COMMENTARY – WHACK-A-MOLE: THE RCMP RAMPS UP THE GAME
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, the RCMP has ramped up its game of doing anything it can to discredit the Harper government.
Last Thursday, after the welcomed announcement of the Royal Assent of Bill C-42 – the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act – the RCMP Firearms Program released a Bulletin for Businesses, a Bulletin for Police and a shiny new web page outlining the RCMP’s time frame for Bill C-42’s “Coming into Force.” These documents purported some sections of the bill will take as long as 21 months to implement!
Firearms owners were dismayed at the lengthy implementation times. Just one little thing though … it was a total fabrication. (That’s a nicer word than ‘lie’.)
You see, the bill very specifically states in its last section that the “Coming into Force” dates are to be specified by the “Governor in Council.” And to the chagrin of the gun-ban bureaucrats, that’s not the RCMP Firearms Program, it’s Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney. Incredulous government officials sprang into action, ensuring that the website was immediately changed and a new Bulletin for Businesses was issued. In a miracle worthy of canonization, no one was fired.
While heads are still reeling from this blatant attempt to wrest power from those we elect to wield it, the RCMP have struck again.
News of a new banned firearm has surfaced. A full auto? An Section 12 (whatever) gun? No, it is a simple blowback .22 rifle, just like the kind many thousands of Canadian shooters use every day. Worse, there are two models of this firearm, and the functioning parts are ABSOLUTELY IDENTICAL!
The firearms in question are the Mossberg Blaze and the Mossberg Blaze 47. There are two important differences between them. The first is that the Blaze has a black plastic stock and the Blaze 47 has a wood-coloured plastic stock that vaguely resembles the racy lines of the venerable AK-47. The second difference is that the Blaze is non-restricted and the Blaze 47 is prohibited. Other than that, they are identical.
A quick call to the importer, Mossberg International, gleaned the following information. The only time the RCMP had actually seen the rifle was on its annual Las Vegas junket to the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. The distributor offered them a sample rifle for the purposes of evaluation, but the RCMP declined. A week or two later, the RCMP created it’s prohibited Firearms Reference Table (FRT) entry – presumably because of its cheesy resemblance to the AK – since it and its sister are functionally identical. Let’s say that again: The RCMP banned a .22 rimfire rifle it had never examined because of its looks.
How could this be?
Since we would never … ever … insinuate that the RCMP Firearms Program is a partisan, agenda-riddled bureaucracy attempting to influence an election by humiliating its political masters, we must then assume by default that the RCMP is totally incompetent. After all, no one with the tiniest shred of firearms competence could possibly conclude that a simple .22 rimfire blowback rifle could possibly be described as an AK-47 variant. Yet seemingly, as the identical rifle with the black plastic stock (the Mossberg Blaze) is FRT’d as non-restricted, that is exactly what has happened.
The CSSA has long advocated the formation of a Firearms Experts Technical Committee because of this exact type of incompetence. This is not the first time the RCMP has been wrong, and we guarantee it won’t be the last.
Canadians deserve better.
The decisions being made by the RCMP affect the property of lawful, trustworthy citizens. That their property could be arbitrarily (and wrongly) prohibited by a technical report made by people that seemingly couldn’t find their butt with both hands, is a travesty.
Minister Blaney has ordered a review of the Mossberg Blaze 47 classification. One is forced to wonder how many times the RCMP has taken similar actions without it being discovered.
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* The Rebel’s Brian Lilley takes on this issue. Click on THIS LINK to hear his excellent report on this issue.
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“Allan Rock said he came to Ottawa with the belief that only the police and military should have firearms. I believe that firearms ownership is a right, but a right that comes with responsibilities.” – The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety
HELP SUPPORT THE GREAT WORK THE CSSA DOES TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. DONATE HERE
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BILL C-42 WILL CLIP MOUNTIES’ GUN-GRABBING WINGS BUT THERE’S MORE WE MUST DO (By BRIAN LILLEY | The Rebel | June 25, 2015)
The Mounties are about to get their gun grabbing wings clipped thanks to passage of Bill C-42, the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act.
