From: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #594 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Sender: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Errors-To: owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Precedence: normal owner-cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Cdn-Firearms Digest Wednesday, March 6 2013 Volume 15 : Number 594 In this issue: Lawyer: State's most important witness in Zimmerman murder ... JPFO Comment: Can you believe it?! Animal-rights Activists call for boycott of farms that cull deer The NRA will be title sponsor of NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas "Hells Angels members deported as refugee board declares ... Hate speech is OK against firearms owners Gun owner rights key to Canada at UN: papers ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 19:43:16 -0600 From: "Joe Gingrich" Subject: Lawyer: State's most important witness in Zimmerman murder ... ...case lied http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-zimmerman-witness-8-medical-records-20130305,0,129597.story Lawyer: State's most important witness in George Zimmerman murder case lied By Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel March 5, 2013 SANFORD - Trayvon Martin's girlfriend, the state's most important witness in the George Zimmerman murder case, was caught in a lie Tuesday. It was not the first piece of misinformation tied to her, but it was the most damaging to date and left prosecutors in a very awkward position. They had to publicly acknowledge that their star witness had lied under oath and had to answer questions about what they intend to do about it. Reporters asked: Will you charge the 19-year-old Miami woman with perjury? The state's lead prosecutor, Bernie de la Rionda, gave an ambiguous answer: "You can all read the law and make your own decision." Reporters asked: Will you charge the 19-year-old Miami woman with perjury? The state's lead prosecutor, Bernie de la Rionda, gave an ambiguous answer: "You can all read the law and make your own decision." The woman had told prosecutors she was in the hospital on the day of Trayvon's funeral. "In fact, she lied," defense attorney Don West said. The disclosure was one of two major developments Tuesday at what had been expected to be a dull hearing about the exchange of case evidence. The other: Zimmerman's lawyers will not hold a "stand your ground" hearing in April, one that could clear him of criminal wrongdoing before his trial. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara made that announcement in court, later saying he had not yet decided whether to scrap it entirely or roll it into Zimmerman's second-degree-murder trial set for June 10. "Our real focus is getting ready for the trial," O'Mara said. What Zimmerman most wants is to be tried by a jury of his peers, O'Mara said, and with fewer than 100 days until trial, "There's only time for one hearing, and that's a jury trial. . We have precious little time." Zimmerman was not at Tuesday's hearing. Neither was his wife, Shellie, who's awaiting trial on a perjury charge, accused of lying at her husband's April 20 bond hearing. That's what prompted the perjury question to de la Rionda. If defense lawyers decide to forgo George Zimmerman's immunity hearing, they would be cutting in half their number of opportunities to spare him from a life in prison. Florida's "stand your ground" statute has generated a great deal of public debate since Trayvon's death one year ago in Sanford. It provides immunity to anyone who uses deadly force, provided he has a reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily injury. Zimmerman says he shot Trayvon in self-defense. Because of Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson's very tight schedule, when O'Mara told her he would not put on a two-week "stand your ground" hearing starting April 22, he essentially told her he would not hold that hearing before Zimmerman's trial. She did not press him to spell out his plans. De la Rionda said he was "bewildered" by O'Mara's decision but did not elaborate. Zimmerman, a 29-year-old former Neighborhood Watch volunteer, called Sanford police Feb. 26, 2012, describing Trayvon as suspicious. Zimmerman shot the unarmed high-school junior a few minutes later, saying he fired in self-defense after the Miami Gardens 17-year-old punched him, broke his nose, then began pounding his head onto a sidewalk. Sanford police found no witnesses to the initial confrontation, but Trayvon's family attorney, Benjamin Crump, found something close: Trayvon's girlfriend, identified in court records as "witness 8." She told Crump she had been on the phone with Trayvon just before the shooting. According to an interview Crump recorded after the shooting, the young woman said Trayvon told her a stranger was following him, and he was scared. Trayvon got away from him once, but the man reappeared, she said, and she heard Trayvon ask, "'What are you following me for?'" The man answered, "'What are you doing here?'" she said, and then she said the man must have pushed Trayvon because the phone went dead. The woman gave de la Rionda a very similar account during a sworn statement April 2, and when his office wrote up its