TEAM CSSA E-NEWS – 9 November 2011

CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION

TEAM CSSA E-NEWS – 9 November 2011



COMMENTARY – DOES OUR STEADY MEDIA RAIN SOAK IN?




During the last decade or two, responsible firearms owners have taken a serious drubbing in the media.

Half-assed media reports insisted on drawing a straight line between us and the perpetrators of crime. Anyone with a gun must possess a hidden agenda to harm others, right?

All these years later, there is a glimmer of light on the horizon. Several reporters and columnists have taken the time to understand the gun file – and in doing so, they delineate between sport shooters and gang-bangers. Some writers have gone so far as to suggest sport shooters are taking part in a respectable heritage activity. We take our families hunting and to the range like other families head for the arena and soccer field.

People who don't use guns are very, very puzzled by us. The question is oft repeated: Why does anyone need a gun? This is not an urban vs. rural issue. There are anti-gun advocates in northern Alberta and avid sport shooters in downtown Toronto. Gun-haters have adopted their beliefs because they don't see what we see.

The anti-gun contingent doesn't realize that shooting straight – really straight – is an extremely difficult undertaking. They don't understand that hundreds of hours of patient practice begets expertise and much (expensive!) brass underfoot. The task that sport shooters face is one of tolerant education. Many people consider that skydiving is a very strange thing to do from a perfectly good airplane, yet they have come to believe that skydivers are rewarded by the jump.

Several CSSA members have had many letters to the editor published across the country because they express tolerance. They are the voice of responsible gun owners who methodically try to set the record straight. We all know who they are and we appreciate their literate and polite endeavours to get the truth out there.

The CSSA expressed caution as some gun owners prepared to hammer the Conservatives with lists of demands immediately after the last federal election. We asked the firearms community to take a breath, lest every M.P. receive a sheaf of manifestos that were at odds with one another. To avoid M.P.s confusion and possible alienation, the CSSA asked to be the collective voice while the newly minted Conservative majority tried to figure out how to carry this file forward. We now have a bill in the works and the opposition continues to resort to bogus, hysterical banter to oppose it – no change there! Except we're closer than ever to turning this big ship around.

In the meantime, please keep writing those letters to the editor. Canadians need to know we come in peace.

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TOP COP TELLS SHOW-STOPPER WHOPPER: Local police say they will be disarmed of a useful tool when the long-registry is abolished, as promised by the federal Conservative government. Bracebridge OPP Insp. Ed Medved explained the OPP made a point of including support for keeping the long-gun registry in place during its most recent strategy meetings held in August of 2010. He said while police did not see it as their main resource for information, the registry is often one of the first databases police would query when responding to a call. "The OPP don't play a direct role in legislation, but anything to do with increasing the public safety we would endorse," Medved said. "We would support having as many databases, as much information as possible; it (the long-gun registry) was a tool and it was frequently used." "We query that database quite often," Medved said of his detachment. "It was a tool and obviously we'll keep using it until it's no longer available to us."... "If it was of no value, very few people would be accessing it every day; if it was only of a little use, only a few people would access it, but it is being used frequently." (Cottage Country Now – November 2, 2011)

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CSSA SLAPS TOP COP WITH KUNTZ QUOTE: Bracebridge OPP Insp. Ed Medved's support for the long-gun registry may reveal an unsettling ignorance of what is best for his police officers. A national survey conducted by Police Constable Randy Kuntz showed that 92 percent of front-line police officers want the registry scrapped immediately. Why? Because they know it can get them killed if they believe the registry's data results. Constable Kuntz is a 22-year Edmonton Police Services veteran and Exemplary Service Medal recipient – here's what he has to say about the registry: “The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police tells the public that it is a necessary tool for law enforcement. It is not. It just gives the perception of that. It was pretty overwhelming that those who responded (to the survey) were against the registry. Most of the respondents were constables and sergeants/detectives – guys and gals with their boots on the pavement, so to speak. If you rely on a computer database for your safety, you are an idiot. Learn to investigate using your observation and communication skills. We were pretty successful in doing that for 100 years prior to the registry. The firearms database shows registered firearms and their owners. No telling where those firearms are actually located, it just shows the law abiding citizen who owns legal firearms. It’s a huge mistake on the police officer’s part, relying on a database for your safety. It’s ridiculous.” We can only hope that Bracebridge OPP officers can learn to fend for themselves, because Insp. Medved's faith in the registry doesn't bode well for their safety. (CSSA letter to the editor – November 7, 2011)