Passage of this Bill will stop the Mounties from making paper-work criminals out of law-abiding gun owners who have purchased firearms in good faith, and I say it’s about time. But, that doesn’t mean the Mounties won’t make dumb decisions in the future. I explain what we need to look out for and one of the things we can do to keep the pressure on politicians.
See Brian’s commentary: Bill C-42 will clip Mounties’ gun-grabbing wings but there’s more we must do
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UPCOMING CSSA TRAINING COURSES – The CSSA is teaching Club Level Safety/Train the Trainer and Range Safety Officer courses at its headquarters: 116 Galaxy Boulevard, on the following dates:
- June 27th and 28th
- July 25th and 26th
- August 22nd and 23rd
Room is still available and the only requirement is that anyone attending be a CSSA member. Book your space now as class size is limited to 20 students! To RSVP, please phone Monday to Friday at (416) 679-9959.
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HANDS OFF OUR GUNS: HOW TO HELP PREVENT ANOTHER HIGH RIVER “GUN GRAB” (Brian Lilley | The Rebel | June 2015)
It’s been two years since floods devastated large sections of southern Alberta. The flooding, which saw water fill the Calgary Saddledome up into the seats, should have been memorable enough for the destruction that ensued. Instead, many of us also remember it for something else, the unprecedented assault on civil liberties, the illegal search and seizures that took place particularly in High River. Yes, I’m talking about the High River gun grab because it has been two years and still no justice, no action for those that saw the Mounties become the breakers of law instead of the enforcers.
It is an event that has had real consequences regarding trust and the police. You don’t have to take my word that they broke the law. We have a report from an RCMP watchdog group that says the Mounties broke the law when they decided to enter homes and seize property without warrants or any legal authority. The Mounties claimed they had legal authority to enter homes because of the emergency and that they only seized guns in plain view.
The report by Ian MacPhail, chair of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, said that’s not the case: “In a number of instances, RCMP members seized firearms that were properly secured or that were not in plain view. In these cases the firearms were not removed with lawful authority.” The report also points out that while officers might have been justified in entering homes initially to search for survivors, subsequent visits to seize guns amounted to illegal, warrantless searches. The report details that some homes were visited two and three times.
Even in cases where the RCMP seized guns left in plain sight, they still broke the law because they did not report the seizures to a judge as required by law: “Absent a warrant, RCMP members were obligated to report their seizures to a justice pursuant to section 489.1 of the Criminal Code. The judicial oversight component of seizures cannot be overstated in the context of police officers taking personal property from a home.”
The actions of the RCMP not only damaged the reputation of the police force they damaged trust with the people.
A series of polls of High River residents conducted by the National Firearms Association found that…
- 53% of High River residents say they won’t evacuate in the next emergency (August 6, 2014)
- 67% of High River residents did not agree with the RCMP Complaints Commission Report finding that entry of the 4,666 homes by the RCMP was “appropriate” (March 5, 2015)
- 54% of High River residents support a judicial inquiry (May 6, 2015)
https://nfa.ca/news/media-release-poll-shows-half-high-river-residents-want-judicial-inquiry
I don’t think a judicial inquiry will happen, if it was going to, someone would have called it already. Given that the RCMP act under provincial authority in High River it should have been then Premier Allison Redford. Premier Jim Prentice didn’t call one when the report came out in February, he passed. In fact, I’m not even sure if he was asked much about it by a media that doesn’t seem interested in this story. And now with Premier Rachel Notley will you get an inquiry? Not likely, but that doesn’t mean we give up completely.
It’s time to keep pressure up so that there is no repeat of High River. So that police know not to act like that again. So we are launching a petition drive and I invite you to sign this, share it with your friends and family and make sure that police and politicians, be they municipal, provincial or federal know that you can’t treat law abiding gun owners like this.