probable-cause affidavit, charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder, it rehashed her account but did not include her allegation that she heard Zimmerman push Trayvon. Despite's Tuesday's revelation, there is no indication the woman lied about what she heard on the phone the evening Trayvon was shot. But she appears to have given Crump another piece of bad information: her age. He told reporters in March, when he played excerpts from the recorded interview, that she was 16 years old. In fact, she was 18 at the time. Crump has said he did not knowingly misrepresent her age. O'Mara would not say whether the woman should be prosecuted for perjury for lying under oath about being in the hospital. But months ago, he and co-counsel Don West began trying to investigate her. They earlier persuaded the judge to allow them to subpoena her Twitter and Facebook accounts so they can read her posts. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2013 23:12:51 -0600 From: "Joe Gingrich" Subject: JPFO Comment: Can you believe it?! JPFO Webmaster JPFO Comment: Can you believe it?! Tuesday, March 05, 2013 8:29 PM Governor Cuomo Makes High Capacity Magazines a Worse Offense Than Child Pornography By Daniel Greenfield, February 26, 2013. Article Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/governor-cuomo-makes-high-capacity-magazines-a-worse-offense-than-child-pornography/ What's worse? Owning a high capacity magazine or child pornography? According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, child pornography, stealing children, rape in the 3rd degree, criminally negligent homicide and choking someone are lesser offenses than owning a high capacity magazine. If your child is lured under the reign of Cuomo the Second, then you better hope the molester also did something "seriously wrong" like owning a high capacity magazine. Possession of -- for an example -- a standard capacity 13-round magazine for a 9mm SIG Sauer P229 or any magazines holding more than 11 rounds is and will be a Class D Violent Felony, even for owners who possessed large capacity magazines prior to Sept. 1994 (when possession was grandfathered.) Listed below the fold are a few crimes in New York that are class E felonies and A misdemeanors which are one or two arrest levels below a class D felony. Luring a child Criminal obstruction of breathing or blood circulation Criminally negligent homicide Rape 3rd degree Criminal sexual act 3rd degree Persistent sexual abuse Substitution of children Unlawful imprisonment 1st degree Female genital mutilation Possessing a sexual performance by a child Cuomo is clearly jealous of Bloomberg's reputation as the craziest nanny state fascist in the state and is eagerly trying to catch up to him by criminalizing ownership of a magazine more so than abusing a child. Another reminder that gun control is just fascism misspelled. Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century. Refer to the "Sandy Hook Index" http://jpfo.org/articles-assd02/sandy-hook-index.htm for an archive collection of valuable material we have shown since the events at the Newtown Elementary School ------------------------------ Date: Tue, March 5, 2013 11:25 pm From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Animal-rights Activists call for boycott of farms that cull deer Activists call for boycott of farms that cull deer BILL CLEVERLEY / TIMES COLONIST MARCH 4, 2013 http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/activists-call-for-boycott-of-farms-that-cull-deer-1.85015 Animal-rights activists are taking aim at Saanich Peninsula farmers and politicians looking to step up hunting to protect their crops. An online petition against expanded hunting as a crop-protection measure has been launched on the Facebook page Boycott B.C. Deer Kills by Peter Hamilton of Lifeforce, a non-profit Vancouver-based ecology organization. Hamilton is also calling for a boycott of produce from farms that use lethal methods to control deer. "Most people would not make the connection that buying organic fruits and veggies could result in deer being killed," Hamilton says in a letter to Central Saanich councillors. "Some Vancouver Island organic growers want this massive slaughter. Some won't even fence their crop lands and won't implement other non-lethal controls." The awareness campaign started by Lifeforce comes in the wake of recent Central Saanich council decisions encouraging hunting to assist farmers in protecting their crops from deer. Central Saanich council has asked staff to investigate opportunities for First Nations and non-First Nations use of sharpshooters for deer, a bounty for deer killed under a population-reduction program and support for First Nations deer harvests. Staff have also been asked to come up with a bylaw allowing public deer hunting and another prohibiting deer feeding. Last week, Peninsula farmers were encouraged to attend a workshop on regulations governing hunting to protect crops. Lifeforce suggests there are several alternatives to hunting, ranging from fencing to chemical or natural repellents and scare devices such as noisemakers and flashing lights. "There are numerous non-lethal methods that could be applied on a case-by-case basis. But one of the main