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ONTARIO WINTER GAMES – MARCH 5-12, 2012: Attention all Junior Air Pistol/Rifle Shooters!The 2012 Ontario Winter Games will be held in Collingwood, Ontario on March 5-12. These provincial multi-sport competitions for Ontario youth are held every two years. Air Rifle and Air Pistol are included in the Winter Games. The CSSA will be sending 5 regional teams the games, each consisting of 4 Junior Shooters – 2 air pistol (1 male, 1 female) and 2 air rifle shooters (1 male, 1 female). Each team will be accompanied by a team coach and team manager. We will be using the November 12-13 and December 10-11 LSBA competitions for the team trials. LSBA competitions are hosted at the following clubs:

Pioneer Sportsmens Club (Kitchener)

Durham Region Sharp Shooters ( Oshawa )

RA Club ( Ottawa )

Peterborough Fish & Game Club (Peterborough)

Port Elgin & Kincardine

Possibly Maple Leaf Marksmen (St. Catharines)

If you require more information, please contact Patrick Haynes, via email at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]

Attention all Air Pistol/Rifle Coaches and Volunteers! To support our Ontario Winter Games shooting athletes, we require the assistance of 10 adult volunteers (5 male and 5 female) to act as coaches and managers. If you are interested and have experience as either a team coach or managers, please contact Patrick Haynes, via email (haynes@targetshooting.ca ) before as soon as possible. Training and mentoring support can be made available.


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DEAD REGISTRY IS A GOOD REGISTRY: It was like a ton of bricks had been lifted off my shoulders when I heard it on the radio; "The Harper government announced this morning (October 25th) Bill C-19, a law to abolish the long-gun registry." It finally happens. The $2 billion feel-good policy, introduced in 1991 that did absolutely nothing to keep guns out of criminals' hands, that didn't save a single life but turned every law-abiding Canadian firearm owner into a potential crime suspect, will be gone before Christmas. I am very pleased to hear that the government, in addition to getting rid of this useless piece of legislation, will also destroy all the information on individual gun owners, too... I am sure there will be a few heated debates in the coming days and weeks. The pro-firearm registry lobby and their allied media friends already started their usual spin on what they call "facts." But no matter how loud and lively the discussions will be, the long-gun registry will be shot down. With that, Harper fulfilled one of his most anticipated election promises to the rural community, hunters, sport shooters, and firearm collectors. Thank you, Mr. Harper, for keeping your election promise. (By Othmar Vohringerby – Merritt News (BC) – November 3, 2011)

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CHAREST CONTINUES REGISTRY FLIP-FLOP TO WIN VOTES: As tensions mount between Quebec and Ottawa over the federal government's proposed law to abolish the longgun registry, a wide-ranging group of activists and politicians gathered at Dawson College on Friday to urge the province to take legal action to save the registry and its vast database. Heidi Rathjen of Poly sesouvient.ca, a group that has tracked gun laws since the massacre at the École Polytechnique that killed 14 women on Dec. 6, 1989, said Quebec should do everything in its power to ensure the gun registry is maintained in the province. Rathjen called on the government to seek a court injunction that would block bill C-19, the proposed law that would end the requirement that long-gun owners must register their weapons in a central database that can be consulted by police everywhere in Canada. The gun registry law makes it a criminal offence to possess an unregistered firearm. She noted that if C-19 is approved, not even gun dealers will have to register their sales. Guns will become an invisible weapon in our society, she said. She called on the Quebec government to act quickly before C-19 becomes law... The Quebec government has said it will set up its own registry and is demanding the federal government maintain the database and hand it over to province. Premier Jean Charest said Quebecers paid for their share of the registry and therefore should get the data. Meanwhile, the National Assembly unanimously approved a motion Thursday ordering Quebec's chief firearms officers to "take all the necessary measures to preserve the completeness of the data from Quebec entered in the firearms registry." The National Assembly vote puts the firearms officer in a legal bind. He is an agent of the Surêté du Québec, but he reports to Ottawa. Charest has stated that he is ready to seek a court injunction to stop C-19. But he said he has to wait until the bill becomes law... Rathjen said court actions would be based on the section of the Charter that gives every citizen the right to liberty and security... (Montreal Gazette – November 5, 2011)

