WhatFinger


Register Criminals, not hunters, collectors, and sports shooters: The current gun laws make no sense and as described above are inherently dangerous to both the police and the public.

The real Abomination of the Liberal's C-68 Firearms Act



The real abomination of the Liberal’s Bill C-68 the Firearms Act (Now affectionately known as “Statutes Canada 1995 – Chapter 39”) is the criminalization of the law abiding gun owners by the licensing provisions of the Firearms Act. See The whole Firearms Act has to go--Not just the Gun registry, and how it affects all firearms owners explained by Professor Emeritus Gary Mauser Dr. Gary Mauser, Boiling Frogs – and Gun Owners
The "long gun registry" was/is but a minor irritant. There is ample evidence that it has not been destroyed as required by legislation and police are still using copies of it although it is now vastly out of date and still error riddled making it even more dangerous than before. Any police officer using the information therein would have to extremely naïve or suicidal. The least dangerous people they may have to call on are those who have gone through the hoops and cost of licensing. Every officer of the law knows that criminals do not line up to license and register their stolen, knock off, or smuggled weapons of any kind. So a “no guns present” hit from the registry could give a naïve officer a false sense of security. If someone is in the CFC data base, it means they are by definition law abiding. So are most of the people who owned firearms for generations, but refused to abide by the draconian licensing laws. In many cases the CFC (Canadian Firearms Center) does not always notify some people that their license has expired. Failure to renew by the deadline makes you an instant "criminal" with severe penalties provided including jail time and personal ruination. Such penalties used to be reserved for home invaders and gang bangers. But the penalties for simple possession of a firearm as we owned for generations without a license, can easily exceed those for home invasion, theft, and assault. An expired license is a victimless “paper crime.” THAT is only one reason why C-68 MUST be repealed, as promised by our government, and why we supported the Prime Minister to his majority. Those of us in the dangerous data base are at greatest risk with our most personal information there for virtually anyone to peruse. See Garry's news release which clearly states the intention of our government in waiting at the time:

