Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, October 20 2010 Volume 14 : Number 145 In this issue: CTV - Wendy Cukier selected as one of 25 Transformational Canadians Re: Time to pack it in? Washington State prosecutor goes on vendetta against gun club FW: Small Arms Survey - 'Small Arms in Brazil: Production, Trade, FW: Small Arms Survey: Yemen Armed Violence Assessment: Col. Williams' double life not uncommon: experts ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, October 19, 2010 1:45 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: CTV - Wendy Cukier selected as one of 25 Transformational Canadians Wendy Cukier champions gun control By Nick Rockel The Transformational Canadians program celebrates 25 living citizens who have made a difference by immeasurably improving the lives of others. Readers were invited to nominate Canadians who fit this description. Over several weeks, a panel of six judges will select 25 Transformational Canadians from among the nominees. Nominations remain open until November 26. Submit yours today. Wendy Cukier, long-time activist, has been selected as one of 25 Transformational Canadians. http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article1762517.html - ------------------ Wendy Cukier teaches at a business school, so she understands economic imperatives – and the importance of innovation and prosperity. But for the associate dean of Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management, what matters most is preserving core Canadian values around safety, equity and respect for human rights. “I firmly believe that one of the things that will continue to attract wealth to Canada and immigrants to Canada and investments to Canada and so on rests on our quality of life,” Prof. Cukier says. “That is really the most precious thing that we all have to continue to work on.” An expert in emerging technologies, Prof. Cukier has spent two decades championing workplace diversity and gun control. The unifying themes of her work are innovation and change processes, says the co-author of 2002’s Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership From Java to Jurassic Park. After spending her early career with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Prof. Cukier became a consultant to organizations such as the Palo Alto, California–based Institute for the Future. Horrified by the 1989 Montreal massacre of 14 female students at the hands of gunman Marc Lépine, the St. Catharines, Ont., native co-founded the Coalition for Gun Control. The coalition lobbied the Conservative government to introduce Bill C-17, which tightened firearms restrictions. It then pressured the Liberals to bring in Bill C-68, the 1995 legislation that required all Canadian gun owners to obtain a licence and register their weapons. The coalition now represents some 300 groups, from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Paediatric Society to the Canadian Labour Congress. Besides serving as president, Prof. Cukier was a founding member of the London-based International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). Hounded by the gun lobby, she says her daughter is the biggest reason for her firearms activism. “A huge amount of my motivation comes from the fact that I am a parent and I am so moved by the experiences of the families who have lost children to gun violence,” explains the 1999 Meritorious Service Cross recipient. When the right organizations didn’t exist, Prof. Cukier has invented them herself – frequently in a male-dominated environment. “One of the reactions I often get from people is, ‘You did what?’” she says, crediting her parents with instilling that activist spirit. “So many people care as much as I do about many of these issues, but they don’t feel they can make a difference.” At Ryerson, Prof. Cukier – whose three graduate degrees include a PhD in management science – developed the MBA program. In 1999, she founded the school’s Diversity Institute, a research-based agency that collaborates with government, industry and other partners to improve workplace diversity practices. Prof. Cukier and her colleagues focus on the business case for diversity and inclusion. “That, for me, is a really important lens to bring to the discussion, which is how does this tie to meeting the needs of your customers or your clients?” she says. “How does this tie to innovation, how does this tie to attracting the best and brightest?” The bedrock of innovation is skilled human capital, Prof. Cukier says. Beyond technological capacity, she argues, the innovator’s skill set includes being able to think unconventionally and translate great ideas into products and services that change people’s lives. “It has to do with creating a sort of entrepreneurial, risk-taking, challenge-the-status-quo orientation.” Describing her outlook on Canadian technological innovation as “glass half-full, glass half-empty”, Prof. Cukier fears that this country may have lost some of its edge. Like gun control or gender equality, she says, innovation is a continuous process that calls for integrated strategies. “If you’re not continually moving forward, you’re going to be surpassed by other nations which are.” Prof. Cukier is also concerned that after some notable advances, Canada is stalling on diversity and gun control. As two examples, she points to the employment gap between immigrants and native-born Canadians – and the Harper government’s failed attempts to kill the long-gun registry. “You make progress, but if you’re not vigilant, you run the risk that some of those gains will be reversed,” Dr. Cukier warns. “People are starting to recognize that that is actually a real possibility on many of these fronts.” Wendy Cukier on the importance of teamwork One thing that is critical from my point of view is recognizing that you can’t be a leader without followers. And so teamwork is absolutely essential. I’m a bit resistant to great man – and I use that in quotation marks – theories of change where people think, ‘This person did X, this person did Y.’ Because any changes that you really examine or unpack are invariably the combination of a variety of individuals, and a variety of factors and circumstances, as much as agency. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:02:08 -0600 (CST) From: Edward Hudson Subject: Re: Time to pack it in? On 11-Oct-10, at 2:08 PM, Howard R. Hamilton wrote: > > Gentlemen: >>> >>> > > So, here is the question: Is there anyone out there who would feel > motivated enough to step up to the plate and take on a part time > position moderating the CFD? Due to health and other reasons, the > current moderators will probably not be around much longer. I do not > have time to do the job. If there is no one willing to take on the > position, other options will have to be explored, including the end of > the CFD. Re: Time to pack it in? So, here is the question: "Is there anyone out there who would feel motivated enough to step up to the plate and take on a part time position moderating the CFD?" - BUZ I would like to add my thanks to the several others who have offered expressions of gratitude for the Moderators of the Firearms Digest. The Moderators have certainly done a yeoman's job and done it very well. And I would like to express my thanks to the Digest, its creator, and its sponsor. I have found this =91group=92 to be one of the best places anywhere to find information and express opinions. That said from the heart, as to the discussion that this might be "Time to pack it in?" I would like to suggest that we adopt John Paul Jones' reply: "I have not yet begun to fight!" Our fight is tough. And we have lost several battles. And we have lost several very valuable compatriots. But despair is not the proper response to adversity. And as I said previously, we did make much progress in the last battle in that many in the news media reported actual facts rather than jargon and slogans. So to the question, "Time to pack it in?" I say a resounding "NO!" To Buz's perhaps more pressing question: "Is there anyone out there who would feel motivated enough to step up to the plate and take on a part time position moderating the CFD?" I suggest we begin exploring ways to make the Moderator's job far less onerous. First, I know nothing about what is involved in making "packets" out of submitted Digest articles, but it seems reasonable to make the workload less severe to send all articles as individual messages. Secondly, we should be old enough now to be self-editing of insulting content, or truly be 'voted off the island'. Third, we may need to levy a fee for membership to pay a part-time moderator position. I trust we can, to use a cliche "think outside the box" enough to survive. By making the Moderator's job easier, or rewarding, we may be more successful in the call for volunteers. Sincerely, Eduardo ------------------------------ Date: Tue, October 19, 2010 1:59 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Washington State prosecutor goes on vendetta against gun club Prosecutor in Washington State goes on vendetta against gun club By Rachel Alexander - web posted October 18, 2010 http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1010/1010krrc.htm The Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club (KRRC) http://www.gunsafety.org/ has been a landmark along Seabeck Highway in Kitsap County, Washington since 1926. Its website url is gunsafety.org, reflective of a long record of safe activity. It isn't an activist organization, just a family-friendly community shooting range serving the public. On September 8, 2010, Kitsap County prosecutor Russ Hauge, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit against KRRC, alleging that it is a public nuisance which violates city and county ordinances. The complaint asserts that KRRC illegally allows large caliber and automatic weapons fire, uses explosives as targets, allows firing late into the evening (10pm), and bulldozed wetlands to build more firing lanes. Hauge asked the court for an injunction to shut the gun range down until the club completes a safety evaluation and submits it for court review. KRRC Executive Officer Marcus Carter says the lawsuit is groundless. Many believe it is motivated by a personal vendetta against him. His range is exempt from newer regulations, having been "grandfathered in" as an exception to zoning laws by the County in 1993. KRRC has obtained permits necessary for construction of several improvements and has tested nearby water sources for contamination. Neighbors complaining about noise moved into the area knowing a gun club