CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
TEAM CSSA E-NEWS - July 11, 2011
QUEBEC GUN OWNERS MUST MAKE VOICES HEARD: Quebec is considering the idea of having its own long-gun registry if the federal government scraps the current version. Public Security Minister Robert Dutil told The Canadian Press that civil servants are considering a so-called "plan B" — a provincial registry — if the Conservatives deliver on their promise to ditch the federal one. "Certainly the people in the department have been told to look at all possibilities and to see how we could react to any number of circumstances," Dutil said in an interview. But the priority remains convincing the Tories that the registry should be kept alive, Dutil said. Keeping the pressure on Ottawa is a task that lies with Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Pierre Moreau. The federal government reiterated in its throne speech last month that it wants to kill the 16-year-old registry. "For the moment, there is still a (federal) law, no bill has been tabled, so we haven't seen the contents," Dutil said. "But we think we have good arguments for keeping the long-gun registry." The Quebec government has long supported the registry. During the 2008 federal election campaign, Premier Jean Charest urged the parties to maintain it and reinforce gun-control regulations... Dutil said several questions must be considered: Does the registry have a positive effect on reducing crime? Reducing suicides? Do police use the registry? Is the registry used in solving a wide range of crimes? "The answers are yes,'' he said. (The Canadian Press – July 10, 2011)
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PROVINCES - DON'T LOOK TO OTTAWA FOR HELP: The federal government has a message for provinces mulling their own long-gun registry startups: don't look to Ottawa for help. The Conservatives say they have no intention of sharing records or pumping cash into any new provincial long-gun registries that could surface once the doomed federal database disappears. Armed with his first majority mandate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is finally expected to eliminate a program that has been sitting in his crosshairs for years. Ottawa reacted Monday to a report that the Quebec government has a so-called "Plan B" — to set up its own registry — if the federal program is scrapped. The federal government made it clear that any such program would essentially have to be built from scratch. Citing privacy issues, a spokesman for federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Ottawa would not share records held by the Canadian Firearms Program with the provinces. "The information was collected by the federal government for one specific purpose where people understood what was going to be done with that information," Michael Patton said. "The minute you try to repurpose something for something else, then you can't share the information because of the Privacy Act."
A government source, who did not want to be named, also said the Tories will not be offering any money for the creation of provincial gun registries. The Conservatives have long promised to abolish the program — which they say is ineffective, wasteful and fails to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. In last month's throne speech, the Tories listed the abolition of the long-gun registry as a priority and Harper's powerful legislative majority would have no trouble burying it. His plans have met the stiffest resistance over the years in Quebec, which became a hotbed of the gun-control movement after the massacre of 14 women at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique in 1989.
(The Canadian Press - July 11, 2001)
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DO GOVERNMENT WORKERS TASTE BETTER THAN TOURISTS? Wilderness guides, research scientists and soldiers on sovereignty missions to the Arctic already pack guns for self-defence when they're in national parks with polar bears. Parks Canada issued a notice Thursday to legally recognize the safety precaution, now a policy. However, tourists will still have to leave their firepower at home under the wildlife regulations proposed by Parks Canada. "This isn't targeted at visitors to carry firearms. It's targeted at specific classes of people who provide protection in polar bear parks. We're not providing an opportunity for visitors to be armed," senior Parks Canada official Rob Prosper said from Ottawa. There are 10 national parks with polar bears in Nunavut, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Manitoba. Notice of the changes coincided with news reports of fatal bear attacks but is not related to them. "This is not driven by recent events. Polar bears are entirely different beasts from grizzly and black bears and, as a result, there is an increased risk of dangerous encounters," said Prosper, Parks Canada's executive director for northern Canada. Taking aim down a rifle barrel is still a last resort but, with more people moving around the Arctic, there are greater risks of bear encounters, so the measures address that new reality. "Polar bears don't differentiate people from seals," he said. Seals are the tastiest dining choice on a polar bear's menu.”... (Winnipeg Free Press – July 9, 2011)
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“EXPERTS” FORESEE A BUNCH OF BEAR BLASTERS: Plans to allow firearms in Canada's northernmost parks so people can better protect themselves from polar bears should not be extended south, experts say, despite recent incidents in British Columbia and Wyoming. Parks Canada made headlines with the announcement this week, but Alberta guides, wildlife experts and parks staff interviewed expressed no interest in bringing a similar strategy to this region. Doing so would be "a really bad idea and there's no reason for it," said Mark Boyce, a University of Alberta wildlife biologist who studies both grizzly and black bears. "Having firearms increases the probability that people will just blast them in the parks as opposed to taking evasive action, behaving responsibly and avoiding the conflict to begin with. That's the most important thing to do." (Calgary Herald – July 9, 2011)
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CSSA LETTER WRITER HITS (another) HOME RUN: Isn't it funny how guns are evil and dangerous, yet when their life is threatened, the very first thing people will do is call someone with a gun to come and help them? Isn't it funny how they will trust me to protect others when I am wearing a blue/black/green uniform, yet they will not trust me to protect myself and my loved ones when I am wearing blue jeans? Isn't it funny how a foreign government will trust my training and better judgment to carry a firearm for personal protection when I am visiting, but my very own government will not? Well, I tell you what, it is not funny. It's even pathetic. Being defenceless doesn't make you safer. Never did, never will. EDITOR'S COMMENT: Once again, it's people that kill people, not guns. (Letter to the editor by Michel Trahan – Winnipeg Sun – July 10, 2011)
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SLEEPING GIANT READY TO AWAKEN? Six months after the shooting in Tucson that killed six people and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., the Obama administration has yet to move on new gun control legislation. That could change soon. White House spokesman Jay Carney said a special task force has been "working through these complex issues, and we expect to have some more specific announcements in the near future." Gun control organizations such as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence have pressed the Obama administration since the Giffords shooting and have been critical of what they call a lack of action. Gun rights advocates such as the National Rifle Association have said the Giffords shooting should not be used as an excuse to infringe on the rights of legitimate gun owners. Carney said a variety of views are being taken into account as the administration looks at efforts to prevent mass shootings. (USA Today – July 7, 2011)
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Mer 13 Juil 2011 - 16:41