ways to keep deer away from crops is to put a fence around your property. That should be the cost of business," Hamilton said. The Lifeforce petition encourages people to shop only at guaranteed "deer-friendly" farms. Susan Vickery of Earthanimal Humane Education and Rescue Society plans to launch a "deer-friendly" campaign June 1. Vickery is looking for funding to host workshops on non-lethal methods of combating deer. "I'm going to target the agriculturalists - mostly landscapers and gardeners around the area. It will be setting up real demonstrations - sort of the embedded-learning concept," Vickery said. In his letter to council, Hamilton noted that former Central Saanich mayor Jack Mar, a farmer, complained in a broadcast interview about the cost of fencing, which he estimated at $2,000 to $7,000, depending on whether he did it himself. "Fencing to stop attracting deer to the food should be part of the cost of doing business. Instead, some want to kill all the deer for eating some veggies? This is further wildlife mismanagement," Hamilton said in his letter. He warned that "this Wild West 'bounty' mentality" runs the risk of triggering an international boycott of Victoria. In fact, Mar said in an interview, the properties he's farming are too narrow to allow hunting, so he is erecting fencing where he can. "I can't shoot in any of the properties because it's just too narrow on the properties, with the setbacks where you can discharge a firearm," Mar said. "I can't shoot. Period. I have to fence." bcleverley@timescolonist.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, March 5, 2013 11:29 pm From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: The NRA will be title sponsor of NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas The NRA will be title sponsor of NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Texas STEPHEN HAWKINS FORT WORTH, Tex. - The Associated Press - Last updated Tuesday, Mar. 05 2013, 12:12 AM EST 38 comments http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/more-sports/nra-will-be-title-sponsor-of-nascar-sprint-cup-race-in-texas/article9262364/ The National Rifle Association is taking its relationship with racing to a new level as the title sponsor of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The deal with Texas Motor Speedway comes at a time when the NRA is involved in a renewed debate on gun violence in the wake of the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. "It's not about politics. It's about sports marketing," TMS president Eddie Gossage said Monday after the announcement of the one-year agreement with the NRA that includes a renewal option. The April 13 race at Texas, the first scheduled night race in the Cup Series this season, will be known as the NRA 500. This is not the NRA's first title sponsorship in NASCAR. The group sponsored the second-tier Nationwide race last September at Atlanta, which like Texas is owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc. "They saw it was obviously a very attractive sports marketing opportunity and seized it. That's what it's all about," Gossage said. "It's about putting on one of the great sporting events in America. I know in Atlanta last year they saluted a lot of the people that make America free. They are going to salute American freedoms and American families with this race. That's their plan so it seemed to be a good fit." NASCAR said in a statement Monday that "race entitlement partnerships" are agreements directly between the track and the sponsor though NASCAR reserves the right to approve or disapprove those sponsorships. "The race sponsor for Texas Motor Speedway's April event falls within the guidelines for approval for that event," NASCAR's statement said. Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice-president and CEO, expressed his excitement about the deal in a video message played during the track's media day. Gossage said LaPierre wasn't able to attend because of a scheduling conflict. "The NRA 500 is the latest announcement in the long history of a growing partnership between the NRA, Speedway Motorsports and the NASCAR community," LaPierre said. "NRA members and NASCAR fans love their country and everything that is good and right about America. We salute our flag, volunteer in our churches and communities, cherish our families and we love racing. On April 13, we'll all come together at Texas Motor Speedway." The sponsorship does seem like a natural. It's been a tradition at TMS that the winner of the Cup race gets to fire off a six-shooter in victory lane. And the winner of the pole gets a rifle as a prize. At the Cup season-opening Daytona 500, Michael Waltrip drove a Toyota with a paint scheme supporting a relief fund for victims of the Sandy Hook shootings. The Newtown-emblazoned car of Swan Racing was unveiled by NASCAR chairman Brian France in a news conference at Daytona, part of a one-race arrangement for the team. France and his wife announced they would donate $50,000 to the Sandy Hook School Support Fund, which the NASCAR Foundation would match. Sprint Cup rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the NRA American Warrior 300 at Atlanta last September, has no issue with the NRA sponsoring NASCAR races. "The