Articles for December 1999
Articles for December 1999
Ring in the New Year with a celebratory volley!
The year zero arrives at 4 AM December 31 CST
Kiribati will be the first country to experience Y2K, followed shortly by New Zealand and Australia, Asia, Europe/Africa then North America. Best wishes in the New Year.
The system works via scattered microphones which pick up gunshot-like sounds then determine the location of the sound using differential timing. It might be good to have firecrackers on hand so you can explain any loud noises emnating from your area.
A similar demand likely also exists in Canada, as we have approximately the same number of firearms per capita as our american neighbors. However, the inefficiency and over-regulation inherent in the new Firearms Act have doubtless prompted a large percentage of buyers to acquire their firearms illegally.
In fact, most Bren guns were manufactured right here in Canada during the 1940s. The Bren light machine gun was widely acknowledged as one of the best of its era and is prized by many collectors due to its excellent ergonomics, accuracy and reliability, coupled with an often excellent finish.
The idea is that if 5% of the world's major web servers should simultaneously experience a problem around Y2K, then we've got a major problem. The highest reading I've seen on the inferno2000.com site so far is 10% down.
War is a somewhat finicky beast to define, so the numbers will vary with the source. All sources agree that the number of conflicts worldwide has risen since the end of the cold war.
Admittedly, the poll was rather wonky - new coke was #2 "worst idea of the millenium". You can still submit your vote via the link above.
Is it a fake? You decide. The original video used to be at www.crowdedtheater.com but was removed after FBI complaints. RealPlayer required for audio/video. You can view live webcams of the Times Square festivities here, BUT please ensure that you have a javascript-compatible browser for Y2K. Many javascript versions are NOT Y2K compliant - if you use Netscape, you'll need version 4.7 or above.
Combs is slated to perform for MTV at Times Square on New Year's Eve. MTV is a sponsor of the US antigun group "PAX"
His date Jennifer Lopez was initially arrested on the same charge, but a reconsideration of the evidence prompted police to drop her charge.
As they say, you can't be truly disarmed as long as you've got antifreeze, a kitchen, human waste, and a basic knowledge of chemistry. Is it just me, or does the alleged terrorist's load sound like a massive set of initiators for a much larger series of charges? Nah, it couldn't be - after all, we've paid hundreds of millions of dollars for a C-68-induced "culture of safety".
Apparently the C-68 supporter has made so many enemies over so many different issues that it's difficult for police to pick a motive for the recent firebombing of his office.
Supporters outnumbered opponents.
The firebombing of Dosanjh's office will no doubt bring out a horde of sympathy voters in addition to the estimated 12,000 Dosanjh supporters that have doubled the size of the BC NDP party during the last several months. We need thousands of BC firearm owners to join their provincial NDP party ASAP in order to defeat the leadership aspirations of C-68 supporter Dosanjh. Call your friends, get 'em out there! You have less than two weeks before delegate selection commences. Good luck.
C-68 was supposed to make a "culture of safety". Has it? Let's
look at the numbers. Roughly 200 persons were denied the opportunity to
legally purchase a firearm under C-68. Arguably, the applicants who would
endanger public safety would have been denied under the previous
legislation as well. For this "improvement" we spent 1.7
million per refused sale. In the meanwhile, Canada has become famous for
the highest taxes in the world, the lowest economic performance since the
second world war, and is now notorious as a safe haven for
terrorists. Culture of safety? That may have been the intention, but
the results have morphed into something quite ugly.
FIRST ANNUAL holiday AK buyback program
Many anti-firearm organizations claim that there is an
overabundance of AK type firearms in the world - some 60 million, distributed
amongst Earth's 6 billion inhabitants. Further, some
organizations have suggested that these rifles are selling for around six
dollars, or the price of a chicken, in certain areas of the world. In the
holiday spirit, I'm willing to accept your unwanted AK for six times that
price - that is, thirty-six bucks of cold Canadian cash. Offer limited to
the first 10 who email me at the address below, and only until January 1
2000. Surely some of you sixty-million AK owners have an extra, unwanted one
around the house?
The UN recently called for strict global firearm control measures.
The sad belief, held by a few, that only the police and military (and
criminals who by definition won't be bound by a law) should possess
firearms takes on a whole new significance in light of the recent military
coups in Pakistan and Ivory Coast. The UN would do well to turn its
attention to mundane issues such as Accounts Payable or Accounts
Receivable and refrain from attacking the property rights of responsible firearm
owners.
As the article points out, the longest undefended border in the
world is a low-risk place for smugglers to do business. That's one of
the reasons why Prohibition was unsuccessful: the disparity in laws
between the two countries allowed a high-demand, low-supply situation
on one side of the border. People on the high-supply side of the
border decided to buy low and sell high, creating a huge underground
economy. A similar phenomenon occurred when our feds increased taxes on
cigarettes. Does our government really believe that another
product (firearms) will react any differently to artificial trade
barriers?
For more on the story, check out the Dallas Morning News Waco pages
The authorities state that the cause is unknown but definitely not Y2K-related. After all, the system had been checked...
A semi-lighthearted look at the last holiday season of the 20th century.
Notable quote
"You cannot exclude the possibility that something may go wrong. The probability of it may be very slight, but the consequences would be enormous." --Sir Joseph Rotblat, 1995 nobel Peace Prize winner and member of the Manhattan Project, commenting on the possibility of Y2K-induced accidental thermonuclear strikes, in an interview with London's Independent. If an individual Y2K problem is considered to be fixed, then that problem will probably not occur. On the other hand, if all the Y2K "probably nots" are added up, odds are that many suspected Y2K problems will actually cause difficulties and that most of the resulting problems will occur during the course of one day.
CSIS recently admitted that approximately four hundred "doomsday religious movements" within Canada have acquired firearms despite (or perhaps because of?) Canada's series of increasingly unsuccessful and restrictive firearm control laws.
"This man [Ressam] is a professional. We know he had ties to [suspected terrorist] bin Laden," says a CSIS agent. What would YOU rather our government tracked: firearms, their owners, and their significant others - or professional terrorists?
Should any one person have the power to choose four of the nine Supreme Court Justices?
I'll dedicate the above link to the folks at CNN who seem bent on constructing some link between the TEC-9 and recent suspected terrorist incidents. A picture of a TEC-9 has been repeatedly shown over the past few days while the broadcaster speaks on the topic of suspected terrorists. Not one firearm has been intercepted to date in connection with these alleged terrorist incidents - but several watches seized in the incidents have been converted to timing devices, allegedly for use with homemade bombs. What kind of a "news" organization looks at a watch and sees a firearm? UPDATE: The timers, which look like simple experimenter's breadboards with a watch and some capacitors attached, have been considered to be a "firearm" under a twist of US law. They do not appear to be "firearms" in the Canadian sense of the word, as they don't feature a barrel which might propel a projectile.
Nary a mention of the vaunted "culture of safety"...
