From: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca (Cdn-Firearms Digest) To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Subject: Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #218 Reply-To: cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Sender: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Errors-To: owner-can-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Precedence: normal Cdn-Firearms Digest Tuesday, July 1 2003 Volume 06 : Number 218 In this issue: 1.6 million guns elude registry (REALLLY?) $252M 'DISGRACE' FEDS UNDERESTIMATED GUN REGISTRY COSTS: ALLIANCE CRITIC HALF A MILLION NEW CROOKS? Thousands overwhelm gun registry This 'ignorant' Canuck could go for a hanging Tories add cash to hire judges A task for the Library of Parliament RE: cfc website -- will it crash again? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:09:57 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: 1.6 million guns elude registry (REALLLY?) NUMBER OF GUNS IN CANADA = 16.5 Million Documented as of: December 13, 2001 Click Here for more information: http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/GunControl50.htm 1976 LIBERAL ESTIMATE OF THE NUMBER OF GUNS IN CANADA = 10.5 Million Documented as of: March 19, 1976 Click Here for more information: http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/firearms_facts_feb27-03.htm NUMBER OF GUNS REGISTERED = 6,019,925 Documented as of: April 15, 2003 Click Here for more information: http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/FirearmsRegistered-2003-04-15.xl s - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PUBLICATION GLOBE AND MAIL DATE: TUE JUL.01,2003 PAGE: A1 (ILLUS) BYLINE: DANIEL LEBLANC CLASS: National News EDITION: Metro DATELINE: Ottawa ON - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6 million guns elude registry - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The grace period to register rifles and other long firearms ended yesterday with about 1.6 million shotguns and rifles -- about one of every five such weapons in the country -- still outside of the national database. But the federal government is not rushing to track down and charge people with unregistered long weapons. Despite being past the deadline, Canadians will not face punishment if they contact the Canadian Firearms Centre to register a weapon in the coming weeks. They run the risk of a fine or jail term only if they are caught by police with an unregistered weapon. Over all, about 6.3 million firearms are registered with the Canadian Firearms Centre, short of the government's estimate of 7.9 million long firearms in Canada. In addition, Ottawa estimates there are 2.3 million firearms owners in Canada, of which about 200,000 have not signed up for a licence. Critics of the registry say the law will make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding gun owners. Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz said the huge number of unregistered weapons and unlicensed gun owners is a sign of the system's failure. He urged Ottawa to scrap the costly registry, which requires all gun owners to get a licence and register their firearms. "[This] creates a whole new class of paper criminals in this country," he said. Mr. Breitkreuz said he is not reassured by Ottawa's promise that no one will be prosecuted simply for the late registration of a firearm. "This verbal amnesty makes a mockery of the Criminal Code," he said. David Austin of the Canadian Firearms Centre said Canadians will not be punished for the late registration of a firearm, but that they are taking a risk in waiting too long. "In terms of an individual who is outside the system, we'd recommend that they immediately apply," he said. There was a last-minute surge of people registering long firearms yesterday. The influx of electronic registrations even slowed down the Canadian Firearms Centre's Web site. The registry was initially estimated by the Liberal government in 1995 to cost $2-million, after licensing fees were collected, but is now pegged to cost $1-billion by 2005. The Canadian Alliance said the money should have been used to increase the number of police officers in the country. The deadline for gun owners to register their long firearms had been extended from Jan. 1. (Handgun registration has been mandatory since 1934, and regulations were tightened in 1977 to restrict handgun possession and prohibit automatic and other heavy weapons and such items as silencers. The pressure group Coalition for Gun Control estimates there are about one million handguns in Canada.) The law allows police to charge first-time offenders, who have not registered long guns under the Firearms Act, and penalties could result in a $2,000 fine or six months in jail. Or police may lay Criminal Code weapons charges of illegal possession, which carry tougher penalties of up to 10 years in jail. However, it is not clear who will face prosecution for failing to register. British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have announced that they will not prosecute people who fail to register rifles or shotguns. Korean