NRA is our core fan base, and we all have guns, and all us racers love to go out and shoot. It's part of who we are," said Stenhouse, the only Cup driver at TMS media day. "Anytime you have a sponsor that embraces their market and who their core customers are, it's great for us. "I was able to win the NRA race in Atlanta and those guys were great to work it," he said. "They take their stuff serious, they're concerned with the tragedies that we've had throughout the nation. I think they do a great job at working from their side to help things as well. I think it's a great partnership here at Texas." Gossage said the NRA has been a generous supporter of Speedway Children's Charities, donating more than $500,000 to the charity's Texas chapter since 2000. He said the group has also had past sponsorship with signage at the track. NRA officials first expressed interest last fall to Texas officials about sponsoring the track's spring race. The event previously had Samsung Mobile as a title sponsor since 2002, but the company didn't renew its contract after last April's race. Without a title sponsor, Texas had been promoting next month's race as the Texas 500. "We've had other (sponsor) offers but a lot of people wait and expect you to drop your price. That's not something we do. We're not going to be a discount speedway," said Gossage, not revealing specific details. "They were willing to meet the price. They afford us some great marketing opportunities as well with their membership to reach out to them and try to bring their members to attend the race here." Gossage said TMS and the NRA reach similar audiences and that he expects a lot of tickets will be bought by NRA members and people who support the group's position. "Obviously we know the NRA well and I can tell you from just looking at the demographics, I can tell you from the social media that I've been sitting here monitoring since that announcement was made, it's probably 99 per cent supportive. Some wildly supportive," he said. "The public, it doesn't seem to be they're going to have any issue with it, and I'm not sure why anybody would think they would. "Like I said, know your demographic and we pride ourselves on being good at what we do," he said. "So we know what we're doing and who we're partnering with." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 00:05:52 -0600 From: Larry James Fillo Subject: "Hells Angels members deported as refugee board declares ... ...bike gang a criminal organization" Here's one way to tell the Liberals aren't currently in power. But I wouldn't count on the current Supremes ever being as... perceptive. ========================= http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/12/06/hells-angels-members-deported-as-refugee-board-declares-bike-gang-a-criminal-organization/ Hells Angels members deported as refugee board declares bike gang a criminal organization A ruling by the Immigration and Refugee Board says that Hells Angels membership is warrant enough for deportation. / Fred Greenslade / National Post News Archives Being a prospective or former member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club is enough to warrant the deportation of a non-citizen, the Immigration and Refugee Board has ruled in a case that declares the bikers a criminal organization. The decision comes as the government steps up use of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, rather than just criminal charges, to tackle gangs; at least four Hells Angels have now been deported from Canada for membership in a criminal organization. Alejandro Mariano Chung, 43, a citizen of Chile who came to Canada in 1979 but never obtained Canadian citizenship, is the latest man tied to the world’s largest and most notorious biker gang to be deported for his involvement with the bikers. Mr. Chung had started the arduous process of becoming a full member of the Hells Angels in its Manitoba chapter. Convicted Hells Angels property rights violated, will get seized ‘death head’ stuff back, judge rules Full Comment Forum: Canada shows distinct lack of sympathy for Hell’s Angels treasurer Free one-way plane ticket and $2,000: Tory plan pays failed refugee claimants to leave Canada Refugee bill changes ‘strike the right balance’ on detention concerns: Jason Kenney Highly regimented, the international club requires recruits to first be named an official friend, then as a hang-around and then a prospect. Successful candidates may then become “full-patch members” and get the distinctive patch of a winged skull to be worn on the back of a jacket. Not long after becoming a hang-around, Mr. Chung was one of only two people inside the Winnipeg clubhouse on July 29, 2010, when authorities arrived to seize it under the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act. Mr. Chung and another hang-around had apparently been told to tidy the place up. They were not charged, but the incident was one of several interactions with police used as evidence at his immigration hearing. Asked at his hearing why he wanted to become a full member he replied: “I just wanted to ride a motorcycle with them.” Although Mr. Chung denied seeing any criminal activity, evidence from Winnipeg police and the Ontario Provincial Police painted a