Support Canada Free Press


This spells out the specifically stated policy of our government which was given the majority on the backs of some five to seven million honest firearms owners, who believed the promises made by Stephen Harper before he became Prime Minister and MP Garry Breitkreuz, while he was Official Opposition Critic for Firearms and Property Rights. The vast majority of firearms owners did not comply with C-68 making the draconian gun laws hold the record for the most non-compliance of any legislation ever enacted in Canada. Only some two million actually ever licensed. Unfortunately for those who did not comply, many had the old FAC (Firearms Acquisition Certificate) and/or hunting records, and thus are well known to the gun bureaucrats and police, but how can they simultaneously attack 3 to 5 million people who have never committed a crime and never would? There are not enough police and jails in the world to incarcerate and ‘punish’ them all. Yet those people live under the “Sword of Damocles” for a victimless “paper crime” and are subject to greater penalties than gangsters, drug dealers, home invaders, thieves, and muggers. Thus we have ridiculous “amnesty” programs where Granny turns in her old musket or Winchester lever action that her husband had inherited. So many priceless historical and artistic firearms have been destroyed by such mindless actions with absolutely no affect on crime since what drug dealer or gang banger would turn in his stolen Glock or Smith and Wesson? The guns turned in were never “on the street” nor would they ever be. Never until the last couple of years before C-19 was passed, did we hear "kill the long gun registry" as a "promise" or policy. Such was never debated or passed at any Annual General Meeting of the Conservative Party of Canada. (Bill C-19 was enacted to remove the requirement to register or record sales of long guns, or “kill the long gun registry.”) On April 5, 2012, Bill C-19, Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act, came into effect mandating removal of the requirement to register non-restricted firearms and the RCMP were ordered to destroy the data base of all such firearms. While this small step towards easing the draconian requirements of traditional law abiding gun owners, such was never part of CPC election platform. We fully expect our government to keep their promises. The last actual policy "promise" was #81 of their 2006 election platform: "we will repeal the Liberal's gun laws." We are still waiting. Honest gun owners have traditionally been the best friends and allies of the police. Now the gun laws have instilled fear and distrust. Rather than seeing your "friend" the local RCMP sergeant drive into your yard for a visit and perhaps a coffee and maybe fire off a few rounds for target practice at our range, we now wonder, "are they coming to take our guns and put us in jail?" I am a member of our RCMP Rural Crime Watch organization and have known and befriended many police officers and in fact still hunt with them. Some of them used our range for target practice before we voluntarily closed our restricted pistol range due to development nearby. No one complained, we simply decided to do so before new residents moved in downrange. That is the real tragedy of the Liberal's C-68 "Firearms Act" which criminalizes the honest and protects REAL criminals. Since the firearms laws force all firearms owners under threat of severe penalty, to keep their guns locked in secure storage and ammunition stored separately, it becomes most difficult to use one for self defense, even though the Prime Minister recently stated that rural people should be able to do so. The long minutes it may take to remove a firearm from storage, do the same for ammunition, load the firearm, and have it ready for use will almost always be too late as home invaders kick your door in and attack you with whatever weapons they bring with them. Understand clearly that the tools of our sports activities; target shooting, hunting, collecting, etc. are not “weapons” unless used specifically for self defense. We never use them as weapons to violate others or rational laws. They are no more a “weapon” than a golf club, baseball bat, or tire iron, unless used to fend off an attacker. Since in urban areas, it takes 5 to 10 minutes for police to respond to a call for assistance, they are invariably too late. In rural areas official help is always too late. Real criminals know this and consider C-68 as their best friend. Live home invasions (the term was not even known before C-68) are now common and increasing. Just yesterday we all got a call from our Crime Watch Association notifying us that a home had windows smashed and various items including computers were stolen. This is becoming an almost weekly occurrence. Thirty years ago, we didn’t even lock our doors. Now that criminals know every home is by force of law disarmed and vulnerable, they have no fear of response by home owners, especially seniors and women who often simply do not have the physical ability to defend themselves. I would assume those are the people the Prime Minister was referring to in his recent statement about rural people needing firearms for protection. The current abominable firearms laws have made the police and honest firearms enthusiasts and sportsmen into perceived enemies with massive distrust instilled by actions of the police in certain instances such as the High River smash and gun grab and so many others. There are too many other instances of police attacks on non-criminals such as Buddy Tavares, Jonathan Login, and others simply because they own property that they have owned and enjoyed responsibly for generations. See Lorne Gunter’s excellent documentary titled “Broken Trust.” The grossly expensive, error riddled and vastly incomplete data base is a clear danger to both the police and the public as it has become nothing more than a "shopping list" for hackers and the dishonest who have unfettered access to it. As their former Data Base Administrator John Hicks stated when he resigned: "a 13 year old with a home computer could hack into the (porous) data base in minutes." We know from police reports that it has been hacked into a great many times, some 480 instances just from 2004 to 2010. Further, any police officer who relied on the severely flawed information therein would have to be either extremely naive, or suicidal. I know you all have heard this many times, but gangsters, murderers, rapists, muggers, and home invaders do not line up to register their stolen, smuggled, knock off, or home made weapons. The police of course, know this far more fully than most. That is why almost all front line police do not use the flawed information. Their lives depend on not using it. They gun bureaucrats cannot provide a single instance of the gun laws actually saving a life. This includes the handgun registry which has been in existence since 1934. That particular data base is also grossly incomplete with over 300,000 expired licenses and a large percentage of the firearms in it now of unknown ownership and location as many of the owners passed away, or moved without notifying the CFC. Yet statistically, the roughly million handguns owned for generations by honest sportsmen and collectors are virtually never used in crimes. The actual number is actuarially insignificant, or non-existent. We have never been a problem. As Garry Breitkreuz stated on more than one occasion, “Register Criminals, not hunters, collectors, and sports shooters.” But that would make sense for public safety. The current gun laws make no sense and as described above are inherently dangerous to both the police and the public.


View Comments

Don Klein -- Bio and Archives

Pilot and rancher Don Klein is Secretary of Valley Rifle Club (Inc 1972), Member of CSSA, Member of NFA, Member Conservative Party of Canada, Member RCMP Rural Crime Watch.


Sponsored