War veteran Oscar Lacombe, 74, of Edmonton, tried to get charged for failing to register his weapon, but police decided to use the Criminal Code rather than the Firearms Act. The former sergeant-at-arms of the Alberta Legislature carried his unregistered .22-calibre rifle to the legislature in January, pleading with police to arrest him. He wanted to challenge the Firearms Act to the Supreme Court of Canada. - ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:12:14 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: $252M 'DISGRACE' FEDS UNDERESTIMATED GUN REGISTRY COSTS: ALLIANCE CRITIC NOTE: This article also appeared in: The Winnipeg Sun, The Ottawa Sun, The Edmonton Sun, and the The Calgary Sun PUBLICATION: The Toronto Sun DATE: 2003.07.01 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 17 ILLUSTRATION: 1. photo of WAYNE EASTER Defends program 2. photo of GARRY BREITKREUZ New numbers BYLINE: MARIA MCCLINTOCK, OTTAWA BUREAU DATELINE: OTTAWA - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- $252M 'DISGRACE' FEDS UNDERESTIMATED GUN REGISTRY COSTS: ALLIANCE CRITIC - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New allegations surfaced yesterday that put the cost of the controversial gun registry $252 million above the original $1-billion price tag -- a figure quickly shot down by the government. The new number emerged as Solicitor General Wayne Easter insisted auditing procedures were put in place when he took over the hot file in April, and that the costs of the program are now being tracked. "The program was not implemented properly in the beginning and there have been some very serious financial problems with the program ... (but) we've got our accounting in line now, and our finances in line," Easter said from P.E.I. yesterday. The deadline for owners to register firearms was midnight yesterday. FORGOTTEN COSTS But Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz said the feds have failed to include the compliance costs of the program, which he calculated to be a minimum of $252 million, based on information provided by the Library of Parliament. Breitkreuz said the new figure, which pegs the costs to gun owners to obtain licences between $120 and $170, wasn't included in the original estimates the registry would cost taxpayers $1 billion by 2005. "These are costs to the economy, costs to taxpayers, and costs that the government should have come clean on," Breitkreuz said. "The government has to, in their cost-benefit analysis, account for all of these things." Canadian Firearms Centre spokesman David Austin said those costs would never be included in calculating Ottawa's tab to run the program. "It's like saying that the cost of filling out your Revenue Canada form should be attributable to Revenue Canada ... they're not costs that should be added to costs borne by the government," Austin said, adding that because of government discount offers, the average gun owner has actually spent $10 to license and register firearms. Sarnia-Lambton Liberal MP Roger Gallaway said the government should come clean with all costs for the gun registry program. "In the department of justice, and now the solicitor general ... there's a pattern of behaviour in everything they have done to suppress, or to discount or to hide costs," Gallaway said. "What's another $250 million in all of this fiasco? It's a disgrace." ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:12:56 -0600 (CST) From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 1" Subject: HALF A MILLION NEW CROOKS? PUBLICATION: The Edmonton Sun DATE: 2003.07.01 EDITION: Final SECTION: News PAGE: 7 BYLINE: SHANE HOLLADAY, EDMONTON SUN - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- HALF A MILLION NEW CROOKS? - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The day dawned today on more than a third of a million Canadians with unregistered firearms, according to Canadian Alliance MP and gun-registry opponent Garry Breitkreuz. Under the Firearms Act, all firearms in Canada were supposed to be registered by midnight, Dec. 31, 2002, but an amnesty extended the deadline to midnight last night. "I'm quite safe in saying there's probably 300,000 people who are out there and haven't registered their firearms," Breitkreuz said. "But there could be as many as half a million." Particularly irksome is the fact that all those gun owners without registration were transformed, overnight, into criminals, said Jim Hinter, the Edmonton-based president of the National Firearms Association. Hinter said in the six months since the amnesty was declared, the government did nothing to get the message out. "The government did sweet tweet," he said. "I've had 25 calls today, people panicked because they don't know what to do." Police won't be laying charges under the act, according to Sgt. Peter Kawalilak, president of the Alberta Federation of Police Associations. "I can guarantee that if a police officer comes in contact with a person who has an unregistered firearm, they may make a comment or write up a report, but they won't be laying charges," said Kawalilak, an Edmonton cop. "We haven't got a policy right now in the Edmonton Police Service, and we know the Crowns are not specifically tasked with charges relating to unregistered firearms." People won't feel a duty to obey a law police aren't enforcing, said University of Alberta criminal law professor Sanjeev Anand. Scandals over gun-registry cost overruns undermine public support for the Firearms Act, he added. "People will say it's an unwise law, and an unwise law will have a lack of public support," Anand said. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:17:37 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Thousands overwhelm gun registry http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1057011011441&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154 Jul. 1, 2003. 08:41 AM Thousands overwhelm gun registry Firearms owners snarl Web site ahead of deadline Up to 300,000 may now be in violation of law VALERIE LAWTON OTTAWA BUREAU OTTAWA—Gun owners who waited until just before last night's midnight deadline for registering firearms were frustrated as the federal government's Web site slowed to a crawl under a crush of thousands of last-minute applications. "If you're trying to get through, you're not going to get through. Their system is obviously not up to the task," Brett Norton of Burlington said after spending almost two hours at the computer yesterday. When that effort failed, he called the Canadian Firearms Centre and said he was told it would take a month or more to have an application form mailed to him. Norton, a hunter with nine firearms, decided to fax in a note saying he'd attempted to register, hoping it would offer some defence for being in breach of the law today. The autoworker and self-described procrastinator argues the gun registry will do nothing to deter criminals and decided to wait as long as possible to register his guns, hoping the government would scrap its plan. The government had already extended its deadline for registering firearms by six months, with a grace period that expired last night at midnight. The original deadline for registration was Dec. 31 — when a flood of applications caused such severe computer problems that some gun owners' names may have been deleted from the system. A spokesperson for the firearms centre said he wasn't aware of any complaints about the computer system yesterday, but added a notice was being posted asking people having trouble to keep trying. The centre took in some 7,000 applications between midnight and noon yesterday. The computer slowdown is the latest problem for the beleaguered gun registry, which has been criticized for administrative problems and enormous cost overruns that have already brought total costs to more than $1 billion. The Canadian Alliance said yesterday a parliamentary library report shows compliance costs could add another $250 million or more to the total. "Clearly the costs of the gun registry make this an issue of government out of control, not gun control," said Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz. The law is also under attack from Ontario and six other provinces and territories that refuse to prosecute those who fail to register rifles or shotguns. Solicitor-General Wayne Easter said yesterday he's prepared to have federal prosecutors step in if necessary. He also warned gun owners there would be no further extensions for registering, but he avoided tough talk as he described the consequences for those who've ignored the deadline. "Those individuals who don't have a proper licence or registration certificate may be liable — I underline may — may be liable to police action, including either a seizure of the (firearm) ... or the laying of charges, depending on the circumstances," Easter said in an interview. When pressed to explain, he said officers are expected to police the law to its full extent but not to devote a lot of resources to ferreting out unregistered gun owners. "There isn't going to be ... a witch hunt, say a massive undertaking to find unregistered firearms." According to the firearms centre, about 80 per cent of firearms in Canada — 6.3 million of the estimated 7.9 million — are registered. An estimated 300,000 people may still be in violation of the gun law today. However, gun advocates argue federal officials have drastically underestimated the number of people who own guns and are flouting the new law. Jim Hinter of the National Firearms Association suggested there are likely between 5 million and 7 million gun owners in Canada — far more than the 2.3 million the government estimates. "As far as I am concerned, the deadline doesn't mean a thing," said Wayne Fields, 59, a hunter from the Windsor area and leader of a national lobby group fighting the firearms registration rules. Fields, who has not registered any of his five rifles, calls the registry "unenforceable, unwieldy and a complete waste of taxpayers dollars." WITH FILES FROM STAN JOSEY ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:44:52 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: This 'ignorant' Canuck could go for a hanging http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/adler.html