Said to have been deported to Bosnia, thought to be jailed in France, suspected to be ringleader of a criminal organization and a possible terrorist in Montreal... sounds to me as if our government doesn't have a clue as to the whereabouts of the suspected terrorist. Perhaps if our government had chosen to focus their energies on tracking suspected terrorists instead of suspected firearm owners, they would be able to offer an intelligent answer as to the present location of the suspected terrorist. Instead, hundreds of officers continue to work the firearms file while suspected terrorists roam free. People should lose their jobs over this latest fiasco. Just a few months ago, Canada Customs labelled "firearms" as their primary area of concern at the border. I suppose that (in retrospect) terrorists might be seen as less desirable than firearms, even to the extremists within the Chretien government.
Canada under C-68: "culture of safety" or world-renowned safe haven for terrorists? Not only do we not manage to catch terrorists - we don't even know what continent they're on! How many lives will the Chretien government throw away in their blind pursuit for a low-firearm "culture of safety"? A more effective "culture of safety" could have been created if nearly four hundred cops hadn't been pulled off the street to work as undertrained firearm control bureaucrats. For those keeping score, the wildly ineffective C-68 features the dubious distinction of a 2:1 sidelined cop to blocked sale ratio. That is, cops taken off the street to administer C-68 outnumber the number of
firearm sales temporarily blocked under C-68 TWO TO ONE. Virtually all of those sales would also have been blocked under our old firearms control legislation, immaterial of C-68. For shame.
Gunmen wanted --National Post
According to the Post, the town of Chatham, Ontario wants shooters to participate in a crow cull. An estimated 30,000 crows currently reside in the city.
It doesn't seem like we're getting a fair deal for the dollar on our latest "culture of safety" firearm control bill. The feds have taken 391 cops off the street to implement a firearms control system that has blocked roughly two hundred guns from making it onto the street - at a seven-figure cost per gun. In the meanwhile, while the feds have been attempting to legislate a type of technology (firearms) out of existence, Canada's fame has spread as a waypoint for terrorists bound for the USA. Supporters of the firearms bureaucracy have to ask themselves: as the millenium approaches and governments warn of terrorist attacks, was C-68 the best way to spend our limited taxpayer resources in a bid to enhance public safety?
More early Y2K problems
Despite the massive campaign to fix the Y2K bug, stories are beginning to trickle in regarding possible Y2K problems in critical sectors. Wells Fargo has sent faulty term deposit renewal notices to customers and Florida has sent incorrect tax statements to truckers. Banks and the taxman, eh? Hmn.
You can keep up to date on Y2K stories through
Internet sources such as Y2K Newswire, Drudge Report, Worldnet Daily's Y2K page, Y2K.com, Zdnet Y2K page Y2K News, or Yahoo Y2K coverage I'm sure there's more out there... :)
"... and it isn't going to involve sitting around a table with talking with governments that
already allow this kind of wanton slaughter," says the press release put out by the self-described "angry" director of the Humane Society. Reminds me of a quote: "When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, a hundred." --Thomas Jefferson.
Sigh. How have such hypocritical extremists gained control of the most powerful animal shelter organization in Canada? Most of the progressive animal shelter organizations operate only "no-kill" shelters which do not slaughter the animals they receive. The Humane Society, on the other hand, still knocks off their caged charges via lethal injection if no one adopts them within a few days. Harvesting animals
for food is a generally accepted tradition which dates back to the dawn of recorded history, while the slaughter by lethal injection of caged domestic
pets is a recent practice which is not generally encouraged within polite company. In an apparently unrelated coincidence, my dog "Ben" (whom I rescued
from one of Mr O'Sullivan's kill-type shelters) has expressed a fondness for O'Sullivan-shaped chew toys. When asked for his opinion of Mr. O'Sullivan's
killing cages, the normally friendly rottweiler puppy commented "GGGRRRrrrRR!RAarRRRR!" and ate his chew toy. Those hunters who encounter
O'Sullivanites in the wild are warned to leave them alone. DO NOT RESPOND TO THEIR PROVOCATION. FILM
THE EXTREMISTS SHOULD THEY ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT YOUR ACTIVITIES. LEAVE THE AREA AND FILE CHARGES AT ONCE, WHERE APPROPRIATE.
The rock group has partnered with Levi's and an antigun group to campaign for increased anti-firearm regulations. The US military C-9 aircraft
carrying the group skidded off the runway due to inclement weather conditions.
Since the 1930s, Canadian laws have required handguns to be registered. Criminals haven't bothered. Perhaps the decades-old registry
is just experiencing a few startup glitches? In any event, the
miscreant in question would have been unable to legally obtain a firearm even if Canada had NO "firearm laws"
at all - he was prohibited from legally possessing firearms at the time of his arrest.
So much for McLellan's "culture of safety." Preventing just one nuclear/radiological/biological/chemical terrorist attack could save more lives than the
cumulative effect of all of Canada's firearm control efforts throughout history. Instead, CSIS has had its budgets reduced while the Chretien government
fritters away taxpayer dollars on C-68.
Cars and guns --John Gayder, via the St Catherines Standard and the Canadian Firearms Digest email list
St. Catherines Standard December 10, 1999 Paul Wintemute's letter (Cost of gun registry is justified, The Standard, Dec. 2) comparing guns to cars is an interesting one. Since cars are as dangerous as firearms -- and cause far more deaths per year, let's see how car owners would feel if they had to live under rules similar to those affecting gun owners:
- Your car must be stored in a locked garage when not in use.
- You cannot store your car anywhere but in the garage listed on its registration.
- The gas (ammo) must be drained from the car when not in use, and must be locked up separately from the car.
- You need to show identification to buy gas, and have every sale of gas to you recorded.
- Your car can only hold five gallons of gas.
- A government inspector can enter your house at will to ensure your car and gas are properly stored and can only hold five gallons.
- Only the person who owns the car is allowed drive it.
- If a person steals your car, then puts their own gas in it and commits a crime with it
- you get charged for unsafe storage.
- You are only allowed to own cars capable of certain speeds or performance. (Rugged, off-road -- "Assault vehicles" -- are banned. Cars that look too "fast" or "aggressive" are banned.)
- You must get written permission to drive your car from point A to B, only during certain hours, and only for activities that are approved of.
- Any deviation from the shortest route between A and B is a criminal offense -- even taking it to the shop for repairs.
- Using the car to protect yourself or others (like by escaping from a rapist or robber), is a criminal offence -- because only people with special training (the police) are allowed to use cars for that.
- When you tell people you own a car, they start cracking drunk-driver jokes, then ask if you are planning to snap and drive over school kids anytime soon.
- Even though you drive safely and responsibly, you are repeatedly shouldered with new laws created in response to the actions of crazed scofflaws who drive drunk or without licences. Meanwhile, the idiots responsible get mere slaps on the wrists.
- If you die, your car gets destroyed without compensation to your estate. These are just a few analogies of the rules and conditions legitimate gun owners are subject to, and the list gets seemingly longer every day. Wintemute may want to live in a society in which everything is governed by a million rules, but most people don't. If he requires so many rules to behave himself, I suggest he move to China or Cuba. They have lots of rules there. [ed: he left out the parts about the 10 year prohibition on owning a car if found in violation of the above rules, or the forms that ask who you're sleeping with, or that the cost of defending yourself from a criminal code "car/gun" offence is estimated at ten thousand dollars, etc]
If you figure you might need to call 911 - or anyone else - on New Year's Eve, it may be prudent to have a backup plan.
