Cdn-Firearms Digest Monday, November 28 2011 Volume 14 : Number 807 In this issue: Dead deer lead to seizure of firearms CNN Spins Windsor Homicide Re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom Re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom NY TIMES: How Freedom Group Became the Big Shot Vancouver mayor tweets support for legalizing marijuana Ritz denies 'expropriating' millions from wheat farmers "How the ROC bought off Quebec" hunter kills self after friend dies from accidental shooting From the Marc Lepine Coroners Report Conclusions: ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, November 27, 2011 9:48 am From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: Dead deer lead to seizure of firearms BOWEN ISLAND UNDERCURRENT NOVEMBER 25, 2011 11:06 AM Dead deer lead to seizure of firearms http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/134499413.html Early on Monday morning, Cst. Bryan Mulrooney of the Bowen Island RCMP detachment received a call about a firearm being discharged at Cowan Point. "A resident had heard several shots down at the golf course," says Mulrooney, who went to the area to investigate but didn't find anything suspicious. At 8 a.m., a second call came in. "Spencer Grundy had found a dead deer between the first and the ninth fairway. Then he had walked down towards Seymour Bay and discovered two more on the path. He also noticed a boat with a male sleeping in it," Mulrooney says. Grundy, the manager of the Bowen Island Golf Club, said, "It would have been around 7:30 in the morning. We usually come down and take the garbage from the clubhouse. One [of our employees] came back and said there was a dead deer on the fairway." Grundy was not alarmed as he assumed the deer had been hit by a car. They had dealt with deer carcasses before and had been advised by a conservation officer to simply dispose of it in the bush. So Grundy and his colleague moved the deer. They weren't immediately aware that this case was different. "We didn't see any bullet holes," Grundy said. "But then we went down to Seymour Bay and saw two more deer. They had been gutted." Grundy no longer believed the deer had been killed by accident. He now knew the deer had been hunted. "I think that when we showed up, we may have interrupted them and they returned to the boat that was high-centred on the beach," he said. After receiving a second call from Grundy, Mulrooney confronted the man in the boat, who said he had two accomplices. After the man with the boat was charged, he left in his boat, says Mulrooney. Then another man came out of the bush. "He was probably cold," said the RCMP officer. The man in the boat returned to pick up the second man. The third man was never found. Mulrooney says that the hunters were First Nation people who said that they didn't know they were not supposed to discharge firearms on Bowen Island. "[First Nations people] don't have to follow hunting regulations and they said they didn't know they were not allowed to shoot here." Mulrooney said. "They said [the meat] was for a ceremony as they are allowed to hunt for ceremonial purposes or for their own sustenance." Mulrooney added, "But the golf course is private property and you can't hunt there" without permission from the owners. First Nation people are allowed to hunt on Crown land. Mulrooney said that the hunters were not Bowen Island residents. They had arrived during night and probably would have left in time, had the boat not been stranded by the low tide. He issued tickets for discharging firearms in a no-shooting area according to section 32 of the Wildlife Act which came to $345 each. "We also seized two rifles and several rounds of ammunition," said Mulrooney. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, November 27, 2011 9:54 am From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: CNN Spins Windsor Homicide THE WINDSOR STAR - NOVEMBER 27, 2011 CNN Spins Windsor Homicide Posted by: Chris Vander Doelen http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2011/11/26/cnn-spins-windsor-murder/ This kind of report is why so many thoughtful people have abandoned watching CNN for FOX News; they simply can't bear to watch CNN's distorted coverage. They spin far too many stories into political attacks designed to advance their own views of the world. That's not news; it's propaganda. The story about Windsor's first murder in 26 months starts with a quote alleging to be a statement of fact which is totally incorrect: "we don't even have gun shops." Really? I know of three - General Gun & Supply at 230 Eugenie Street, one on Walker Road, and the one on the main drag in Leamington. I believe there are others. The same guy quoted claims that in 60 years of living in Windsor he has only known two people to own a gun. Well, if he's never noticed three rather large gun shops and shooting ranges on several of the regions' main commercial streets then he doesn't get around much and can't be considered a reliable observer. I know dozens and dozens of people in Windsor who own guns - and not just police officers, border guards and Customs