition to end gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2007/02/22/petition-guns.html Nov. 16, 2007 The federal government reintroduces a bill to eliminate the long-gun registry. This marks the Conservative government's second attempt to amend the Criminal Code and Firearms Act, after their first attempt, in June, failed because the last parliamentary session had been prorogued in September. The bill would repeal the requirement for businesses and individuals to register non-restricted long guns, but gun retailers would have to record all sales of non-restricted guns, as they had been required to do before the registry came into effect. The story:Tories reintroduce bill to eliminate long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/11/16/gun-registry.html April 8, 2008 A report released by the commissioner of firearms says Ottawa refunded almost $21 million to long-gun owners for licensing fees in 2006, following the Conservative government's decision to waive registration for the firearms. The report also states that police have used the gun registry more than 2.3 million times while investigating crimes and complaints in 2006, or nearly 6,500 times a day. The story: Nearly $21M refunded for long-gun registry fees: report http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/04/08/gun-registry.html July 24, 2008 Day signs off on the long-delayed requirement for police forces to report all guns they seize in connection with crimes to the national firearms registry. Sections of the Public Agents Firearms Regulations that had not been implemented are set to finally come into effect Oct. 31 — 10 years after Parliament approved them as part of the 1998 Firearms Act. The story: Gun-crime reporting rules go into effect this fall http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/07/24/gun-crime.html March 21, 2009 Harper appeals to members of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to contact opposition MPs and pressure them to support legislation that would scrap the gun registry program. The story: PM appeals to Ont. hunters, anglers to help scrap gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/03/21/harper-gun-registry.html April 1, 2009 Harper's government introduces a bill in the Senate to abolish the long-gun registry, but not relax controls on machine-guns. The bill marks a change in strategy for the Harper government, which had been backing the controversial Bill C-301. That bill, introduced in the House of Commons by Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, proposed ending the registration of rifles and shotguns, as well as softening controls on machine-guns, by allowing people to transport fully automatic and semi-automatic assault guns to public shooting ranges. The bill, which was ultimately killed, was strongly opposed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, as well as majority of Canadians. The revised bill introduced in the Senate is still being debated. At the same time, another bill designed to repeal the long-gun registry, C-391, is still being considered by the House of Commons. It was introduced by Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner. The story: New federal bill would end long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/01/ottawa-gun.html May 15, 2009 Treasury Board president Vic Toews announces the government's plan to extend the long-gun amnesty for another year. The second extension, Toews says, will "encourage compliance and reduce the administrative burden" on lawful gun owners as they work to comply with the registry. He also noted the Conservatives still intend to do away with the registry. The story: Tories extend long gun amnesty for another year http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/15/gun-registry-extension051509.html Sept. 24, 2009 The federal government asks Canada's privacy commissioner to look into whether the RCMP should have passed on personal information from the national gun registry to a pollster. The inquiry comes after some Canadian gun owners voice their anger with the RCMP for passing their personal information from the registry to a polling company for a research study. The poll was done to gauge gun owners' satisfaction with the RCMP's firearms program. The story: Pollster's use of gun registry details to be reviewed http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/09/24/gun-registry-poll-van-loan-response.html Oct. 5, 2009 Documents obtained by CBC News under access to information show the Conservative government's decision to waive fees for people licensing their firearms will cost more than $15 million in 2009 alone. Should the fee waiver be extended for another three years, internal forecasts predict an additional $60 million in "projected lost revenue." The story: Ottawa giving up millions in gun registry fees http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/10/05/gun-registry-fees-government.html Nov. 4, 2009 MPs voted 164-137 on a second reading of Bill C-391, introduced earlier in the year by Hoeppner. If passed, Bill C-391 would scrap the registry and destroy existing data in the system on about seven million shotguns and rifles. The bill will now be studied by committee. The story: MPs vote to abolish long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/04/gun-registry-vote004.html Nov. 19, 2009 An EKOS poll suggests Canadians have mixed views on what to do about the long-gun registry, with slightly more preferring to abolish the program than keep it, but nearly a third having no opinion on the subject. Poll results indicate a slim majority of Canadians favour banning gun ownership completely, although a large number of respondents said Canadians should have the legal right to bear arms. The story: Canadians split over long-gun registry: poll http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/19/ekos-poll.html April 19, 2010 Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says he will propose changes to make it easier for gun owners to register their firearms. Ignatieff, speaking to the Canadian Police Association in Ottawa, says his proposed changes would give police the tools they need to make communities safe, while removing the "frustrating" elements of the registry to address "legitimate criticisms" from rural Canadians. The story: Ignatieff pitches long-gun registry changes http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/04/19/liberals-long-gun-registry-ignatieff.html April 21, 2010 Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell says he does not want to support the long-gun registry but he might be forced to do so by his boss, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff said the next parliamentary vote to scrap the long-gun registry will be a whipped vote, meaning all Liberal MPs will have to vote for the party's position or face discipline. The story: Yukon MP torn over long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2010/04/21/bagnell-gun-registry.html Blog: Ignatieff, the long-gun registry and whipping the vote http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/04/ignatieff-the-long-gun-registry-and-whipping-the-vote.html May 6, 2010 Three national police associations — The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Police Boards — come together for the first time on Parliament Hill to defend the long-gun registry. "This should not be about us versus them. Or rural versus urban, or even police versus politicians," said Charles Momy, who is the president of the Canadian Police Association, which represents rank-and-file officers. "The firearms registry represents a valuable tool in assisting police in doing their job. It is a valuable tool, which has significant preventative and investigative value in keeping our communities safe." The story: Police unite to defend long-gun registry http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/05/06/long-gun-debate.html June 3, 2010 A Commons committee votes against proceeding with a private member's bill to eliminate the long-gun registry. Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois reject Tory MP Candice Hoeppner's bid to eliminate the requirement to register non-restricted firearms. The committee's recommendation must now be put to a vote in the House of Commons. The story: Anti-gun registry bill hits snag http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/03/gun-registry.html June 11, 2010 Victims of three school shootings in Montreal say they will blame federal NDP Leader Jack Layton if legislation calling for the abolition of the gun registry is adopted. The story: Gun registry advocates appeal to NDP http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/06/11/mtl-gun-registry-ndp-appeal.html Aug. 17, 2010 The head of the Canadian Firearms Program, who is a strong supporter of the long-gun registry, is bounced out of the position, CBC News learns. RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, director general of the program, is being sent off to French-language training after nine months on the job on orders from RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, according to police sources. Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the move was not a political decision, despite opposition MPs' claims his ouster fits the Conservative government's "pattern" of dealing with dissent. The stories: Federal gun program head ousted http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/08/17/long-gun-registry-cheliak.html Gun program head's ouster not political: Harper http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/08/18/rcmp-gun-registry-head-ousted-elliott.html Aug. 19, 2010 RCMP Chief Supt. Pierre Perron, the new director of the Canadian Firearms Program, says he believes the current program "has contributed to officer and public safety," but he will "respect and follow any future direction" provided by Parliament. The story: Gun program head will follow MPs' direction http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/08/19/gun-registry-firearms-program-rcmp.html Aug. 25, 2010 An RCMP evaluation report of Canada's long-gun registry concludes that the program is cost effective, efficient and an important tool for law enforcement, CBC News has learned. The findings of the report, conducted with the help of outside auditors and completed six months ago, have been in the hands of the government since February, but have not yet been released. The story: Long-gun registry efficient: RCMP report http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/08/25/long-gun-registry-report-rcmp.html ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #100 *********************************** 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".)