Notable quote regarding the C-68 withdrawl protest, financial institutions and Y2K
"We'd like to remind you that withdrawing large amounts of cash poses a personal security risk." --the First Calgary Savings webpage. There is less than 2 weeks to go before Y2K ... and your financial institutions don't seem eager to release your funds in cash form. As they say, "It's not the odds, it's the stakes." Besides, if banks were really prepared for Y2K long ago - as they would have us believe - why didn't they issue cheques where the year reads as a four-digit blank instead of 19__?
Kosovars to ring in the millenium with a New Year's blast
Has NATO's unique blend of martial law coupled with firearm confiscation reduced the availability of firearms in Kosovo? Not at all, says one Kosovo resident quoted in London's Independent newspaper. "If you want to see how many guns there still are in Kosovo, just be here on Millennium Eve, when they'll all be fired in the air," the source comments. The worldwide blast is scheduled for 00:00:00 '00, in whatever local timezone you happen to be in. Prospective revellers are urged to use blanks and/or a proper backstop, plus a healthy dose of discretion.
"The carcinogens in marijuana are much stronger than those in tobacco. The big message here is that marijuana, like tobacco, can cause cancer," comments Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang of the Jonsson Cancer Center at UCLA. Former Justice Minister Allan "only police and soldiers should have firearms" Rock is currently engaged in efforts to legalize marijuana for "medical" purposes, even as he campaigns against tobacco due to its health effects. Oh, the hypocrisy!
If police are to command general respect from Canadians, then their conduct must be above reproach ... and they should be apolitical, at least while on duty. Politicized law enforcement has no place in a free and democratic society.
Lost and found dept: explosives (again)
Found: about 150 pounds of explosives, precursors to explosives, related chemicals and some homemade timing devices --Seattle Times Explosives have been heavily regulated for years, but the bad guys still seem to come up with ways to make or otherwise acquire these items. Lost: 750 pounds of ammonium nitrate, 125 pounds of dynamite, 6000 feet of det cord and some blasting caps with safety fuse --Arizona Daily Sun You may remember that several months ago, Canada Customs announced that firearms smugglers were their primary area of concern at the border. In light of these recent explosives revelations, perhaps the good folk at Canada Customs would be kind enough to focus their attention upon explosives and weapons of mass destruction instead of mere firearms or (sillier still) "replica" firearms. The timing devices seized at the border crossing were particularly noteworthy to the trained eye of Vincent Cannistraro (former head of counterterrorism at the CIA) who was quoted in the Seattle Times as saying, "These are devices we have seen before," "They were used among groups affiliated with bin Laden in attacks in the Philippines and at an apartment bombing in Moscow."
McLellan's "cult of safety" is beginning to unravel around the edges. According to the government's own intelligence services, roughly four hundred apocalyptic cults have managed to illegally stockpile firearms despite Canada's longstanding series of firearm laws. Oh, and while Ottawa has been frittering away your tax dollars on foolishness like C-68, apparently our politicians have not been saying to themselves, "Hey, what are the doomsday cultists up to?" Luckily we now have an answer: "It is feared that some doomsday-like groups may have mastered the production of biological agents," according to the CSIS report.
The report indicates that there will be bank holidays from Jan. 1st to 4th (Jan. 5th in Quebec). Withdrawing your funds from the financial system before Y2K seems to be an effective way to protest C-68... don't wait 'til the last minute or your banks may not be able to show you your money.
800,000 Rwandans perished under the "protection" of the unelected and unaccountable United Nations. How many Rwandans might still be alive today had they placed their trust in a firearm instead of the United Nations? See also: Annan defends record on Rwanda (1998) --BBC Kofi Annan has repeatedly called for increased global firearms control measures. Most victims of the Rwandan genocide were hacked to death with rakes and machetes.
C-68 supporter Lindsay is asking for closure - but contradicts himself by hinting that he may review the officers who tabled the complaints.
The UN is apparently sorry about all that killing. 800,000 people were massacred using mainly improvised weapons such as clubs, spears, rakes and machetes during the Rwandan genocide. Recent UN peacekeeping missions have been geared towards mass firearm confiscation - thus leaving the newly disarmed population defenceless against the type of rampaging mobs that killed hundreds of thousands in Rwanda. Further complicating things was a loss of control over the UN troops --National Post
Reports have indicated that the US-developed software will be used in Canadian schools. The software attempts to assign students a violence rating between one and ten. More info available at the Mosaic website
Freedom isn't going to make your machine secret, but it does make a good stab at privacy and could force prospective snoopers to use keystroke loggers if they want to track your surfing. Remember, kids: abstinence is your only 100% protection. And if you needed to be told twice, don't do anything remotely illegal on your computer - with or without Freedom.
Lest you believe the Canada is somehow better when it comes to respecting your property rights, check out Canada's new Emergencies Act which grants similar powers to agents of our own government. Technically, our legislation could be misused to confiscate firearms (or cars, or goats, or whatever) from an area and dispose of them without compensation. Since that is clearly illegal, you could make a claim for the goods but would likely have to take the dispute to court - a costly and time-consuming process. Chretien has hinted that he may invoke the Emergencies Act during the Y2K changeover.
Looks like the moniker "leader of the *free* world" could become an anachronism as it applies to the US President. Methinks he's just sore that the antigun lawsuits launched by some US cities are rapidly being discredited as an unconstitutional usurpation of legislative power by the judicial branch. Besides, if the man could actually aim then why did he nail the blue dress? :)
Hmn - They're willing to remove firearm sites, so here's how to remove Surfwatch, courtesy of Peacefire. You can also test whether Surfwatch blocks a given site or even submit a new site to be blocked. I've submitted my own site to the censors and await their judgement. The Surfwatch press release on this issue indicates that "guns and weapons" sites are one of the most rapidly expanding areas of the Internet.
The sheer number of questionable deeds would tend to shift the focus of this page if I were to list them all individually. Luckily, Yahoo has established an entire section devoted to the topic.
It's interesting that he's only noticed a pot shortage after leaving his old Justice Department post. One could speculate that there must have been an ample supply of the waccy baccy while our former Minister of Justice was drafting C-68.
Miami-Dade County took a legal tongue-lashing for their vague and "no standing" lawsuit. Why am I covering the US lawsuits? Well, the Canadian government's firearms policies have led to the demise of all but a handful of domestic firearms manufacturers. Thus, we are now forced to import many of our firearms from our largest trading partner and should pay attention to these lawsuits.
Harris admitted that he would have used other implements instead of guns, if guns were somehow made unavailable.
The allegations against him were found to be "unfounded or unsubstantiated".
