Proof That Abolishing the Gun Registry Was Always For the NRA

Unless hunters and farmers are snipers, the Conservative abolishment of the gun registry was always, as suspected, for the NRA.  ALWAYS!  ALWAYS! ALWAYS! 

Not one single farmer or hunter ever crossed their mind, except to solicit funds or votes.  NRA! NRA! NRA!

The neocons turned down an NDP amendment to at least force registration of sniper rifles, but the heartless SOBs said NO!  It didn't help that the NDP put the wrong gun on their advertising leading up to the motion.

I think this will hurt them in Quebec, especially since one of those presenting the amendment, NDP MP Nathan Cullen, had voted in the past to end the registry.  The Bloc are already regaining ground (NDP 37, Bloc 27) and Quebecers are very passionate about this issue.

In other news, it would appear that Harper lied about directing public servants to remove 'Canada' from government parlance and replace it with 'Harper'.

And the Liberals are rising in the polls. 

Several recent polls have suggested the Liberals have rebounded as much as 10 points since their election drubbing, pulling even or even slightly ahead of the NDP, which supplanted the Liberals as official Opposition.

That last election was a fluke, but a fluke that we're all paying for.

Our only hope for the next four years is the "Occupy" movement and we need to get behind it.

The Reformers Remain Out of Step With Canadians

Now that Stephen Harper has his majority, he has been pushing through the Reform Party agenda at lightening speed.

If you want to know what that agenda looks like, read anything written on the Reformers from 1987-1999. Stephen Harper drafted their policy, 2/3 of it cribbed from the National Citizens Coalition handbook.

If you don't want to read the books, watch the Tea Party debates. Mass deregulation, attacks on the poor, attacks on women's rights and gay rights, religious fundamentalism, law and order for corporate America, everyone packing heat in the name of vigilante justice .... it's all there and then some.

What Harper may not have anticipated, however, was Canadians fighting back.

We are not taking the demolishing of gun control lightly, especially given the mean spirit in which it is being forced on us.  The Reformers are not only going against the wishes of the police, and the Canadian public who fought so hard to keep it, but they are also stifling debate in future governments, by destroying all records.

The environment is now back in the news, and climate change once again a key issue.  The Harperites don't believe in the science of climate change, so instead have spent the last five years and millions of our dollars, launching a denial campaign.  I heard a Tea Party politician recently suggest that we shouldn't worry about it because God promised Noah that there would be no more floods.

I feel better already.

Wheat farmers in the West have launched a campaign to raise awareness to the devastation that the abolishment of the Canadian Wheat Board will have on their farms.

In Brandon Manitoba, they dumped a pile of grain in front of Conservative MP Merv Tweed's constituency office. In Saskatchewan they straddled a railway crossing, symbolic of Harper telling farmers to get on his multinational corporation train.

The Canadian Wheat Board Alliance was formed to fight back, and demand the democratic rights of farmers.

After suggesting that "Bilingualism" was "the god that failed", Canadians instead have recently told our little dictator, that bilingualism is vital to Canada's future.  "47.5 per cent feel that bilingualism is “important” and 22.3 per cent feel it is “somewhat important”. A total of 8.1 per cent think it is “somewhat unimportant” and 19.2 per cent think it is “unimportant”." Pushing English speaking only appointments is not a smart move.

The Liberals were right to stage a walkout in protest.

Canadians rejected the Reformers at the ballot box, and the Conservative Party of Canada is still the same old Reform Party.  They are now in a position where they no longer have to pretend to be anything other than Reform, so look for a continued assault on Canadian values.

Jim Flaherty and Mike Duffy have been in Kingston Ontario recently, leading ghost walks, a popular attraction.  Both brought up Sir John A. MacDonald, as if they had something to do with their party.

Sir John A. would have hated these guys, because they are the antithesis of everything he stood for.  A strong central government and independence from the United States.  Kingstonians are smart enough to know that.  We have a Liberal MP, Ted Hsu; a Liberal MPP, John Gerretson; and our progressive and foreword thinking mayor, Mark Gerretson, is the MPP's son.