Please SIGN THE PETITION by clicking on the red buttons at the top or bottom of this page. Make your voice heard.
All through my coverage of this story I have gone back to a quote that is hundreds of years old. It’s from William Pitt in 1763, speaking in the British Parliament: “The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter,—but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.”
That quote, which was referenced in the RCMP complaints commission report, should be on the mind of every police officer. We all want gun safety. We all understand rescuing survivors in an emergency. But that doesn’t mean you can forget the rest of the rights you are sworn to uphold.
Please click on the red button at the top of this page to SIGN THE PETITION. Then SHARE HandsOffOurGuns.ca with friends and family.
Join me in keeping up the fight. I’m Brian Lilley, and remember: I’m on your side.
Sign The Petition Now!
See the story: http://www.therebel.media/handsoffourguns
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STEVEN BLANEY, RCMP ORDERED TO HAND OVER GUN REGISTRY DATA TO FEDERAL COURT (By Bruce Cheadle | The Canadian Press | June 22, 2015)
OTTAWA – A Federal Court judge has ordered that Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney and the RCMP commissioner immediately hand over an external hard drive containing a copy of all Quebec gun registry data.
Judge Luc Martineau gave the government until 10 a.m. Tuesday morning to deliver the hard drive to the court — effectively issuing a vote of non-confidence in government assurances that all the remaining long-gun registry records would be preserved while court challenges continue.
It’s the first decisive legal skirmish in a battle that could last for some time between information commissioner Suzanne Legault and the Harper government over the long-defunct long-gun registry.
Legault will be launching a constitutional challenge Tuesday against retroactive gun registry provisions buried in the Harper government’s latest omnibus budget bill.
Martineau’s order came after a day-long hearing in which Justice department lawyers argued it was unnecessary to produce an actual physical copy of the records because the public safety minister had issued “four separate undertakings” to preserve the data.
Lawyer Richard Dearden, representing Legault, presented affidavits, letters and email evidence showing that previous assurances from the Conservative government in 2012 were ignored as it pushed for the speedy destruction of all gun registry records outside the province of Quebec.
“I don’t like using the words, ‘Can’t be trusted,’ but as you heard me say in the court, I don’t take comfort in an assurance not to destroy records when there’s destruction plans ongoing at the same time — and in fact destruction did occur,” Dearden said outside the hearing room.
It was the destruction of disputed records in 2012 that led Legault to issue a report this spring accusing the Mounties of breaking the Access to Information Act. The Ontario Provincial Police are now investigating the allegation.
The Harper government responded by retroactively rewriting the law, granting amnesty to anyone involved in the document destruction, backdating the changes to 2011 and then inserting the provisions in this spring’s 167-page budget bill.
Monday’s court setback didn’t change the government line.
“The will of Parliament has been clear on multiple occasions; all copies of the registry are to be destroyed,” Blaney’s spokesman Jeremy Laurin said in an email. “We will continue to stand up for this position in court.”
Legault has called the retroactive move in the face of an alleged crime a “perilous precedent” that could be used to retroactively absolve and cover up electoral fraud, expense scandals or other serious crimes.
Martineau sparked dismayed and alarmed glances Monday among three government lawyers when he mused aloud in court about retroactively absolving Nazis of war crimes and backdating the law to 1940.
The Conservative budget bill, C-59, cleared its final Senate vote on Monday evening, adding urgency to the emergency Federal Court hearing to seal the remaining records.
Government lawyer Gregory Tzemenakis dodged a direct question from Martineau over whether the government would respect an order to preserve the data once Bill C-59, which provides immunity from prosecution, came into force.
Tzemenakis asserted that “absent a constitutional challenge,” the bill’s new provisions will be the law.
In response to a question from Martineau, Tzemenakis said there’s no transitional measure in the new bill to preserve the previously existing rights of Bill Clennett, the original requester of the gun registry data.
“Parliament can divest individuals of rights, as long as it doesn’t infringe the charter,” said the government lawyer.