Apparently the young killers wanted two things - 1) fame and 2) to "kick-start a revolution". As memory serves, the revolution which created their country was brought about in part by
radical anti-gun efforts. Those who don't learn from history don't tend to get re-elected and all that. More on this story in a CNN article
The current BATF director is to be moved to the FEMA management team where he will coordinate FEMA domestic terrorism efforts. FEMA is the US federal emergency response group. It was a botched BATF raid to arrest David Koresh for a $200 gun tax violation that sparked the Waco massacre.
Gun-grabbing politicians like Hitler, Stalin
and Mao have killed many millions. My firearms haven't harmed anyone. I know which I'd rather have
in my home.
Dial 911 and die author to be interviewed on Art Bell show Saturday December 11 --JPFO via Canadian Firearms Digest
ALERT FROM JEWS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FIREARMS OWNERSHIP - America's Aggressive Civil Rights Organization December 9, 1999 Hilly Rose is interviewing Richard Stevens, author of "Dial 911
and Die", on Saturday, December 11, at 11 P.M. Pacific Time (2 a.m. Sunday EST). This is a great opportunity to educate Americans that the police
owe no duty to protect individual citizens from crime [ed: The same situation also exists here in Canada] -- and to raise serious doubts in people's minds about blindly trusting government to protect them from anything. Tune in to the program ... it is broadcast in nearly every major market ... or click on www.artbell.com and listen via the Internet.
To summarize: the federal Liberals have earned a solid "F" for their failed firearms control initiative.
Hunters donate elk meat --National Post
The National Post reports as follows: "SASKATOON - A hunters' group is donating about 500 kilograms of elk meat to Saskatchewan's two biggest food banks today. The meat, which has a retail value of $10,000, was donated by High Caliber Ranch, a fenced-in elk hunting park, and the Canadian Outdoor Heritage Alliance. The meat will be given to the Saskatoon and Regina food banks. Pius Sieben, manager of the Saskatoon Food Bank, welcomed the donation."
The pro-C-68 BC NDP gathered 2.4% of the votes. No, I didn't miss a decimal place. Line 'em up, knock 'em down. NEXT!
Calgary Police Chief said to be staying on
The Calgary Sun reports that Christine Silverberg will likely stay on as Calgary's Police Chief. The C-68 supporter was thought to be holding out for a richer compensation package.
It sort of makes one wonder how the CFC keeps intensely personal information such as the names, addresses and telephone numbers of your conjugal partner(s) secure when even CSIS faces occasional leaks.
HUD is the same agency that diverted funds to run a gun buyback scheme earlier this year.
This fascinating bit of reading is at least as entertaining as watching molasses dry, only far more expensive and a bit slower. Arguably the most important case in the history of the court.
December 2, 1999 Vancouver - Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh's Chief Firearms Office has been abusive in administering the federal Firearms Act, shutting down shooting ranges and imposing onerous new guidelines without any authority to do so, said BC Liberal Justice Critic Geoff Plant.
"Mr. Dosanjh's firearms office is way out of control and has completely overstepped its authority," said Plant. "While Dosanjh has been running his leadership campaign, his Chief Firearms Office has been running amok harassing law-abiding gun owners with draconian rules that it had no authority to enforce."
Plant noted that the new federal Firearms Act, passed last year, gave authority to provincial Chief Firearms Offices (CFOs) to begin regulating shooting ranges pursuant to federal regulations as of yesterday, December 1. However, Dosanjh's Ministry introduced 138-pages of onerous new provincial guidelines for shooting ranges last May and began immediately inspecting clubs for compliance, a full six months before it had any legal authority to take action under the federal Act. At least nine clubs were completely or partially shut down under the province's guidelines, and two - Campbell River and Powell River - took legal action.
Last week, only days before the compliance deadline, Dosanjh's CFO suddenly advised gun clubs that the province's guidelines will be dropped in favour of less rigid guidelines prepared by the federal government.
"The NDP were imposing and enforcing punitive new regulations months before they had any authority to do so. Now, having harassed and intimidated law-abiding gun clubs with invalid regulations for six months, Dosanjh has suddenly dumped them in favour of federal guidelines. That sort of erratic and heavy-handed conduct is simply indefensible."
"Citizens have a right to expect that they will be dealt with fairly and consistently by competent government agencies. This is further evidence that the federal gun registry has been a complete debacle, and rather than continue to administer it, Dosanjh should be calling on the feds to scrap it immediately," Plant concluded.
[ed: I think I just scorched my eyebrows on that scathingly heated press release. Don't worry, it's a good pain.]
Notable quote
"Knowing that half the [United States] nation's 911 services are not yet Y2K-compliant, many homeowners are relying on firearms as an added home safety precaution during Y2K. Even though a call to 911 might not generate a police response for, perhaps, twenty minutes, a home defense shotgun will discourage criminals without delay." --Y2Knewswire.com Twenty minutes?! That's a little on the optimistic side of things for 911 response times in Winnipeg, even on a slow afternoon. I called 911 once, about three years ago ... and waited until my cell phone battery died. Then I waited for another three hours. I was able to obtain a peace bond against my stalker a couple of months later. Homeowners who want to obtain firearms are in an unusual predicament at the moment - you can't legally get a Possession and Acquisition permit before Y2K, but on the other hand you face a plethora of offerings on the sly. Purchasing a firearm is your own very personal choice - but don't count on 911 for New Year's Eve.
Hopefully Anne McLellan has come to regret referring to the Chechens as "terrorists".
School shootings and Canada's Young Offender Act
School shootings appear to be here to stay, regardless of the laws. Perhaps it should be obvious that additional firearms laws do not deter killers - after all, killing has been against the laws and customs of every society throughout time - yet invariably there is always some malcontent willing to breach faith with society. It is therefore troubling to note that some young perpetrators of this most despicable type of crime may not face any criminal liability - BECAUSE OUR LAW DOES NOT ALLOW IT. Children below a certain age cannot be arrested or prosecuted under Canada's Young Offender Act. This Act of folly has been used as a shield against prosecution by several budding arsonists here in Winnipeg. If our feds really want to do something about gun-related violence, they should abandon their ridiculous registry and simply make it illegal for a 10 year old to kill people.
Oops. Then again, police do have other things to do and can't watch everyone. Perhaps the best solution is simply to allow law-abiding people to arm themselves if they feel a pressing need. Clearly, at least one of these victims had an inkling of what might happen - but was prevented from stopping the violence due to her country's gun control laws.
Arguably the most intriguing headline I've seen this year. "The Y2K financial threat comes in the form of market liquidity disappearing with extreme volatility filling the void." says the report. In English: No one wants to buy a stock that might reasonably lose huge chunks of its value within days (a la Husky Injection Molding after it offered millions of dollars to anti-hunting groups) when the potential purchaser may only reasonably make single-digit percentages on the purchase during that period, especially when facing continuing uncertainty. Hence, low buyers + Y2K uncertainty = low liquidity + low prices + high risk, voila volatility.