different picture. ‘The business of the Hells Angels is crime’: IRB ruling Almost all of the members of the Manitoba chapter have criminal records, mostly convictions for drug trafficking, their primary criminal activity, police said. In Ontario, 67.2% of Hells Angels members had a criminal conviction, 43% drug-related, police said. “The business of the Hells Angels is crime,” the IRB ruled. “From the organization’s point of view it would make no sense to invest time in bringing Mr. Chung up through the ranks unless he was going to be part of their criminal activity.” The IRB declared the Hells Angels a criminal organization and Mr. Chung — despite only being a prospect — as a member. Membership in a criminal organization is grounds for inadmissibility to Canada under the immigration act. He was deported last month but has filed an appeal with the Federal Court of Canada, seeking to return. The government is increasingly using immigration law, where the burden of proof is lower than in criminal court, to target the Hells Angels. Three other non-Canadian members of the gang have been detained and removed from Canada because of their ties. Mitchell Vaughan, a member of the Hells Angels Nomads chapter from Melbourne, Australia, was detained in Victoria, B.C. and, on Sept. 30, 2011, was deported to his homeland. In 2010, Mark Staples, treasurer of the Downtown Toronto Chapter of the gang, who came to Canada from Scotland in 1969 when he was seven years old but never became a Canadian, was stopped at Vancouver airport when returning from Japan. He was travelling on a British passport and deported to the U.K. in 2010. Adam Hall was sent back to the United States in 2007 when he was deemed inadmissible to Canada despite having a Canadian mother. A member of the Hells Angels in Massachusetts, he currently faces charges of killing three men, one of whom was scheduled to testify against him in another trial. This summer, the Hells Angels filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., challenging the U.S. government’s recent ban on foreign members of the Hells Angels entering the U.S. The lawsuit says its members are “motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, organize social events, fundraisers, parties and motorcycle rallies.” It denies the Hells Angels are a criminal organization. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 08:08:55 -0600 From: "Bruce Montague" Subject: Hate speech is OK against firearms owners - ---------Bill wrote---------- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:53:55 -0500 From: Bill Subject: Re supreme court hate speech ruling -----snip----------- Which could justifiably be read as: "which equated Firearm owners with "purveyors of violence, drug addicts, drug pedlars, murderers and predators" - would be seen objectively as exposing firearm owners to "detestation and vilification," the court added." I am a member of a Identifiable Minority Group.. i.e. I have a government issued card that says I 'could' be a firearms owner. Now watch the previously posted CBC interview: http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/TV+Shows/The+National/ID/2338858905/ and explain how we are NOT "vilified" and "Detested" as a group and in public, by people like Wendy Cukier, Toronto's Adam Vaughan, and many, many, others in the left wing journalistic society. Perhaps it's time the kangaroo court of ""human Rights" came back to bite them on the ass.. Bill ------------- I agree totally with the sediments Bill is expressing here but there is a big problem with it in our justice system. I brought this very point up to my lawyer who specializes in defending people against "hate speech" and he pointed out that hate speech is only a problem if you speak out against an "identified group" which to the courts means a group identified and approved by the government to have special protection by the courts. In other words hatred against other groups is perfectly legal as long as you hate the correct group of people such as firearms owners! Firearms owners are exempt from any protections under the law and no punishment is too severe if you happen to get dragged into court for some trumped up firearms charge. The judge in my case inferred to the jury that I should be swinging from a gallows if found guilty (which I was). If that doesn't show a personal hatred toward another that actually does cause real and immediate harm, than I don't know what is. - - BUT that's OK because hatred is indeed lawful as long as you direct it to the right person or group. Yours in Liberty, Bruce. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, March 6, 2013 9:01 am From: "Dennis R. Young" Subject: Gun owner rights key to Canada at UN: papers Gun owner rights key to Canada at UN: papers BY LEE BERTHIAUME, POSTMEDIA NEWS MARCH 6, 2013 http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/national/Protecting+Canadian+owners+concern+arms+talks+documents/8053999/story.html http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/owner+rights+Canada+papers/8055090/story.html http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Papers+show+owner+rights+Canada/8054995/story.html http://www.windsorstar.com/Protecting+Canadian+owners+priority/8055290/story.html OTTAWA - For nearly two weeks last year, diplomats from Canada and the rest of the world gathered at the United Nations in New York to discuss ways to crack down on the illicit trade in small arms and ammunition. But rather than working to strengthen those efforts, newly released documents show Canadian officials were instructed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government to "play a low-key, minimal role" - and that their main objective was safeguarding Canadian gun owners' rights. Firearms advocates say the documents prove the Conservatives are standing firm on their promise to protect responsible, law-abiding Canadian gun owners, even on the world stage. "To me this says that the government is holding firm on its commitment to gun owners to stop punishing law-abiding citizens for the acts of criminals," said Solomon Friedman, an Ottawa-based lawyer specializing in firearms law. "The primary focus is making sure that Canadians aren't burdened as a result of international commitments." But gun-control groups have accused the Harper government of a lack of international leadership, saying there is space to both combat the illicit flow of weapons and also stand up for legitimate firearms owners in Canada. "If those are the two single objectives that Canada has, then it's missing a real opportunity to put in place a historic treaty that would actually have a significant impact on people's lives," said Kenneth Epps of Project Ploughshares, an anti-gun Canadian non-governmental organization. "To be narrowly focused on the domestic concerns of a minority of Canadians at a time when there are millions of people around the world affected by armed violence is clearly not what most Canadians want the Canadian government to be doing." There are currently two efforts at the UN to control the international flow of conventional weapons. The first is ongoing negotiations aimed at creating a future Arms Trade Treaty, which would establish common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms, and likely establish a reporting framework as well. Those talks have been going on for several years, with the next round set to take place in New York March 18-28. The second relates to a promise many countries, including Canada, made in 2001 to strengthen controls on the movement of smaller firearms, called the UN Program of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons. The documents obtained by Postmedia News are briefing notes to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird asking permission to send a Canadian delegation to a 12-day conference in New York late last summer to review progress on that promise. "It is proposed that Canada play a low-key, minimal role at the review conference," the briefing note reads, adding that the Canadian delegation "will ensure that: (1) no new burdens are imposed on law-abiding, responsible Canadian firearms owners; and (2) Canada does not enter into any new commitments that are inconsistent with its domestic laws and regulations on firearms." The documents say those were the same objectives Canadian diplomats were told to advance during Arms Trade Treaty negotiations two weeks earlier. The Canadian officials would also seek to have any new commitments added to the UN Program on Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons made optional - though that position was expected to prompt a diplomatic backlash. "The Canadian delegation is likely to face criticism or questioning by some delegates on this approach (framing commitments as optional) and Canada could be isolated from traditional friends and allies." The documents add that Canada does not meet several provisions of the UN program, including the tracing and record-keeping of small arms and light weapons. Friedman said a major problem with the UN program is that, to meet its conditions, the federal government would have to set up a national firearms registry more stringent than the long-gun registry it abolished last year. As well, he said, the government is fulfilling its commitments to voters and protecting Canadian sovereignty by standing up for Canadian gun owners. "The core of national sovereignty is ensuring your international commitments are consistent with what you've been mandated to democratically," Friedman said, "and what you've committed to do for your own citizens." But Epps, who previously sounded alarm bells after Canadian diplomats tried to exclude hunting rifles from the Arms Trade Treaty, a proposal that was defeated, said there is room for Canada to protect Canadian gun owners while still working to advance the broader arms-control effort. This includes revealing how much in arms Canada exports each year (the last fulsome report was released in 2009) and calling on the international community to work with developing countries who need help strengthen their own laws and regulations. "There's lots of things Canada could be," he said. "And when it comes down to specifics, it's very difficult to see why Canada doesn't do more." lberthiaume@postmedia.com Twitter.com/leeberthiaume ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V15 #594 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator 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".)