Clennett, most famous for being throttled by former prime minister Jean Chretien during a 1996 demonstration that coined the term “Shawinigan handshake,” issued a long manifesto on the need for governments to obey the law before Monday’s hearing.
He was sporting a grin as he departed the court at day’s end.
“It’s a good first step, for sure,” Clennett said.
Follow @BCheadle on Twitter
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LOOKING FOR UPCOMING GUN SHOWS AND MATCHES? Please visit: https://cssa-cila.org/upcoming-events-matches/
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CANADA IN THE ROUGH – POST RUT WHITETAILS
This week on Canada in the Rough, Kevin is in his home province of Ontario pursuing mature whitetails. This hunt takes place in late November and early December when the whitetail rut has subsided. Kevin hunts long and hard and after a few encounters and some heartbreak, he is finally rewarded for his efforts.
See the teaser: http://www.canadaintherough.com/post-rut-whitetails/
Canada in the Rough can be found on OLN, WILD TV, and CHEX. For a full schedule, visit: http://www.canadaintherough.com/schedules/
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EVERY MASS SHOOTING SHARES ONE THING IN COMMON & IT’S NOT WEAPONS (By Dan Roberts | AmmoLand Gun News | April 1, 2013)
Nearly Every Mass Shooting In The Last 20 Years Shares One Thing In Common, & It’s NOT Weapons
Manasquan, NJ –-(Ammoland.com)- Nearly every mass shooting incident in the last twenty years, and multiple other instances of suicide and isolated shootings all share one thing in common, and its not the weapons used.
The overwhelming evidence points to the signal largest common factor in all of these incidents is the fact that all of the perpetrators were either actively taking powerful psychotropic drugs or had been at some point in the immediate past before they committed their crimes.
Multiple credible scientific studies going back more than a decade, as well as internal documents from certain pharmaceutical companies that suppressed the information show that SSRI drugs ( Selective Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors ) have well known, but unreported side effects, including but not limited to suicide and other violent behavior. One need only Google relevant key words or phrases to see for themselves. www.ssristories.com is one popular site that has documented over 4500 “ Mainstream Media “ reported cases from around the World of aberrant or violent behavior by those taking these powerful drugs.
The following list of mass shooting perpetrators and the drugs they were taking or had been taking shortly before their horrific actions was compiled and published to Facebook by John Noveske, founder and owner of Noveske Rifleworks just days before he was mysteriously killed in a single car accident. Is there a link between Noveske’s death and his “outting” of information numerous disparate parties would prefer to suppress, for a variety of reasons?
I leave that to the individual readers to decide. But there is most certainly a documented history of people who “knew to much” or were considered a “threat” dying under extraordinarily suspicious circumstances.
From Katherine Smith, a Tennessee DMV worker who was somehow involved with several 9/11 hijackers obtaining Tennessee Drivers Licenses, and was later found burned to death in her car, to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Webb, who exposed a CIA Operation in the 80’s that resulted in the flooding of LA Streets with crack cocaine and was later found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, but was officially ruled as a “suicide“, to Frank Olson, a senior research micro biologist who was working on the CIA’s mind control research program MKULTRA.
After Olson expressed his desire to leave the program, he was with a CIA agent in a New York hotel room, and is alleged to have committed “suicide” by throwing himself off the tenth floor balcony. In 1994, Olson’s sons were successful in their efforts to have their fathers body exhumed and re examined in a second autopsy by James Starrs, Professor of Law and Forensic science at the National Law Center at George Washington University. Starr’s team concluded that the blunt force trauma to the head and injury to the chest had not occurred during the fall but most likely in the room before the fall. The evidence was called “rankly and starkly suggestive of homicide.” Based on his findings, in 1996 the Manhattan District Attorney opened a homicide investigation into Olson’s death, but was unable to find enough evidence to bring charges.
As I said, I leave it to the individual readers to make up their own minds if Noveske suffered a similar fate. On to the list of mass shooters and the stark link to psychotropic drugs.