"Everyone" in this sense also includes our own Justice Minister Anne McLellan, who condemned the Chechens as "terrorists" during a recent trip to Russia. Who would have thought that an ardent campaigner for more firearms control would end up acting as Russia's propaganda stooge? Whoever set off those apartment bombs should be caught and punished - but levelling Grozny or wiping out an ethnicity contributes nothing to the cause of Justice.
New Year's Eve blast
In some countries, the new year comes in with a bang. Many areas of the world participate in an annual new year's ritual in which firearm owners let loose a magazine into the air at the stroke of midnight on December 31. This can be done safely by selecting appropriate firing areas and backstops and by using blanks. So, weather and laws permitting, I'm going to make the Year 2000 my first year for this type of celebration. Who's with me? PS - it may be legally beneficial for you to use an inexpensive flare launcher or a blank firing device instead of a firearm. Consult legal experts in your area and play safe.
The seemingly "made up" regulations are costing www.cheaperthandirt.com about $10,000 per day.
I doubt Clinton's aim is any better now than when he winged the blue dress... or that pharmaceutical factory in Sudan, for that matter. Both times, he hit his target but only ended up creating more problems for himself.
The Netherlands features harshly restrictive firearms legislation. Meaning, just as the report says, that in the Netherlands, "most weapons can be obtained only on the black market." Just like pot, Mr. Rock - perhaps pot would be an analogy that even our former Minister of Justice can comprehend.
That's more soldiers and machines than Canada HAS, in total - on a single postage-stamp-size island. The alert includes chemical and nuclear preparations.
Guess which side the gun-grabbing alleged rapist is on?
Chretien appears to be speaking out of one side of his mouth on issues affecting women. Breast cancer research has often been mentioned as a better way to save lives than his competency-challenged firearm registry. Far more women die from breast cancer than from violent criminals armed (usually illegally) with firearms. The breast cancer research funding will remain at $35 million over a five year period. The firearms registry has cost us almost 10 times that figure already, and has saved exactly 0 lives and refused 181 purchases at a cumulative cost of 1.7 million dollars per refused purchase.
Papal ashtrays are apparently OK with the big guy though...
When they come for your guns, give 'em some ammo. Then try REEAAALLY hard to remember
just where you buried your dad's old rifles. It's important to be helpful when dealing with
the gun-grabbing variety of fool.
Want to know why the Chretien administration is dragging their
heels on agricultural issues? Because of C-68. The federal Liberals know
that firearm owners aren't likely to vote for them as long as C-68 stands
- and outside the city limits, most people are firearm owners. The
federal Liberals know that they have lost our votes, and they are
desperately seeking other voters to replace us. So what if Chretien
manages to piss off another million farmers? His handlers believe that
the Liberals have already lost the farm vote over C-68 ANYWAYS - and
they're probably right. Such an approach to government is not just cynical,
it's downright reckless. No wonder people are angry. I disagree
with the separation aspect of all this though - why would any province
separate at a time when virtually all areas of the country are now
working together to oppose Chretien? There is still plenty of time to work within the system to achieve a
free and democratic society.
Peashooter Liberation Front to protest Firearms
Act
Usually reliable sources inform me that Canada's small but
sprightly Peashooter Liberation Front is the latest group to join
the fight against C-68. The relatively unknown sport of peashooting
attracted participants from around the world this summer to the World
Championships in Witcham, UK. Participants aimed laser-sighted, pistol
gripped peashooters at sticky putty targets four yards away. Canada's new
Firearms Act allows for jail time for anyone found possessing a peashooter
which is deemed to be a "replica firearm" - that is, anything that
resembles a firearm but cannot inflict serious bodily injury. Thus, the
common MAC-10P peashooter (resembling a common MAC 10 firearm but
accepting only 9mm peas for ammunition) could conceivably land its owner
in jail. Peashooter activists were quoted as saying, "F*ck that! How much
are they spending on this nonsense?!" and "When peashooters are outlawed,
I'll make my own d*mn peashooters." This new legal harassment of the
troubled peashooter community was endorsed yesterday by a few fringe members of the
Vegetable Liberation Front. One VLF fringer, "Kooky" Wendy, commented that
"These murderous instruments exist for only one purpose - to destroy the
lives of baby peas and assorted finely-diced vegetables. These murder
machines should be banned and their owners sent to prison for life.
Failing that, stringent regulations should be placed upon sales of
vegetable based assault condiments such as flavored mustards and some
forms of creamy horseradish."
Are we safe? --Montreal Gazette
(With thanks to the Canadian Firearms Digest mailing list) Are we safe?: Critics say Canada's beefed-up gun-control legislation does
nothing to prevent another massacre like the one at Ecole Polytechnique
Some people say the only good thing to come out of the Ecole Polytechnique
massacre 10 years ago is that it prodded Ottawa into updating gun-control
laws and made Canada a safer place.
David Tomlinson, president of the National Firearms Association, doesn't
agree. He says what happened on Dec. 6, 1989, when Marc Lepine killed 14
young women with his semi-automatic rifle, has been terribly distorted.
At the centre of the 4-year-old Firearms Control Act, introduced by then
federal Justice Minister Allan Rock with much fanfare and reference to the
Montreal killings, is the creation of a gun registry that requires 3 million
gun-owners to register their 7 million rifles and other long arms by 2003.
(Canada's one million or so handguns already require to be licensed.)
But for Tomlinson, who has spent most of the last decade battling Ottawa's
gun-control efforts, nothing in the legislation prevents someone like Lepine
from arriving at the Universite de Montreal's engineering school with a gun
once again.
Real gun control, he said, is based on proper gun education. ``Lepine walked
into a room full of active young men and active young women,'' Tomlinson
said from Edmonton, where the firearms association is based.
``Anybody who is trained even to a minor degree knows that situation could
have ended right there and should have ended right there with a maximum of
one person dead.
``If one person had charged him and knocked him tail over tea kettle,
there's a damn good possibility that enough of them would have followed to
have pinned him down and made him completely inert or inactive until the
police got there.''
It didn't happen, he said, because Canadians fail to properly teach their
children about guns. ``What we've done is handicap our children by not
teaching them about violence. We teach them the police will take care of
it.''
Tomlinson accuses the Liberal government of using the gun registry to court
the favour of generally gun-ignorant masses.
The registry, he said, is unworkable, impractical and utterly useless in
stopping future Lepines from unleashing their evil.
Tomlinson is not alone in thinking the gun registry is not effective. Gary
Mauser, who teaches business administration at Simon Fraser University in
Burnaby, B.C., and has studied the federal gun-control efforts, says the gun
registry is overly bureaucratic and will save few lives.
New figures show that since Ottawa began registering guns last December,
nearly 550 licenses have been refused and 438 revoked for public-safety
reasons.
But the registry has been plagued by cost overruns and
administrative screwups since it opened a year ago, and it has an enormous
load to carry in the next year if it is to meet its deadlines.
``It is doomed to failure,'' Mauser said. ``It cannot work.
``In their defence, this is a very hard thing to do, even dysfunctionally,''
he said. ``The logic of a registry is that by knowing where guns are, this
will help police ... keep track of things.''
Problem is, criminals don't usually register their weapons, and a registry
is by far the least cost-efficient way of fighting gun crime.