July 1, 2003 This 'ignorant' Canuck could go for a hanging By CHARLES ADLER -- Winnipeg Sun Where do I go to turn in my Canadian passport? Having taken the Canadian IQ test in the June 30 edition of The Winnipeg Sun, and failed miserably, I now feel like a man without a country. Since I was not born in Canada, I cannot say that I have been Canadian all my life. My parents brought me to these shores in the winter of 1957. I was still six months short of my third birthday. Five years later they, with the help of the government of the day, gave me what I have always considered the greatest gift any human could ever possess, Canadian citizenship. But have I taken that citizenship for granted? Is there any excuse for my failure to answer 10 of 20 Canadian trivia questions posed by this newspaper? I did not know that the telephone was not a Canadian invention. I always thought we got credit for that one because of the amount of time Alexander Graham Bell spent in Canada. But he was working in Boston when he invented the most important instrument in the last 100 years, and he was not born in Canada, even though he died here. Bell was a Scot. We think his telephone is our creation. But apparently it was not to be. I have often heard myself say that the essential Canadian is a person who needs very little. To punctuate the point, I said: "All a man needs is a telephone and a toilet!" Pity that neither the toilet (although there is controversy here; many believe that it was named after Thomas Crapper, who may never have really invented the flush toilet, but he was a plumber; unfortunately, Crapper was an Englishman) nor the phone was invented by a Canadian. If someone phones you telling you that Adler is full of crap on this, hang up immediately. The idea of public hangings has never bothered me much. I would love to see Robert Sand hang publicly for his cold-blooded execution of RCMP Const. Dennis Strongquill. He confessed to the killing, and later tried to recant. There is no doubt that the coward did it and instead of going to jail for 25 years, which still gives him a half a life (much more than what Strongquill gets), I would love to see the son of a bitch hang by the neck until he dies. According to the Canadian IQ test, the last public hanging in Canada took place in the winter of 1869, when James Whelan was executed for the assassination of D'Arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation. I got that question as well. I didn't know that Canada was only two years old when we had our last public hanging. I suppose this too makes me an ignorant Canadian. The anti-capital-punishment crowd thinks all we death penalty advocates are ignorant. They say that you can never be 100% certain that you have the killer in your grasp. That, of course, is nonsense. But it is based on the fact that the system has screwed up in certain cases involving circumstantial evidence. The 3 Ms of Murder -- Milgaard, Morin and Marshall -- as well as Sophonow immediately come to mind. We could easily install capital punishment laws which would eliminate the possibility of those kinds of cases resulting in the death penalty. The circumstances by which we know that Robert Sand killed Dennis Strongquill bear no resemblances to the deaths of the nurse in Sakatchewan and the doughnut shop waitress in St. Boniface. By the way, if you are prepared to hang Robert Sand, why would you show any mercy toward Laurie Bell? She went along for the ride. She pumped up his sick ego. She lusted for the blood of a cop and their common hatred for the man in uniform was for them an aphrodisiac. No, she didn't pull the trigger. All she did was yank the chain of the man who did. And this is one "ignorant" Canadian who feels the justice system is just phoning it in, sending respect for the country down the crapper, and jerking our collective chain every day. Oh Canada. The courts no longer stand on guard for thee. Charles Adler can be reached by e-mail at cadler@cjob.com. Letters to the editor should be sent to editor@wpgsun.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 07:45:22 -0600 (CST) From: Bruce Mills Subject: Tories add cash to hire judges http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1057011011394&call_pageid=968256289824&col=968342212737 Jul. 1, 2003. 01:00 AM Tories add cash to hire judges Nearly $16 million to be spent, Sterling says Part of `law and order' re-election strategy ROBERT BENZIE QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU The Conservative government will spend nearly $16 million to hire new judges, crown attorneys and support staff, Attorney-General Norm Sterling announced yesterday. With a provincial election expected this year, the Tories are hoping to boost their sagging popularity by reminding voters that the governing party has traditionally been viewed as tough on crime. To that end, Sterling said the $15.8 million in new funding will enable his ministry to appoint 15 Ontario Court of Justice judges. They will also hire at least 36 additional crown attorneys as well as court staff. "We are working to ensure that people facing criminal charges go to