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SUN COLUMNIST EXPOSES OPPOSITION HYSTERIA: ...Thanks to the Conservative majority the registry's days are finally numbered, but right to the bitter end the whining continues. Even as federal legislation to end it passed second reading in the Commons 156-123 (with two Northern Ontario New Democrats voting with the government) and went to committee last week, the registry's defenders were still at it. The debate was so toxic, you'd think this argument had just started. New Democrat MP Jack Harris said the government is making it easier for "dangerous firearms to fall into the wrong hands." How, exactly, we'll never know. He didn't say. "When people get up on their feet and they say that no crimes have been prevented by the registry, that is just absolute crap," Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae told reporters. "Lives have been saved." Which lives, he didn't mention. They never do. And so it dragged on – the same old tired arguments, the same old empty rhetoric backed by no evidence at all. There was even one last new argument dragged through Parliament: Destroying the data itself is somehow wrong. Archivists claim it will set "a dangerous precedent." How? By preserving information that was wrongly collected in the first place and is known to be full of errors and omissions?... (By Connie Woodcock – Toronto Sun – November 6, 2011)

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LETTER WRITER SEES THROUGH WRONG-HEADED EDITORIAL: Irrational public policy debates like the long-gun registry interest me. In my view, your recent editorial trashing the Conservatives for abolishing the registry is seriously misleading (Safety catch, Oct. 26, North Shore News). [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] You claim that police won't know if there are long guns in a house post-long-gun registry. This is misleading: Police will know in the case of law-abiding gun owners because they have a "gun licence" (PAL or POL) which officers can check from their cars. But post-long gun registry, as today, if the homeowner is a criminal, police will normally have no such information; criminals don't register guns or get licences. My friends in law enforcement tell me that they must assume every house has firearms for that reason. Police will no longer be able to return stolen guns, you say. Wrong. Having lost a legal, 1,000-plus-dollar gun, the owner won't report it stolen to the police? You quote Statistics Canada data indicating that 43 people were killed with long guns in 2009 and imply that a registry would have saved lives. How would a long-gun registry prevent long-gun deaths when a handgun registry (which has existed since 1934) did not stop the 112 handgun deaths in 2009? You fail to report that of the 43 long-gun deaths, at least 20 were by illegal weapons (and hence non-registerable), and do not report suicides, which if not done by gun, are usually done otherwise. These statistics are not supportive of your argument. You trash the Conservatives for being "blind to the evidence, deaf to professionals and motivated by unexamined ideology." Unbelievable! In its 77 years, the short-gun registry has totally failed to stop criminal use of short guns... (Letter to the editor -- By John Hunter – North Shore News – November 6, 2011)

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THE GAPING GULF BETWEEN SPORT SHOOTERS AND CRIMINALS: ...Farmers, hunters and sport shooters who use firearms safely never were the problem, and as MP Garry Breitkreuz has said thousands of times since 1995, "Laying a piece of paper beside a gun does nothing to prevent crime." Recent statistics obtained by Breitkreuz from the Library of Parliament and Statistics Canada, and cited by National Post columnist Lorne Gunter, showed that licensed owners and their registered firearms are rarely involved in the most violent crimes. On Oct. 25, Gunter wrote: "Of the 7,720 homicides committed between 1997 and 2009, just 95 (1.25 per cent) were committed with a firearm registered to the accused murderer, and only 151 (1.98 per cent) were committed by a person who held a valid firearms licence." Gunter added: "The murder rate among gun owners using a gun is just 0.38 per 100,000 licensed owners, while the overall murder rate in Canada since 1997 has been about 1.85 per 100,000 population." (Letter to the editor -- Dennis R. Young (former Breitkreuz adviser) – Calgary Herald – November 7, 2011)

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IS YOUR FIREARMS LICENSE CLOSE TO EXPIRY?

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The CSSA is the voice of the sport shooter and firearms enthusiast in Canada. Our national membership supports and promotes Canada's firearms heritage, traditional target shooting competition, modern action shooting sports, hunting, and archery. We support and sponsor competitions and youth programs that promote these Canadian heritage activities.


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CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
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