Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 15:11:20 -0600
From: robert.pogson@mwcs.mb.ca (ROBERT POGSON)
To: cdn-firearms@skatter.usask.ca
Subject: C-68 and our constitution
Message-ID: <199504102111.PAA04500@regulus>
 
     On  the  subject  of  Bill  C-68, many who seem to see no use for
firearms and who wish to deny firearms  owners  their  rights,  should
examine our constitution which forbids many of the abuses currently in
Canadian law and which are in C-68:
 
       Quotations from Magna Carta [1215] in Encyclopaedia Brittanica:
 
     "John, by the grace of God, king of  England,  lord  of  Ireland,
duke   of   Normandy  and  Aquitaine,  and  count  of  Anjou,  to  the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls,  barons,  justiciars,  foresters,
sheriffs,  stewards,  servants,  and  to all his bailiffs and faithful
subjects, greeting. Know that we, out of reverence for God and for the
salvation  of  our  soul and those of all our ancestors and heirs, for
the honour of God and the exaltation  of  holy  church,  and  for  the
reform  of our realm, on the advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen,
archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and cardinal  of  the
holy  Roman  church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William of London,...
of Ropsley, John Marshal, John fitz Hugh,  and  others,  our  faithful
subjects: ..."
 
     You  see,  a civil war erupted due to abuses of power by the king
and he wisely decided to adopt reasonable  practices  and  to  declare
them  binding on his successors. Our House of Commons is now accepting
many of the practises that were clearly seen by all  to  be  abhorrent
seven centuries ago.
 
     "[7]  A  widow  shall  have  her marriage portion and inheritance
forthwith and without difficulty after the death of her  husband;  nor
shall  she  pay  anything to have her dower or her marriage portion or
the inheritance which she and her husband  held  on  the  day  of  her
husband's  death;  and she may remain in her husband's house for forty
days after his death, within which time her dower shall be assigned to
her."
 
     Current  law  and C-68 contain measure to prohibit inheritance of
firearms without encumbrance.
 
     "[20] A free man shall not  be  amerced  for  a  trivial  offence
except  in  accordance with the degree of the offence, and for a grave
offence he shall be amerced in accordance with its gravity, yet saving
his  way  of  living;  and  a  merchant  in  the  same way, saving his
stock-in-trade; and a villein shall be amerced in the same way, saving
his  means of livelihood, if they have fallen into our mercy: and none
of the aforesaid amercements shall be imposed except by  the  oath  of
good men of the neighbourhood."
 
     Amerced  means  fined  according  to the wishes of the group, not
according to law. I believe it is  a  trivial  offence  to  possess  a
firearm  without disclosing that fact to Rock's Gestapo. King John and
his contemporaries would be rolling in their  graves  at  Rock's  idea
that years in jail at the taxpayers' expense would be appropriate.
 
     "[27]  If  any free man dies without leaving a will, his chattels
shall be distributed by his nearest kinsfolk  and  friends  under  the
supervision  of  the  church,  saving to every one the debts which the
deceased owed him."
 
     Rock wishes to deny many firearms owners the right to leave their
arms to their heirs.
 
     "[28]  No  constable or other bailiff of ours shall take anyone's
corn or other chattels unless he pays on the spot in cash for them  or
can delay payment by arrangement with the seller."
 
        Confiscation without compensation is part of C-68.
 
     "[39] No free man shall be arrested or imprisoned or disseised or
outlawed or exiled or in any way victimised, neither  will  we  attack
him or send anyone to attack him, except by the lawful judgment of his
peers or by the law of the land."
 
     Clearly, C-68 is controversial and not accepted by the  peers  of
many  firearms  owners,  yet  it  is  being rushed through into law by
closure.
 
     "[42]  It  shall  be  lawful  in  future  for   anyone,   without
prejudicing  the  allegiance due to us to leave our kingdom and return
safely and securely by land and water, save, in the  public  interest,
for  a  short  period  in  time of war, except for those imprisoned or
outlawed in accordance with the law of the kingdom and  natives  of  a
land  that  is  at  war with us and merchants (who shall be treated as
aforesaid)."
 
     C-68 contains provisions to prevent  movement  of  legally  owned
firearms to cross borders.
 
     "[54] No one shall be arrested or imprisoned upon the appeal of a
woman for the death of anyone except her husband."
 
     The cry raised  about  deaths  of  innnocents  was  seen  as  not
reasonable  grounds  to  restrict the rights of many upright citizens.
Wendy Cukier, take note!

     Why do we, in 1995, rush headlong  into  accepting  abuses  which
fomented  civil  war  in the past? Are we ignoring history in order to
assure its repetition?