Cost overruns began almost immediately. The start-up cost, pegged at $85
million originally, has now officially ballooned to $120 million. Mauser
insists the real figure is more like $300 million and counting.
The annual cost had been pegged at $100 million for the first three years,
with the idea it would average out at $60 million a year over the first
decade. Federal officials continue to insist that operating costs will be
recouped by user fees - $25 a piece - something Mauser said is unlikely.
Money isn't the only problem. A massive bottleneck has developed, with only
86,000 identity license cards issued for 177,000 applications received in
the last year.
Gun-owners are being told to get the cards by 2001 and registration
certificates for individual weapons by 2003. That means more than 2.5
million applications for ID cards will have to be processed in the next
year.
Another glitch has come with the legislation's plan to ban 555,000
short-barreled handguns known as ``Saturday night specials.''
These owners were originally given until Dec. 1, 1998 to turn in their
weapons or face having them confiscated by police. The extension of the
amnesty to this week, and then to Jan. 1, 2001, only put off a showdown with
thousands of shooting enthusiasts and collectors who would have seen their
guns confiscated without compensation.
The Reform and Conservative parties have vowed to repeal the law if elected.
Six provinces, including Alberta and Ontario, and two territories are
challenging the registry as unconstitutional. A hearing before the Supreme
Court is expected in February.
What's more, the three Prairie provinces have refused to implement the
registry, so Ottawa has turned the job over to the RCMP - which has
increased costs.
Federal officials say these difficulties are simply growing pains, but
Mauser said they're rooted in the way the Liberals created the gun law.
Rock failed to follow the ``classic Canadian approach of accommodation and
consultation'' with gun groups when he designed the law, Mauser said, and
the combination of registration and confiscation was a recipe for
confrontation. ``Allan Rock created the Canadian gun lobby,'' he said.
There was opposition to gun control in the months after the massacre as
well.
In the days following the Polytechnique killings, then federal justice
minister Doug Lewis, who had been studying a new gun law, insisted he would
not be rushed into anything. That changed in early 1990, when Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney appointed Kim Campbell to the justice portfolio and put gun
legislation at the top on her to-do list.
It was not easy; there was immediate resistance within and outside the
Conservative Party. After two tries, Campbell passed a law that aimed to
close many of the loopholes that had allowed Lepine to so easily commit his
crime. It set stricter maximum penalties for firearms offences, set a 28-day
waiting period for a permit to buy a firearm, and banned semi-automatic
weapons that have been converted to automatic. These changes all remain in
place today.
Campbell's law also raised the age requirement for a firearms-acquisition
certificate, to 18 from 16, with parental consent needed for youths 16 and
17 to own a gun. And it gave police more discretion to check applicants and
turn down those they feel are unfit to own a gun. Two references were
required to seek a certificate.
Campbell's bill pleased gun-control activists, but it wasn't until Rock's
law that they pronounced themselves completely satisfied.
Eight years after her gun law was passed, Campbell, now Canada's
consul-general in Los Angeles, is clearly still still proud of her work, but
she wonders if Rock really helped the cause of gun control by pursuing
registration.
``Gun control is the most divisive justice issue in Canada, more than
abortion,'' Campbell said in a telephone interview from her Los Angeles-area
home. ``I thought we did all of the things that were the highest priority
for public safety. My goal was to hive off what I would call the Rambos from
the responsible firearms-owner community. Most responsible firearms-owners
don't oppose good gun-control legislation. ... You don't have to be a
homicidal maniac to have a firearm.''
Campbell said she tried hard to bring most gun-owners on side. The Tories
considered registration but dropped the idea, realizing it wasn't worth the
grief, she suggested.
``There are certain things in gun control that have a certain public appeal,
but when you're legislating you need to look at the research on what works,
what doesn't, and what really has an impact, recognizing you're never going
to do away entirely with gun violence,'' Campbell said.
``There's no evidence that registering guns reduces the level of gun
violence. It's not that I don't think it's something worth doing, (but) it's
something you do much later.''
The former justice minister and prime minister refused to elaborate, perhaps
sensing her views conflict with her role as a diplomat representing Prime
Minister Jean Chretien. ``I don't want to be in the position of criticizing
the government now,'' she said.
A frustrated Justice Minister Anne McLellan said in an interview she is
concerned that Canadians are getting the wrong idea about the registry from
negative publicity about its growing pains.
``Is it a story for the media to write about our efforts and the efforts of
the gun coalition to create a culture of safety and responsibility? No, for
most media it's not a story,'' said McLellan, one of only two Liberal MPs
from Alberta.
``But it is a story to write about the fact that there have been some
glitches in start-up and that it's cost a little more than Allan originally
projected or that sometimes people don't get their registrations as quickly
as they thought they would. That's the story,'' she said with a growl.
McLellan said the events at the Polytechnique are never far away when she
thinks about gun control. ``It's important to do whatever we reasonably can
to prevent these kind of events happening in the future.''
She noted the number of licenses that have been refused and revoked since
the gun registry began last December.
``These numbers far exceed anything we've done in the years before, because
we're doing a better job. The system permits a better job of flagging people
who are potentially a problem and doing the necessary background checks.''
She welcomed a Gallup poll of more than 1,000 Canadians made public last
week that showed nearly three-quarters of Canadians support the gun registry
and are willing to forgive its troubles.
The same poll showed seven in 10 want even stricter gun-control laws.
Support was strongest in Quebec (88 per cent) and weakest in the Prairie
provinces (54 per cent). Eight of nine urban residents from big cities like
the registry plan.
``There will be a registry. We've made that decision. We're not going back
on this decision,'' McLellan said.
A similarly exasperated Wendy Cukier said she can't believe she's still
fighting the battle for gun control a decade after the Polytechnique.
``For all the ongoing opposition that we face every day, we know that it's
making a difference every day,'' said Cukier, co-founder and president of
the Coalition for Gun Control, born in the aftermath of the massacre. ``A
number of the parents of the young women who were killed in Montreal have
said that they think the new law is a monument to their children.''
Criticism of the gun registry is both predictable and unfair, Cukier said,
noting that the Canadian Police Association and the group representing
police chiefs are behind the government's efforts, having resisted calls to
change their positions last summer.
``Virtually every group concerned with violence prevention and public safety
in this country has stuck behind this law,'' she said.
``I heartily resent the fact that all those provinces are spending
taxpayers' money fighting against the law and at the same time they're
complaining about the expenditures of the federal government trying to
implement the law.
``The evidence is pretty good that the progressive tightening of gun control
over the last 10 years has had a fairly significant effect. There are all
sorts of other things that have had an effect, but we know that gun-related
deaths are at the lowest they have been in almost 30 years.''
Cukier believes someone like Lepine would be less likely now to achieve his
twisted goal of making ``feminists'' pay for his failure to get into
engineering school. ``You reduce the risk, you can't eliminate the
possibility that somebody like him - and I prefer not to mention his name -
would get a gun.''