trial within a reasonable length of time. "This funding will help ensure cases go to trial faster, which will lessen the trauma already felt by victims, their families and witnesses," he said in a statement. "Our government remains committed to taking all possible measures to ensure Ontarians' safety and security, as well as access to justice. At the same time, we are acting to ensure victims and their families get the support and services they need." Sterling said over the past five years criminal charges in Ontario have increased by 13 per cent. "Court trials are far more complex today than they were 20 or even 10 years ago. For example, additional court proceedings are needed after a conviction in order to obtain a DNA sample from a convicted offender to place in the DNA data bank," he said. The attorney-general's announcement yesterday was part of a wide-ranging "law and order" strategy that Premier Ernie Eves hopes will help his party, which trails Dalton McGuinty's Liberals in every major poll, win re-election. In that vein, the Tory government will today proclaim a law passed last year that prohibits convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes. The Prohibiting Profiting from Recounting Crimes Act is designed to prevent criminals from exploiting victims by selling their stories. Under the new law, any money paid to criminals by publishers, television producers or filmmakers can be seized and given to crime victims. As well, convicts and publishers must report to the government any contracts for recounting a crime. Those failing to do so could face fines of up $50,000. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 08:30:30 -0600 (CST) From: "Karl Schrader" Subject: A task for the Library of Parliament Hello, Mr. Breitkreuz and Mr. Dennis Young: Recently, you had several studies commissioned with the Library of Parliament and several of us oppressed hunters and gun-owners are really wondering if it would be possible to ask the Library to investigate if C-68=The Firearms Act= Chapter 39 is indeed "charter-proof" as the government of the day claims it is. Since it will take an awful long time before the Supreme Court decides that this legislation overstepped the boundaries of good taste in a so-called democracy and we also are aware of the study by Dr. Ted Morton, but nothing is forthcoming in terms of any action to remedy this cancer on the Canadian soul, a study and subsequent publication of the findings by the Library would move things along a little faster. As a Member of Parliament you are entitled to ask the Library for this while the ordinary citizen does not have access to this valuable source of independent information. It would be really appreciated if you would look into this possibility and let us know one way or the other. Thanks for your tremendous efforts so far and best regards, Karl Schrader ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 09:07:46 -0600 (CST) From: Hayes Holdings Subject: RE: cfc website -- will it crash again? STEVE STUBLEY wrote: > O.K., I also didn't learn about LUFA until it was > too late!)...I am concentrating now on writing my letters to editors and > members of the governing bodies of this country. To Steve and any others who have not done so, please also seriously consider supporting the RFC Ottawa Office. Letters and op/eds will help sway public opinion, and are a valuable addition to the effort of replacing misperception with knowledge. However, if we can add to those letters a strong, rights based lobby in Ottawa. We could encourage fence sitting MP's to vote against anti-rights / anti-property legislation in Parliament. Support the RFC- Ottawa Office!!! It's your rights that Ottawa is legislating into oblivion. - ---------------------------------------------- Jason Hayes - Principal Hayes Holdings Consulting hh@hayz.ws / www.hayz.ws #1936 - 246 Stewart Green SW Calgary, AB, Canada T3H 3C8 - ---------------------------------------------- REMINDER: Support the RFC Ottawa Office. Make cheques payable to: RFC Ottawa Office (In Trust). Send immediately to: Charles Dillabough, CGA, RR #2 Chesterville, Ontario K0C 1H0 Your generosity is appreciated. All donations are warmly welcomed. - ---------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V6 #218 ********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:akimoya@cogeco.ca List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca FAQ list: http://www.magma.ca/~asd/cfd-faq1.html and http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://teapot.usask.ca/cdn-firearms/homepage.html FTP Site: ftp://teapot.usask.ca/pub/cdn-firearms/ CFDigest Archives: http://www.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca/~ab133/ or put the next command in an e-mail message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca get cdn-firearms-digest v04.n192 end (192 is the digest issue number and 04 is the volume) To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next five lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-alert unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".) 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