was located nearby. There hasn't been a single occurrence of a stray bullet injuring a neighbor. Prosecutors admit that the final straw leading them to file the lawsuit against KRRC and Carter's wife last month was a complaint from a man with powerful connections who had bought a home near the range. Gary Koon, who represents Central Kitsap Citizens 4 Safe and Quiet Neighborhoods, is a former Marine infantry officer employed at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor base as a civilian deputy operations officer for the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion. Notably, CK Citizens 4 Safe and Quiet Neighborhoods does not have a website and appears to have been formed specifically by a few neighbors intent on shutting the club down due to noise. Hauge has attempted to prosecute Carter before, with no success. In 1999, he filed felony charges against him for modifying a Colt AR-15 rifle into a fully automatic weapon. Two off-duty investigators from the prosecutor's office, who were taking a safety course from Carter, observed a modified rifle in Carter's classroom and seized it. Hauge tried to prosecute Carter for having that weapon three times over the next 11 years. Despite the fact that Carter had no attorney (he went up against the government defending himself), all three times judges threw out the charges. Kitsap County Superior Court judge Anna M. Laurie ruled in 2009 that as a federally licensed firearms dealer and gunsmith, the exception in the statute clearly applied to Carter. Yet Hauge has now appealed this decision, asserting that Carter should only be permitted to repair automatic weapons for law enforcement agencies, not actually own them himself. The gun club has exhausted its resources trying to defend itself against Hauge, and has set up a legal defense fund. Meanwhile, Hauge continues to use taxpayers' money to try and shut the club down - despite severe budget problems within the County. The Kitsap County Commissioners are backing Hauge, no doubt due to a cozy relationship. Hauge has been Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney from 1995 to the present. Bruce Danielson, an Independent and member of the gun club, is running for County Prosecutor against Hauge. Danielson points to the timing of the lawsuit - two months before the election - as evidence it was politically motivated. The Kitsap Law Blog, operated by a local attorney, openly speculates that it is malice from Hauge driving the lawsuit. The blog observes that this isn't the first time Hauge has brought a dubious lawsuit against someone where it was urged by a powerful member of the community. Carter wonders why Hauge and the county haven't been willing to try and work with him and the club to resolve the issues amicably through administrative procedures. KRRC has issued an invitation for a site visit and requested an opportunity to sit down and discuss the issues. He has been willing to work with prosecutors and make accommodations. Carter recently filed a complaint with the Washington State Bar Association over Hauge's far-reaching accusations that Carter was manufacturing machine guns and selling them. The public has rallied around the beloved shooting range, flooding the local newspapers with letters to the editor vouching for its safety practices, and showing up at County Commissioner meetings with signs. One angry letter writer characterized the dispute this way, "The county prosecutor files a harassing lawsuit against the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club, an organization which has been in existence for 84 years - a lawsuit based on hypothetical scenarios and 'sky is falling' scare tactics presented by disgruntled neighbors." The Kitsap County Republican Club passed a resolution that "condemns the actions of Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge and his office for the continual harassment and frivolous legal attacks upon the officers and members of the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club." A website called Save Our Range has been put up, containing declarations from various gun owners objecting to the lawsuit and the club's response to the lawsuit. A facebook page is updated regularly with news about the lawsuit. So far, no larger gun rights organizations or individual liberty law firms have stepped up to assist the gun club; however, they may not need to. Kitsap County has a population of around 240,000. This story is big news in a small county; Hauge's vendetta against Carter, which appears to be bleeding over to the gun club, has been extensively covered by the local newspapers. Voters are tired of government overspending this year. They may end up voting Hauge out of office this November. Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative http://www.intellectualconservative.com/ Rachel is an attorney and social media consultant and runs RightNowSocialMedia.com. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona and has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, October 19, 2010 2:56 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: FW: Small Arms Survey - 'Small Arms in Brazil: Production, Trade, From: Small Arms Survey [mailto:noreply@smallarmssurvey.org] Sent: October-18-10 4:22 AM To: Small Arms Survey Mailing List Subject: New Publication from the Small Arms Survey - 'Small Arms in Brazil: Production, Trade, and Holdings' NEW Publication:   'Small Arms in Brazil: Production, Trade, and Holdings' by Pablo Dreyfus, Benjamin Lessing, Marcelo de Sousa Nascimento, and Júlio Cesar Purcena, a joint publication of Viva Rio, ISER, and the Small Arms Survey. To access this publication online, please go to: http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/C-Special-reports/SAS-SR11-Sma ll-Arms-in-Brazil.pdf It is not difficult to find evidence of Brazil’s high levels of armed violence. The proof is in the grim statistics of the country’s hospitals, morgues, and prisons. This Special Report looks at two aspects of this problem. First, it explores the thriving Brazilian small arms industry, which, together with international trafficking networks, contributes to control failures and fuels small arms violence. Second, it maps out weapons holdings—by weapon type, holder, and location. Brazil is the second-largest producer of small arms in the western hemisphere. The firearms used in the country’s crime are mainly these domestically produced weapons, particularly handguns, not the imported small arms as has been argued by Brazil’s gun lobby and firearms industry. In fact, domestic small arms production boomed during the very same decade that witnessed a rise in violence. The report surveys Brazil’s small arms manufacturers, providing detailed information on production, sales, and the domestic and export markets. It also shows that small arms possession is extremely heterogeneous across Brazil’s many states and geographical regions. For more information, please contact: Small Arms Survey 47 Avenue Blanc  1202 Geneva, Switzerland  t +41 22 908 5779  f +41 22 732 2738  e sas@smallarmssurvey.org  w www.smallarmssurvey.org The Small Arms Survey has a new website – please visit www.smallarmssurvey.org and send us feedback to let us know your impressions and how we could further improve it. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, October 19, 2010 2:58 pm From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: FW: Small Arms Survey: Yemen Armed Violence Assessment: - ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- From: Small Arms Survey [mailto:noreply@smallarmssurvey.org] Sent: October-18-10 9:20 AM To: Small Arms Survey Mailing List Subject: New Publication from the Yemen Armed Violence Assessment: 'Under Pressure: Social violence over land and water in Yemen' NEW Publication: Under pressure: Social violence over land and water in Yemen. YAVA Issue Brief No 2. October 2010 To access this publication online, please go to: http://www.yemen-ava.org/pdfs/Yemen-Armed-Violence-IB2-Social-violence-over- land-and-water-in-Yemen.pdf Recent terrorist incidents in Yemen, including the 6 October attack on a British diplomatic vehicle in the capital Sana'a, have seen an increasing focus on the poorest country in the Middle East. This report from the Yemen Armed Violence Assessment (YAVA) discusses the chronic problem of social violence over scarce land and water resources in Yemen, which results in thousands of deaths and injuries each year and severely damages social and economic development. The 12-page Issue Brief provides an overview of the drivers, dynamics and impacts of land- and water-related social violence, highlighting likely future trends. There is evidence that armed social violence is in increasingly common, associated with the proliferation of weapons. The report considers government initiatives to contain civilian gun use, and highlights the many linkages between social violence and other systemic challenges confronting Yemeni society. Among the report's findings: * Violence accompanying land and water disputes results in the deaths of some 4,000 people each year: this is probably more than the secessionist violence in the south, the armed rebellion in the north, and Yemeni al-Qaeda terrorism combined. * In the context of political turmoil and other grievances, land and water disputes have triggered collective violence, threatening to spark wider civil unrest. * Rapid population growth and extensive governance challenges are exacerbating resource-related conflicts. * Since 2007 the Government of Yemen has actively enforced restrictions on gun commerce and especially gun carrying in urban areas; nevertheless, gun ownership is unregulated and gun carrying is unrestricted outside urban areas. * Despite government measures to reduce civilian gun use, reports indicate that leakage from the Yemeni army is an important source of ongoing supplies of military-style small arms and ammunition to civilian gun markets. For more information, or for an interview, please contact YAVA lead researcher Gavin Hales at gavin.hales@smallarmssurvey.org About the Yemen Armed Violence Assessment The YAVA is a multi-year field-based research project generating quantitative and qualitative analysis of the drivers and dynamics of armed violence in Yemen. The YAVA is designed to support efforts to prevent and reduce armed violence in Yemen, including by the Yemeni government. Yemen Armed Violence Assessment (YAVA) Small Arms Survey 47 Avenue Blanc 1202 Geneva Switzerland Tel +41 22 908 57 77 Fax +41 22 732 27 38 E-mail: sas@smallarmssurvey.org YAVA: www.yemen-ava.org Small Arms Survey: www.smallarmssurvey.org ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:37:39 -0600 (CST) From: Edward Hudson Subject: Col. Williams' double life not uncommon: experts Col. Williams' double life not uncommon: experts http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101019/russell-williams-psychology-101019/20101019/?hub=OttawaHome Updated: Tue Oct. 19 2010 8:58:28 AM Angela Mulholland, CTV.ca News As the disturbing crimes of Col. David Russell Williams come to light, many are puzzling over the many apparent paradoxes of this successful, married military man. Williams rose up the ranks of his career while charming the dignitaries whose shoulders he rubbed. Yet, he also acted out fantasies of rape and murder, killing two women, committing sex assaults on two others and a string of fetish break-ins. And that is what is so puzzling to most observers of this case. Dr. Julian Gojer, a forensic psychiatrist with Toronto Western Hospital who also provides group and individual therapy for those charged with sex offences, says it's not unusual for sexual deviants to also be outwardly charming and normal-appearing, if only to disguise what's going on in their heads. "Most of them are going to be successful members of society because they've learned to keep their sexual deviation under wraps," he tells CTV.ca. Gojer says most people suffering from sexual deviancies -- which doctors call paraphilias -- can become very adept at hiding their thoughts and living normal lives. "It's when you have additional mental illnesses, when you have socialization problems, that's when you stand out as being odd or eccentric. Then it's more likely you're going to get caught," he says. But there's another aspect of Williams that makes him appear to be a rare breed among sexual predators. While other serial killers, such as Ted Bundy or Clifford Olson, first ran afoul of the law as youths, Williams maintained a clean criminal record for his whole life, until now. The police investigation suggests Williams didn't even begin his break-ins until 2007, when he would have been 44. Gojer says sex offenders often commit what he calls "low-grade" sex offences, such as peeping, for years without being arrested. "One of the most common sex offences that you get are exhibitionist behaviours and some of my clients expose up to 10,000 times in their lifetime without getting caught," he says. "It's quite easy to get away with low-grade sex offences. It's what happens when the person becomes confident, more brazen, and the person actually believes that they can get away with it," he added. "The more you get away with it, the more likely you are to repeat such behaviours or escalate such behaviours." Dr. Brad Booth, a forensic psychiatrist who works at the Sexual Behaviours Clinic of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, says many sexual offenders contemplate their crimes for years before finally acting. "Many individuals, prior to actually committing an offence, have fantasies about the offence, where they basically rehearse the events over and over before escalating to actually doing it," Booth told CTV's Canada AM. Booth suspects Williams suffered from sexual sadism, which is a paraphilia marked by a sexual arousal at the humiliation of others. "Often that alone isn't enough though for an individual to go on and commit these sorts of offences," he added, "Usually, you need some sort of disinhibiting factor." Booth wondered whether Williams might have suffered from psychopathy, which is marked by charming behaviour and a complete disregard for the feelings of his victims. Gojer isn't so sure. "I would disagree with that, because there are many sex offenders who are not psychopaths," he says. "What I would say would be a more likely factor to make someone offend is the presence of stress, depression, some life event, because the person has learned to cope with stress by gravitating to their sexual deviation," Gojer says. "The presence of psychopathy makes it more likely the person would be less focused on the victim's feelings, but it doesn't mean that the absence of psychopathy means the person isn't going to act," he added. Gojer says the biggest question is what makes a sexual deviant start to commit serious offences. He says some exhibitionists, for example, remain exhibitionists for years and never move into other offences. But he says it's common for people who have one sexual deviancy to also have another one. "When you start having two or three deviations, one might feed into another," Gojer says. "Or when one deviation is no longer giving the person satisfaction, the person might then start gravitating to more serious forms." But he stresses that is rare. He says he has treated a large number of people convicted of child pornography, but only a small portion of them have actually offended against children. Gojer says the bottom line is that there are no hard rules when it comes to sexual deviancies. "There is no one type of person, there is no specific personality that's typical of a sexually deviant person," he says. "You can find them in all walks of life and in all types of people in all types of professions." ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #145 *********************************** 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".)