officers, nearly all of whom have weapons in addition to their service pieces. I know several local politicians who own hand guns - one collects them. I know people who shoot competitively. I can't count the number of Windsor residents I know who are hunters, most of whom own several guns. I know an 85-year-old hunter who owns 60 shotguns and rifles. Sixty! "I don't drink, I don't gamble - I like to shoot," he told me when I expressed surprise at the size of his collection. Every weekend I hear gunshots fired all around me where I live in Essex County. I am glad to hear them; I know people are having fun, and it makes me feel safe to know my neighbours have firearms. Why is CNN claiming Windsor is a gun-free city, which accounts for its wonderful stretch of 26 murder-free months? It's about gun control. The left always strive to disarm a free population via gun control, in the U.S. no less than in Canada. And CNN is trying to create the impression that Canada's "paucity of guns" thanks to our laws is the reason we're safer than they are. It's not about the guns, it's the culture. We're slower on the draw - but just as well armed, if not more so. I've heard it said that as a percentage, more Canadians households may actually own firearms than Americans if you include the tens of thousands of unregistered rifles and shotguns. But more than 90 per cent of our firearms are long guns. Hand guns are rare, having been restricted since 1928. In the U.S. its concealable handguns that dominate ownership. The hidden guns cause the trouble, not the ones out in plain sight. And for the record, no, I do not now own a firearm nor have I ever possessed one. But I'm glad my fellow Canadian citizens are allowed to own them and that so many of my neighbours have them, whatever CNN thinks. And I'm glad the Canadian federal government is finally getting rid of the tax on farmers and gun owners known as the gun registry. Good riddance to a bad law aimed at pleasing the kind of misinformed people who watch CNN. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:46:46 -0500 From: "mred" Subject: Re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Montague" To: Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 3:39 PM Subject: re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom > Ian wrote: >> >> Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2011 17:08:47 -0700 >> From: "Ian Parkinson" >> Subject: re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom >> >> Hold on a second here and if I sound naive which is entirely possible >> please let me know the real story. If a Judge who is 'supposed "to be >> impartial and only explain the finer points of the law to the jurors >> actually instructed the jury to find the accused guilty, is that not >> grounds for a mistrial on juror prejudice or something like that?? >> >> "and I even had a jury trial, but the judge directed the jury to convict >> on that charge. - -and yes, I know the judge isn't supposed to tell the >> jury what to do" >> >> Ian Parkinson > > Ian: > > I am now totally convinced that there is no real justice in our court > rooms. > Verdicts are predetermined and a big theatrical show is put on for > everyone > to see. This doesn't mean that nobody gets the verdict they deserve, only > that the verdict isn't a matter of truth and justice but rather on the > whims > and prejudice of the court that sometimes falls in line with what is > right. This is very true ;having had access to law courts in the far north I discovered that the judge , prosecutors and defendants lawyers were all flown in on the same airplane and the cases in question were all predetermined before they even got to trial. Dont ask me how I know ;this information was given to me by a member of the law.I wont say who. ed/on ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:48:35 -0500 From: "mred" Subject: Re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom Much the same as the US system. all the kings men and money didnt stop the US government from convicting C .Black. Of course he was a foreigner and not one of their political elite. ed/on - ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2011 1:49 PM Subject: Re: Loaded Guns In Bedroom >> However Canadians are so cowed by the just-a** system they are afraid to >> stand up for their beliefs. > > Then the justa** system is a farce. better hope you don't need it. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, November 27, 2011 10:02 am From: "Dennis & Hazel Young" Subject: NY TIMES: How Freedom Group Became the Big Shot THE NEW YORK TIMES - NOVEMBER 26, 2011 How Freedom Group Became the Big Shot By NATASHA SINGER http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/business/how-freedom-group-became-the-gun-industrys-giant.html?