Nanos did a poll recap for October and under leadership scores, Harper is down 17 points, Bob Rae up 10.8.  Nycole Turmel is down slightly (by 3 points) and Elizabeth May up almost 9.

Harper might want to rethink his agenda.  Not that he will.  The arguments of American conservatism are iron clad.  He couldn't change course now even if he wanted to.

The End of an Era and a New Beginning

In November of 2009, Bloc Quebecois MP Claude Guimond, was suffering from H1N1, the virus that was making people incredibly sick and costing lives.

However, there was an important vote in the House of Commons that he didn't want to miss, so the Bloc asked the  Conservatives if Guimond could be paired.  This is a procedure where a government MP and an opposition MP agree not to vote for a specific period of time, allowing an MP to be absent.

The Conservatives refused.  They all wanted to make sure that their name appeared on the "yes" side.

The vote was on scrapping the gun registry, and there was a great deal of tension in Canada, because several NDP MPs were going to vote with the government.

Mr. Guimond made the trip, showing up in Parliament wearing a surgical mask.  We won, but it turned out to be bittersweet.  A Harper majority in the House and the Senate, assures that Canada has taken a crucial step toward creating the "gun culture" that the Reform Party always wanted. 

Stephen Harper wrote their gun policy, which will now be written by Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson of the NRA.  Canadian culture has been shot in the head.

I love how our compliant media is using headlines like "Conservative keep promise to scrap registry", suggesting that this is a positive thing.  They should read "Conservatives follow through on their threat .... "  They have clearly lost their credibility.

Some provinces want to create their own registry, since it is vital to police, but the government is vowing to destroy all records at a weenie roast and branding hoedown.

The image of the Conservative posse making their announcement with white men holding shotguns, made me think of  the movie Deliverance.    The only thing missing yesterday, were banjos and Ned Beatty's underpants.

Gun Control Advocates Say Don't Vote NDP or Conservative

Gun control advocates are urging Canadians to vote either Liberal or Bloc if they want to save the gun registry.

“What’s unfortunate from the NDP is that Jack Layton came to Dawson once and promised us to have a strong position about gun control in his party,” said Hayder Kadhim, who was wounded in the 2006 shooting at Montreal’s Dawson College. “But unfortunately in September I witnessed with my own eyes, that he didn’t hold his promise.”

On Sept. 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill stormed Dawson and opened fire. One student, 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa, was killed, and many others were injured before Gill turned the gun on himself. Several people who were affected by the Dawson shooting and the 1989 Montreal Massacre held a news conference in Montreal on Thursday. The conference was held at the home of the parents of Anne-Marie Edward, one of 14 women killed in the École Polytechnique massacre in 1989.

Think twice, vote once.

Harper's Gun Nuts. Is it Only a Story When the MSM Pick it Up?

In May of 2007, Susan Delacourt sounded the alarm on the Gun advisory panel, hand picked by Stockwell Day and Garry Breitkreuz. All were pro-gun lobbyists, including the man in the above photo.

The Conservative government's firearms advisory committee, appointed and operating in virtual secrecy, is made up almost entirely of pro-gun advocates opposed to the firearms registry. Its dozen members include a man who argued that more guns in the hands of students would have helped in the recent Virginia Tech massacre, in which 32 people were killed, and another shooting aficionado who described a weapon used in last September's Dawson College killings in Montreal as "fun."

The committee's pro-gun tilt lends to the perception that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is out of step with urban concerns on firearms violence – especially in Toronto. Jordan Manners, 15, was killed last week in a school shooting, days after philanthropist Glen Davis was gunned down. Over the Easter weekend, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day quietly extended a long-gun amnesty program to allow those firearms owners yet more time to register their weapons – pleasing registry opponents but angering those fighting for tougher laws. In background research obtained and confirmed by the Star, members of the Conservatives' committee have shown themselves to be vocal proponents of gun use.