Eric Harris age 17 (first on Zoloft then Luvox) and Dylan Klebold aged 18 (Columbine school shooting in Littleton, Colorado), killed 12 students and 1 teacher, and wounded 23 others, before killing themselves. Klebold’s medical records have never been made available to the public.
Jeff Weise, age 16, had been prescribed 60 mg/day of Prozac (three times the average starting dose for adults!) when he shot his grandfather, his grandfather’s girlfriend and many fellow students at Red Lake, Minnesota. He then shot himself. 10 dead, 12 wounded.
Cory Baadsgaard, age 16, Wahluke (Washington state) High School, was on Paxil (which caused him to have hallucinations) when he took a rifle to his high school and held 23 classmates hostage. He has no memory of the event.
Chris Fetters, age 13, killed his favorite aunt while taking Prozac.
Christopher Pittman, age 12, murdered both his grandparents while taking Zoloft.
Mathew Miller, age 13, hung himself in his bedroom closet after taking Zoloft for 6 days.
Kip Kinkel, age 15, (on Prozac and Ritalin) shot his parents while they slept then went to school and opened fire killing 2 classmates and injuring 22 shortly after beginning Prozac treatment.
Luke Woodham, age 16 (Prozac) killed his mother and then killed two students, wounding six others.
A boy in Pocatello, ID (Zoloft) in 1998 had a Zoloft-induced seizure that caused an armed stand off at his school.
Michael Carneal (Ritalin), age 14, opened fire on students at a high school prayer meeting in West Paducah, Kentucky. Three teenagers were killed, five others were wounded.
A young man in Huntsville, Alabama (Ritalin) went psychotic chopping up his parents with an ax and also killing one sibling and almost murdering another.
Andrew Golden, age 11, (Ritalin) and Mitchell Johnson, aged 14, (Ritalin) shot 15 people, killing four students, one teacher, and wounding 10 others.
TJ Solomon, age 15, (Ritalin) high school student in Conyers, Georgia opened fire on and wounded six of his classmates.
Rod Mathews, age 14, (Ritalin) beat a classmate to death with a bat.
James Wilson, age 19, (various psychiatric drugs) from Breenwood, South Carolina, took a .22 caliber revolver into an elementary school killing two young girls, and wounding seven other children and two teachers.
Elizabeth Bush, age 13, (Paxil) was responsible for a school shooting in Pennsylvania.
Jason Hoffman (Effexor and Celexa) – school shooting in El Cajon, California.
Jarred Viktor, age 15, (Paxil), after five days on Paxil he stabbed his grandmother 61 times.
Chris Shanahan, age 15 (Paxil) in Rigby, ID who out of the blue killed a woman.
Jeff Franklin (Prozac and Ritalin), Huntsville, AL, killed his parents as they came home from work using a sledge hammer, hatchet, butcher knife and mechanic’s file, then attacked his younger brothers and sister.
Neal Furrow (Prozac) in LA Jewish school shooting reported to have been court-ordered to be on Prozac along with several other medications.
Kevin Rider, age 14, was withdrawing from Prozac when he died from a gunshot wound to his head. Initially it was ruled a suicide, but two years later, the investigation into his death was opened as a possible homicide. The prime suspect, also age 14, had been taking Zoloft and other SSRI antidepressants.
Alex Kim, age 13, hung himself shortly after his Lexapro prescription had been doubled.
Diane Routhier was prescribed Welbutrin for gallstone problems. Six days later, after suffering many adverse effects of the drug, she shot herself.
Billy Willkomm, an accomplished wrestler and a University of Florida student, was prescribed Prozac at the age of 17. His family found him dead of suicide – hanging from a tall ladder at the family’s Gulf Shore Boulevard home in July 2002.
Kara Jaye Anne Fuller-Otter, age 12, was on Paxil when she hung herself from a hook in her closet. Kara’s parents said “…. the damn doctor wouldn’t take her off it and I asked him to when we went in on the second visit. I told him I thought she was having some sort of reaction to Paxil…”)
Gareth Christian, Vancouver, age 18, was on Paxil when he committed suicide in 2002,
(Gareth’s father could not accept his son’s death and killed himself.)