_r=1 LINED up in a gun rack beneath mounted deer heads is a Bushmaster Carbon 15, a matte-black semiautomatic rifle that looks as if it belongs to a SWAT team. On another rack rests a Teflon-coated Prairie Panther from DPMS Firearms, a supplier to the United States Border Patrol and security agencies in Iraq. On a third is a Remington 750 Woodsmaster, a popular hunting rifle. The variety of rifles and shotguns on sale here at Cabela's, the national sporting goods chain, is a testament to America's enduring gun culture. But, to a surprising degree, it is also a testament to something else: Wall Street deal-making. In recent years, many top-selling brands - including the 195-year-old Remington Arms, as well as Bushmaster Firearms and DPMS, leading makers of military-style semiautomatics - have quietly passed into the hands of a single private company. It is called the Freedom Group - and it is the most powerful and mysterious force in the American commercial gun industry today. Never heard of it? You're not alone. Even within gun circles, the Freedom Group is something of an enigma. Its rise has been so swift that it has become the subject of wild speculation and grassy-knoll conspiracy theories. In the realm of consumer rifles and shotguns - long guns, in the trade - it is unrivaled in its size and reach. By its own count, the Freedom Group sold 1.2 million long guns and 2.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the 12 months ended March 2010, the most recent year for which figures are publicly available. Behind this giant is Cerberus Capital Management, the private investment company that first came to widespread attention when it acquired Chrysler in 2007. (Chrysler later had to be rescued by taxpayers). With far less fanfare, Cerberus, through the Freedom Group, has been buying big names in guns and ammo. From its headquarters on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, Cerberus has assembled a remarkable arsenal. It began with Bushmaster, which until recently was based here in Maine. Unlike military counterparts like automatic M-16's, rifles like those from Bushmaster don't spray bullets with one trigger pull. But, with gas-powered mechanisms, semiautomatics can fire rapid follow-up shots as fast as the trigger can be squeezed. They are often called "black guns" because of their color. The police tied a Bushmaster XM15 rifle to shootings in the Washington sniper case in 2002. After Bushmaster, the Freedom Group moved in on Remington, which traces its history to the days of flintlocks and today is supplying M24 sniper rifles to the government of Afghanistan and making handguns for the first time in decades. The group has also acquired Marlin Firearms, which turned out a special model for Annie Oakley, as well as Dakota Arms, a maker of high-end big-game rifles. It has bought DPMS Firearms, another maker of semiautomatic, military-style rifles, as well as manufacturers of ammunition and tactical clothing. "We believe our scale and product breadth are unmatched within the industry," the Freedom Group said in a filing last year with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Here at Cabela's, Mark Eliason, the vice president for sales and marketing at Windham Weaponry, a new competitor of Bushmaster that was established by Bushmaster's founder, surveys the racks. He estimates that roughly 20 percent of the long guns for sale here are made by Freedom Group companies. In the aisles, he examines shelf upon shelf of ammunition. About a third of it comes from the Freedom Group, he says. "That's a very large presence," Mr. Eliason says. So large, in fact, that rumors about the Freedom Group - what it is, and who is behind it - have been circulating in the blogosphere. Some gun enthusiasts have claimed that the power behind the company is actually George Soros, the hedge-fund billionaire and liberal activist. Mr. Soros, these people have warned, is buying American gun companies so he can dismantle the industry, Second Amendment be damned. The chatter grew so loud that the National Rifle Association issued a statement in October denying the rumors. "N.R.A. has had contact with officials from Cerberus and Freedom Group for some time," the N.R.A. assured its members. "The owners and investors involved are strong supporters of the Second Amendment and are avid hunters and shooters." Mr. Soros isn't behind the Freedom Group, but, ultimately, another financier is: Stephen A. Feinberg, the chief executive of Cerberus. CERBERUS is part of one of the signature Wall Street businesses of the past decade: private equity. Buyout kings like Mr. Feinberg, 51, try to acquire undervalued companies, often with borrowed money, fix them up and either take them public or sell at a profit to someone else. [READ MORE] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/business/how-freedom-group-became-the-gun-industrys-giant.