Surprisingly, Cukier said her big problem isn't facing off with the gun
lobby. ``Our biggest problem is that Canadians value gun control and they
don't bother to do anything about it.
I thought they were saying that Y2K wasn't a big deal? Oh well, glad to see that the federal Liberals have got everything under control. I still haven't received a response from the Finance Minister regarding the "withdraw your money from the bank prior to Y2K" protest..
RETRACTION!! CFC actually costs 1.7 million per denied purchase!
In an earlier article, I had incorrectly stated that 1,000 firearm acquisitions had been temporarily prevented by the registry, at an average cost of 300,000 dollars each. That number actually refers to the number of revoked/denied firearm acquisition permits. In reality, only 181 firearm sales had been temporarily blocked. Assuming the $300 million figure from the Ontario Solicitor-General, that yields a staggering cost of 1.7 million dollars per blocked sale. Again, it should be emphasized that if the denied purchaser really wanted a firearm, they would have no problem buying on the black market or rolling their own. Firearms can be illicitly manufactured using only a drill for as little as eight dollars.
Much of his legal argument is equally applicable here in Canada since our countries share a great deal of legal and political heritage.
Canada's foreign minister initially endorsed the bloody Russian assault, which now threatens to escalate into use of non-conventional weapons. A Russian leaflet has been distributed in the Grozny area warns that "All those who do not leave the city will be destroyed." More on the story at Russian ultimatum - get out of Grozny or die --CNN Russian riot police spokesman Vladimir Savin was quoted as saying, "During the day they act normal, at night they shoot at you. Without a weapon, he's a civilian, right? If he gets a weapon, he's a rebel." That's a scary piece of oversimplification. Millions of fed up, responsible Canadian firearms owners have proven that it IS possible for a citizen to own a firearm and adopt a contrary political stance without giving riot police an excuse to shoot.
Lies, d*mn lies, and statistics
A study due to be released later this month by the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters attempts to link firearms and domestic violence. What the study claims to find is that 60% of domestic violence incidents in rural Alberta involve firearms. Now, by "involve" they mean to establish a mental link between domestic abuse and firearms. What the study actually found is something quite different. The firearms are classed as "involved" in an incident even though the incident may later turn out to be unfounded and even though the firearms may have been safely stored and neither used nor considered for the commission of any threat or other crime. Now, coming from a rural background, I'd be VERY surprised if only 60% of rural Alberta homes have firearms. Thus, we cuddly firearm owners appear to be underrepresented as domestic abusers. Same goes for the First Nations population, which the study assigns an 80% "involvement" - again, a relatively low figure considering that almost all natives qualify for programs that allow them to receive firearms from the federal government, free of charge. Just asking, but isn't it considered a hate crime when you intentionally skew statistics against identifiable groups? Perhaps the perpetrators of this study would like to re-examine their findings ... and their motivations.
Keep the UN busy and donate food to the needy this Christmas season - just by clicking your mouse - at no cost to yourself. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?
Despite being prohibited from legally obtaining firearms, the criminal was able to amass a small collection of six rifles and at least one handgun. The killer's website rantings contained the following passage:
'?The NPD (Nashua Police Department) believed it could prevent me from getting guns HA!? he wrote. ?Some people thought that me working at 7-11 was hilarious, Idiots! The only reason I would get that job would be to spend every cent I earned on powerful assault rifles to execute my vengence. ... I have always lusted for the death of Amy.?'
[Incidentally, "powerful assault rifle" is an oxymoron as "assault rifles" are designed to fire reduced-power cartridges; a feature which distinguishes them from larger, heavier, slow-firing 'battle rifles'. Just my $0.02] How much money has been squandered upon ineffective gun control systems? Wouldn't it make more sense to spend that money on actual police work such as detecting loonies like that one before they kill? Read the article and decide for yourself whether harsh gun control laws actually work. If that loser can amass an illicit gun collection, couldn't just about everybody?
Perhaps the cruelest irony of the massacre is that Lepine was government-approved for his firearm purchase. Lepine applied for his FAC on August 29 1989 and purchased his firearm on November 21 1989. Two weeks later he committed the Montreal massacre and pressure mounted to "do something". What has changed? Our new laws are similar to the old laws, in that people who are thought to be a threat to public safety are not allowed to purchase firearms. The Canadian Firearms Center claims that roughly 1000 people have been prevented from purchasing firearms during the past year, but that claim is a distortion. Many of those rejected purchasers (probably most, since the black market seems to supply firearms in abundance these days) are honest hobbyists who are eventually permitted to purchase their desired firearms. At an estimated cost so far of 300 million dollars, the gun registry is spending close to half a million dollars per rejected firearms purchase. These rejected purchasers can then make a shopping trip to any hardware store and build their own gun in a few hours for a cost of about 8 bucks. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the gun registry's failure is not its cost or confusion, but the answer elicited when one asks the question, "Would a killer plotting the deaths of fourteen little girls obey a gun law that millions of quite ordinary and law-abiding citizens have vowed to defy?"
Palace sources referred to the anti-hunting tabloid articles as "offensive, inappropriate and inaccurate".
So much fun, it's almost illegal. Actually, it IS illegal under current Canadian law. Should you have the opportunity to participate in such activities you'd be well advised to wear clothing that prevents hot brass from burning your comparatively delicate skin. (I was able to view the video using IE 4.0 SP1a on NT without downloading additional plugins; YMMV)
Could this be the result of C-68 protesters withdrawing their funds from the financial sector in time for Y2K? nahh...
Y2K isn't just Jan 1 '00
Many people believe that the Y2K bug affects computers only on January 1 2000. In fact, the bug can take several forms and can also strike earlier or much later later than Jan 1, 2000. How? Consider a piece of software which records the date in a given piece of data. A year later, the software reads the data and processes the date - for example, during automated archiving of data after a financial year. The particular lines of code that perform that archiving function may be used only once per year. Thus, that bug may not be detected using a simple rollover test from Dec 31 1999 to Jan 1 2000. In fact, the Y2K bug effects may be seen BEFORE Dec 31 1999 - and it already has, in several cases. Just another last-minute Y2K tip. :)
Dosanjh Must Demand Feds Scrap Gun Registry, Says Plant --
BC Liberals news release Nov 30 1999 Vancouver - The federal gun registry has been a complete failure, and Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh must demand Justice Minister Anne McLellan scrap the program when he meets with her this week, said BC Liberal Attorney General Critic Geoff Plant. Plant was responding to internal reports last week from both the RCMP and a government-commissioned consultant that indicate the program is in chaos, and its costs have grown to $300 million.
"The whole gun registry is proving to be an absolute disgrace," said Plant. "The cost of the program has more than tripled to $300 million, there's a huge backlog in licence applications and six provinces are now challenging the constitutionality of the legislation. How much more evidence does Mr. Dosanjh need that it's time to scrap this multi-million dollar boondoggle?"
"Even the NDP's colleagues in Manitoba have come out against the registry. Yet not only has Mr. Dosanjh refused to defend BC's jurisdiction by joining the constitutional challenge of this program, he has committed BC to help administer it. Mr. Dosanjh's Chief Firearms Office has hired 40 new staff just to administer the new Firearms Act on behalf of the feds. That's money that should have gone directly to hiring new front-line police officers."