Julie Woodward, age 17, was on Zoloft when she hung herself in her family’s detached garage.
Matthew Miller was 13 when he saw a psychiatrist because he was having difficulty at school. The psychiatrist gave him samples of Zoloft. Seven days later his mother found him dead, hanging by a belt from a laundry hook in his closet.
Kurt Danysh, age 18, and on Prozac, killed his father with a shotgun. He is now behind prison bars, and writes letters, trying to warn the world that SSRI drugs can kill.
Woody ____, age 37, committed suicide while in his 5th week of taking Zoloft. Shortly before his death his physician suggested doubling the dose of the drug. He had seen his physician only for insomnia. He had never been depressed, nor did he have any history of any mental illness symptoms.
A boy from Houston, age 10, shot and killed his father after his Prozac dosage was increased.
Hammad Memon, age 15, shot and killed a fellow middle school student. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and depression and was taking Zoloft and “other drugs for the conditions.”
Matti Saari, a 22-year-old culinary student, shot and killed 9 students and a teacher, and wounded another student, before killing himself. Saari was taking an SSRI and a benzodiazapine.
Steven Kazmierczak, age 27, shot and killed five people and wounded 21 others before killing himself in a Northern Illinois University auditorium. According to his girlfriend, he had recently been taking Prozac, Xanax and Ambien. Toxicology results showed that he still had trace amounts of Xanax in his system.
Finnish gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen, age 18, had been taking antidepressants before he killed eight people and wounded a dozen more at Jokela High School – then he committed suicide.
Asa Coon from Cleveland, age 14, shot and wounded four before taking his own life. Court records show Coon was on Trazodone.
Jon Romano, age 16, on medication for depression, fired a shotgun at a teacher in his New York high school.
Missing from list… 3 of 4 known to have taken these same meds….
- What drugs was Jared Lee Loughner on, age 21…… killed 6 people and injuring 14 others in Tuscon, Az
- What drugs was James Eagan Holmes on, age 24….. killed 12 people and injuring 59 others in Aurora Colorado
- What drugs was Jacob Tyler Roberts on, age 22, killed 2 injured 1, Clackamas Or
- What drugs was Adam Peter Lanza on, age 20, Killed 26 and wounded 2 in Newtown Ct
Those focusing on further firearms bans or magazine restrictions are clearly focusing on the wrong issue and asking the wrong questions, either as a deliberate attempt to hide these links, or out of complete and utter ignorance.
Don’t let them! Force our elected “representatives” and the media to cast a harsh spotlight on this issue. Don’t stop hounding them until they do.
About Dan Roberts
Dan Roberts is a grassroots supporter of gun rights that has chosen AmmoLand Shooting Sports News as the perfect outlet for his frank, ‘Jersey Attitude’ filled articles on Guns and Gun Owner Rights.As a resident of the oppressive state of New Jersey he is well placed to be able to discuss the abuses of government against our inalienable rights to keep and bear arms as he writes from deep behind NJ’s Anti-Gun iron curtain. Read more from Dan Roberts or email him at DRoberts@ammoland.com You can also find him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/dan.roberts.18
See the story: http://www.ammoland.com/2013/04/every-mass-shooting-in-the-last-20-years-shares-psychotropic-drugs/#axzz3e7YM2eyh
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GEORGE JONAS: OUR GOVERNMENTS TAKE THE VIEW THAT IF THEY CAN’T PROTECT US, WE DON’T DESERVE PROTECTION (By George Jonas | National Post | June 20, 2015)
The Ontario government is threatening to take away Bruce and Donna Montague’s home, as the final act of more than a decade of persecution, in the course of which Bruce Montague was hauled away by police from a gun show, leaving his 12-year-old daughter traumatized; incarcerated for 18 months (his wife received a probationary sentence) and their small business ruined by the confiscation of their entire inventory.