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 12:29:56 -0600 From: Edward Hudson Subject: Vancouver mayor tweets support for legalizing marijuana Vancouver mayor tweets support for legalizing marijuana http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Vancouver+mayor+tweets+support+legalizing +marijuana/5769669/story.html VANCOUVER — Mayor Gregor Robertson of Vancouver has joined four former city mayors in support of legalizing marijuana. But Prime Minister Stephen Harper's reaction was swift: the laws on toking in Canada won't be getting any looser on his watch. "No, it will not happen," Harper said Friday, in Vancouver for a media event announcing a project funded by Canada's Economic Action Plan. "We are strongly opposed to the legalization of drugs and very concerned about the threat of drugs to our country." Robertson tweeted Thursday night: "Good to see 4 Vancouver ex-mayors calling for end of cannabis prohibition. I agree, we need to be smart and tax/regulate." Former Vancouver mayors Larry Campbell, Mike Harcourt, Sam Sullivan and Philip Owen all signed an open letter to politicians in B.C. on Wednesday claiming a change in the law will reduce gang slayings on public streets. Robertson wasn't available for an interview Friday, but Kevin Quinlan, a spokesman for the mayor, confirmed Robertson's support. Quinlan said the mayor's support for legalizing marijuana is not new and dates as far back as 2009. The four former mayors support the position of the Stop the Violence B.C. coalition, which recently released a survey showing most B.C. residents favoured an end to the current marijuana laws. The mayors' open letter says the failed policy of marijuana prohibition is creating violent, gang-related crime, adding financial costs for all levels of government. The letter was sent to MPs, provincial legislators and city councillors. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 12:37:36 -0600 From: Edward Hudson Subject: Ritz denies 'expropriating' millions from wheat farmers Ritz denies 'expropriating' millions from wheat farmers http://www.leaderpost.com/Ritz+denies+expropriating+millions+from+wheat+farmers/5770314/story.html BY BRUCE JOHNSTONE, LEADER-POST NOVEMBER 26, 2011 Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz categorically denied that money intended to be paid to Prairie farmers is being diverted into the Canadian Wheat Board's contingency fund. That fund was increased to $200 million from $60 million in the last month to cover the wind-up costs of the current farmer-directed CWB and the operating costs of the new voluntary Wheat Board. "That's absolutely not true,'' Ritz told reporters at Canadian Western Agribition, the international livestock show and sale, in Regina Friday. "Certainly, the contingency fund are moneys that have never been destined for the pools,'' Ritz said, referring to the pool accounts that contain the proceeds from the sale of wheat and barley that are returned to farmers in the form of payments. But Stewart Wells, a Swift Current producer and CWB director for District 3, said by raising the contingency fund cap from $100 million to $200 million, the government has effectively "expropriated" money, some of which would have been paid to farmers in the form of final payments from last year's crop. Wells said the farmer-elected board of directors recently voted to approve a final payment of about $25 million to farmers, which was over and above the $100 million in the contingency fund. "This money, this extra $25 million, that is money that came from last year's operations," Wells said. "(Ritz) is reaching back into last year's crop and last year's transactions - and saying, 'this is my money too. I'm going to put this into (the contingency fund). We're saying that's wrong - you're changing the mandate of the contingency fund from a self-insurance plan - to some kind of capitalization scheme for your new company,'' Wells said. "It's absolutely fair to say, if (Ritz) had not increased this contingency fund from $100 million to $200 million, which the CWB never asked for, the final payments going to farmers this year would have been higher.'' Wells's analysis was shared by deputy Liberal leader Ralph Goodale, who as minister responsible for the CWB in 1998 implemented the contingency fund to protect the board from losses due to options trading and other commercial activities. Goodale said any surplus revenue above the contingency fund cap from the board's other commercial activities must be put into the pool accounts, under Section 33 of the Canadian Wheat Board Act. "So, by raising the ceiling to $200 million, the government has scooped money that would otherwise have nowhere else to go but into the pools,'' Goodale said. "This absolutely has to have a negative effect on final payments." Ritz also confirmed that third reading of Bill C-18 - the Marketing Freedom for Grain Farmers Act, which will remove the CWB's monopoly on western wheat and barley sales on Aug. 1, 2012 - will be on Monday, with the bill proceeding to the Senate for passage. Read more:http://www.leaderpost.com/Ritz+denies+expropriating+millions+from+wheat+farmers/5770314/story.html#ixzz1evrWtURF ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 13:42:10 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: "How the ROC bought off Quebec" In the 90s, both Mulroney's Conservatives and Chretien's Liberals declared a "holy war" on 4 to 6 million innocent citizens, simply to placate Quebec's bizarre politics. As Conrad Black notes, bowing to Quebec's extremist ideology is no longer a federal political necessity. Though what is done is still expensive. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/11/26/conrad-black-how-the-roc-bought-off-quebec/ To his analysis I'd add that until some provincial governments are persuaded to change their policy of support for C-68/C-17, not much will change. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:40:31 -0600 From: "Joe Gingrich" Subject: hunter kills self after friend dies from accidental shooting http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111127/NEWS07/111127001/Cops-Upset-Vermont-hunter-kills-self-after-pal-killed-?odysseytab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE Police: Vermont hunter kills self after friend dies from apparent accidental shooting The Associated Press Nov. 27, 2011 READSBORO - Vermont State Police say a hunter was fatally shot and his distraught companion took his own life in Readsboro.. Detective Sgt. Albert Abdelnour says the deaths occurred Saturday shortly past noon in woods off of the Howe Pond Road. When troopers arrived they found 39-year-old Benjamin Birch and 49-year-old Timothy Bolognani, both of Readsboro, dead from apparent gunshot wounds. Police say Birch, Bolognani and a third man were hunting Saturday morning when Birch shot a deer. While the men were tracking it, Bolognani fired and heard Birch shout out. Bolognani found Birch shot and lying on the ground. Birch later died. Police say distraught Bolognani used his rifle to take his own life. There's no evidence of foul play. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, November 27, 2011 7:09 pm From: "todd rudderham" Subject: From the Marc Lepine Coroners Report Conclusions: ... ... "no police assault was in progress or in any obvious state of preparation" http://diarmani.com/Montreal_Coroners_Report.htm The event that started C-68, from the Coroners conclusions one might think the incompetence, cowardice etc. of police and other emergency personnel should be to blame but no mention outside this report of this occurring but instead Canadian gunowners were to be and continue to be made the scapegoat for their considerable short comings. As the coroner mentions Montreal police were trained to deal with "An armed attack by a single person is, in itself, an event that the SPCUM must deal with on a regular basis." Licencing is next after the registry, put an end to this Liberal social re-engineering cancer once and for all. (e) from the time when the first police vehicle arrived on the scene (17:21) to when the information that the suspect had committed suicide was transmitted for the first time (17:35:52), 14 minutes and 52 seconds elapsed; (f) from the time when the information that the suspect had committed suicide was transmitted for the first time (17:35:52) to when the first police officers entered the interior (17:36:16), 24 seconds elapsed; (g) from the time when the information that the suspect had committed suicide was transmitted for the first time (17:35:52) to when the police authorized the ambulance workers to enter the interior (17;41), about 5 minutes elapsed, and it was 9 minutes until the first emergency medical workers actually entered the building. 2.6 CONCLUSIONS As unfortunate as this event was, it was not an exceptional one from the perspective of the emergency services. An armed attack by a single person is, in itself, an event that the SPCUM must deal with on a regular basis. Nonetheless, we must consider the sixty (60) unused bullets that Marc Lépine left at the scene when he decided to put an end to this terrible episode, although he was in no danger: no police assault was in progress or in any obvious state of preparation. Thank heaven, he decided on his own that enough was enough. The issue of firearms control has intentionally not been addressed. With the unlimited ammunition and time that Marc Lépine had available to him, he would probably have been able to achieve similar results even with a conventional hunting weapon, which itself is readily accessible. On the other hand, the importance of the questions raised in respect of pre-hospital care and police emergency response are matters that are worthy of our full attention. The deficiencies identified in relation to the emergency response call for us, in all good conscience, to give them serious thought, not so that we can assign responsibility to anyone in particular, but so that we can take corrective action to ensure that better protection is provided for human life. Some of the questions stated in the preceding section do not require answers, since the answers are self-evident from the questions. Nonetheless, this does not mean that it is not worth acting on them, even though no formal recommendations are made. There are numerous other questions, on the other hand, that it would be neither wise nor fair to try to answer without first hearing all of the people involved, particularly since the complexity of some elements means that various experts would have to be heard, and this was not the function of a Coroner's investigation. ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V14 #807 *********************************** 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".)