"It's the height of hypocrisy for Mr. Dosanjh to criticize federal underfunding of the RCMP, then endorse a program that's diverting precious police resources to administer an ineffective and bureaucratic nightmare. We need cops on the street catching real crooks, not sitting behind desks pushing paper. The Ontario Solicitor General estimates 1,900 new front-line police officers could be hired for the $300 million this registry is costing. That's almost five times the 400 RCMP vacancies in BC that Mr. Dosanjh has criticized Ottawa for not filling."
"Rather than participating in this waste of resources, Mr. Dosanjh should be joining other provinces in calling on the federal government to scrap it. He should use the opportunity of this week's meeting to convey to Ms. McLellan the real anger felt across the province by law-abiding gun owners who for no good reason are having to participate in this failed program," Plant concluded.
Comanies not seeking your money this Christmas season: Levi's, DKNY, Calvin Klein
All three companies support PAX - the same anti-firearm dimbulbs who handed out hundreds of thousands of candles at the recent Woodstock concert/arsonfest Levi's is even collecting signatures for a PAX petition. The Second Amendment Foundation indicates that other notables contributing to PAX include Handgun Control Inc, Ceasefire, HBO, MTV and media giant Time-Warner.
Hopefully the SWAT team and their supervisors have learned from this 'training exercise' that the possession or suspected possession of a firearm is not a crime. Perhaps next time the SWAT team will knock like civilized folk. C-68 allows SWAT teams to legally enter homes at gunpoint if they even suspect that the house might contain a firearm or even a "record" (eg a picture) of a firearm.
It is not illegal to possess a handgun in your own home. It is illegal to point loaded firearms at people for no just cause.
Winnipeg SWAT SNAFU update
The four-hour standoff was initiated by a call to police from a real estate agent. Police on the scene were quoted as saying, "at this point, all we know is that there's someone inside the house and they might have a gun." Contact was initiated via bullhorn and the people "suspected of having a gun in their home" came out at gunpoint under the watchful gaze of armored, camouflaged, heavily armed SWAT troops. No charges were laid and the only crimes committed were the little matters of pointing loaded weapons at innocent people simply because they were thought to have a firearm in their possession. Fat chance the cops will arrest themselves for assault though.
CFC "3 Things" ad misleading --Howard Hilstrom, MP
The following letter to the Editor was taken from the Brandon Wheat City News of October 17 1999: AD
MISLEADING Recently the Canadian Firearms Centre (CFC) placed advertisements in local papers titled "3
THINGS
ALL FIREAM OWNERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FIREARMS ACT". The Advertisement stated: 1. A license for you (a
huning licence won't do). You need a Firearms Act license or valid FAC to possess and register your firearms. 2. A
registration certificate for your firearm. This advertisement is misleading because for 1999/2000 many people do not
need to have a Firearms Act Possession Licence or FAC to go hunting. The new possession licence is not required until
Dec. 31/00 and firearms do not have to be registered until December 31, 01. This is another attempt by the Liberal
Government to deceive law abiding firearm owners into thinking they have to buy the new Firearm Act licenses and register
their guns before the Firearm Act requires it. Remember, before the Liberal Firearm Act we had low cost and effective
laws that: -required registration of all handguns; -included Firearm Acquisition Certificates requiring police checks on
gun purchasers; -provided for safety training for hunters; -allowed the courts to prohibit a person from possession of
firearms; -allowed the police to seize firearms if they were used in a crime or they had reasonable grounds to believe
that a crime was going to be committed; -included criminal code legislation prohibiting certain firearms and other
prohibited weapons and; -allowed police to enter stolen or lost firearms on a police computer system including the serial
number furnished by the owner. What the new C-68 Firearms Act did, amongst other things, is: -increase the number of
licences/registrations you need; -increase the costs to all taxpayers (firearms owners will pay twice); -make the system
so onerous many people may simply not register and; -infringe on Provincial jurisdiction as well as personal property
rights. C-68 replaced an effective, low cost system that Canadians had accepted with one whose greatest impact is to
harass law abiding firearms owners, along with other taxpayers. (Ed: C-17 was anything but effective, and at
$100 per
registration and 0 lives saved via registration it wasn't cost-effective either. C-68 is worse. As for the idea
that "assault rifles" are the most lethal firearms around, it's a myth. In Vietnam, 200,000 rounds were fired for
each enemy soldier killed with an assault rifle. Snipers using converted deer hunting guns fired 1.3 rounds on
average to achieve the same body count. All firearms regardless of type (and most sticks and bottles, for that
matter) can be lethal, but in the hands of a responsible
owner no one need
worry. It's time for government
to adopt a respected, comprehensive and commonsense firearm control strategy along the lines of the NFA's Practical
Firearms
Control
System.)
Man keeps Winnipeg's SWAT team at bay for hours ... with a toy gun ... while asleep ... without his knowledge.
CJOB 680 AM reports that a landlord called police when he entered his tenant's residence and spotted a "gun" on the floor near a sleeping individual. The heavily armed, camouflaged SWAT team members responded, surrounded the residence, and (four hours later) "established contact", at which time the residents promptly emerged. The sleeping man turned out to be the tenant's daughter's boyfriend, and the "gun" turned out to be a toy. The Winnipeg Police Service did not explain what laws the residents were suspected of violating. C-68 supporter Chief Jack Ewatski is presently seeking additional funding for the Winnipeg Police Service. UPDATE: details continue to remain sketchy, but the incident occurred near the intersection of Ellen and McDermot. The "landlord" may in fact have been a real estate agent, and the tenants were going to be leaving their residence shortly. Charges have not been laid.
Want an effective way to protest the Firearms Act? Just withdraw your money before Y2K. It's your money, and it's not your fault if your bank doesn't have enough to go around. Also in the news re Y2K today: Iran announces probable Y2K difficulties in the following industries: oil, electricity, communications, transport and health. --Reuters Iran is one of the world's major suppliers of oil. Reuters news agency pre-announces Y2K coverage schedule --Reuters
Of course, C-68 would actually have to REDUCE the number of illicit firearms in circulation before attacks on police/military sources become a desired source of firearms for criminal purposes. A full year after the C-68 came into force, that doesn't appear likely.
Notable Quote
"Elections Canada is, of course, the government agency which runs our elections. Do you suppose there's a possibility EC also lost some statistics from the last federal election? Did it perhaps misplace some votes? Do you suppose the Liberals didn't really win, that the true results are lying in a landfill somewhere? That Jean Chretien isn't really Prime Minister? It's almost too outlandish to contemplate. Isn't it?" --Winnipeg Sun Editorial, Dec 1 1999, in response to the newly revealed loss of 675,000 Manitoba driver's license records by Elections Canada.
Nah. If the Federal Liberals were cheating, they would have garnered more than their paltry 38% of the vote... or would that have been too obvious? Did anyone you know actually vote for them?
Who says you can't fight city hall?