Bruce and Donna owned a gunsmith shop and their crime was Bruce’s refusal to do the paperwork required by a series of inane gun-registry laws instituted in the 1990s, which were widely criticized and have been partly rescinded since, because he found the process nonsensical and intrusive. I presume he felt he shouldn’t have to tell his government his medical history or details about his love life in order to acquire or retain a license to his hunting rifle.
The Montagues defiant act of civil disobedience brought upon the couple’s head the administrative vengeance of the state. As Donna wrote in a recent letter: “Like many other small business owners, the bulk of our life’s savings was invested in our business. By seizing our inventory, the government has left us on the brink of a financial disaster. At the time, it was hard for us to imagine our plight could get any worse.
“But then, unbelievably, it did get worse: Government authorities maintain they can seize our home because they say it is ‘proceeds of unlawful activity’ or ‘instruments of unlawful activity’ as defined by the Civil Remedies Act of 2001.
“Again, keep in mind, Bruce’s alleged ‘unlawful activity’ consisted of him simply not registering his firearms as a protest.… He never stole anything, he never harmed anyone.”
Related:
First they took his guns, now the government wants firearms law protester’s house too
I’m afraid that’s precisely the problem, Donna. Stealing things or harming people doesn’t enrage the authorities half as much as protesting their intrusive, silly, liberticidal edicts. Civil disobedience may be a necessary, noble and unselfish act, but it carries a stupendous price tag. Good luck to you and to the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which has taken up the Montagues’ cause.
While on the subject of guns, in 1996 the University of Chicago released a nationwide survey examining the impact of gun laws on crime. The study sought to determine what impact, if any, U.S. state laws permitting people to carry concealed handguns have had on major crimes. Between 1988 and 1996, the number of states where ordinary citizens could legally carry concealed weapons had risen to 31. Before 1988, it was legal in only nine states.
The study found that in states where carrying concealed weapons became legal for people with no criminal record or mental illness, homicide had been reduced by 8.5 per cent. Rape was down by five per cent and aggravated assault by seven per cent. The reduction wasn’t due to home- or shop-owners blowing bad guys away. It wasn’t the use, or even show of force — victims pulling guns on assailants — that brought down the numbers. The reduction was due to overall deterrence: the awareness of would-be predators that their potential prey may be armed.
As I wrote at the time, the figures were not surprising. People have been arming themselves since the dawn of history because a capacity for self-defence deters some foes. Peace officers carry weapons for the same reason.
Most criminals aren’t kamikazes. Anyway, if only one out of 20 rapists balks at taking a chance on being shot, there’s your five per cent reduction in rape.
Citizens packing guns is no solution to crime. Just as crime has no single cause, it has no single solution. However, in a society beset with crime, some people may elect to arm themselves. Before telling them they may not, we’d have to guarantee them protection — and we can’t.
The authorities are unable to guarantee anyone’s security, whether in the street, at home or in church (as we’ve seen this week). The police can’t even guarantee the security of prime ministers, as Jean Chrétien discovered in the 1990s when his wife had to deal with an intruder inside a residence guarded by the RCMP.
The police provide significant protection by their presence as they patrol our communities and also by catching criminals after they’ve harmed us. Both are major deterrents, but when an undeterred assailant goes after us, we’re on our own. We can’t have a policeman at our elbows at all times and cops don’t materialize like spirits.
Based on the Chicago figures, if we had passed a law in this country letting citizens carry concealed weapons when the Americans did, it might have saved 48 lives in that year alone. In 1988 there were 565 reported homicides in Canada.
But Canada is not the U.S. Our gun laws go the other way. We often gloat about being a caring society, but for us, “caring” is a state monopoly. Our governments take the view that if they can’t protect us, we don’t deserve protection. And should we resort to civil disobedience, as Bruce and Donna Montague did, to protest the latest invasion of red tapeworms from our state bureaucracies, we don’t even deserve our liberty, livelihood and homes any longer. For shame.
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