But the story gained little traction and all but went away. This allowed the Conservatives to continue their pro-gun agenda.

Harper's Reform movement has had long and deep ties with the American NRA and follows their belief that citizens should be armed for their own protection. In 2001, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, posted on the NRA website.

A Canadian Alliance MP has defended his appearance on the U.S.-based National Rifle Association Web site and his assertion that Canada has harboured terrorists while persecuting gun owners. But in an interview Thursday, Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz said he has no evidence to support his claims that Canada is a terrorist haven and its negligence contributed to attacks in the United States. "We should not be targeting duck hunters and trying to put them in jail. (Alliance MP Defends Remarks, Leader-Post (Regina) / CP, October 5, 2001)

Also revealed:

In 2009, former Chief of Staff to Maxime Bernier, Bob Valcov was named as executive director of the Canadian branch of the international gun lobby group, Safari Club International, a group with strong ties to the NRA. Another former Conservative staffer, Brant Scott, who was Executive Assistant to Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, became Director of Communications to the Canadian Sports Shooting Association which also has strong links to the NRA. Media reports earlier this year reported that the NRA is helping Canadian groups like the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, Canadian Firearms Institute and the Canadian Unlicensed Firearms Owners Association to fight the registry by raising money and coaching them on how to lobby politicians.

In 2006, Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz co-hosted with the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, a forum featuring then-NRA president Sandra Froman, as keynote speaker at the CSSA annual meeting in Toronto.

In 2006, then-Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day appointed the Minister's Firearms Advisory Committee which was composed exclusively of opponents of the gun registry, including many with direct ties to the National Rifle Association, including Professor Gary Mauser [in above photo] whose research had been directly funded by the NRA. Former Canadian Alliance MP Jim Pankiw appeared in an NRA video in 2001 claiming that the gun registry turned law-abiding Canadian citizens into “instant criminals.”

Former Conservative MP Art Hanger appeared in an NRA infomercial in 2000 claiming that the Canadian government “wants every firearm seized in this country.” Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP Jerry Ouellette also appeared in the video claiming that the government was intent on confiscating guns saying, “It's coming. We've got the test waters here in Canada to prove it and you're next on the list.” He claimed his comments had been pre-vetted by then-Premier Mike Harris’ office.

In 1995, then-NRA executive director, Tanya Metaksa, wrote to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien threatening a tourism boycott of Canada if the long gun registry Bill passed: “An overwhelming negative reaction can be anticipated and it could seriously erode revenue into Canada generated by visiting U.S. sportsmen and women.”

Two weeks ago I posted on an alarming story where another member of Harper's gun advisory board, compared our police officers to the Nazi SS. These guys don't fool around.

Yesterday the Canadian Press picked up the column written in the Gun Digest:

A man who advised the Conservative government on firearms policies has compared the Ontario Provincial Police to a fascist paramilitary group and the Nazi SS. Dr. Mike Ackermann, a physician in Nova Scotia, was appointed in 2006 to a firearms advisory committee, reporting to then-public safety minister Stockwell Day.

Ackermann wrote a note in a Canadian Firearms Digest mailing list earlier this month discussing a police raid on the home of a gun owner in central Ontario. In the note, he compares the police to the Black Shirts, a fascist paramilitary group in Italy under Benito Mussolini and the infamous Nazi SS police.

Yes we should definitely give Harper another mandate. I've got my eye on a nice little .38 special snub nosed revolver, that will fit nicely in my purse.

The next time someone butts in line in front of me, I'll pop 'em.

Is this really your vision for Canada? On May 2, ignore the polls, and vote wisely.

NRA One Step Closer to Giving Canadians the Right to Bear Arms

A piece in the National Post by Kathryn Blaze Carlson: Tory candidate flip-flops on gun registry should put up a few red flags.

The former president of Quebec’s largest police union has reversed his position on the gun registry now that he is the Conservative candidate in the federal election. Jean-Guy Dagenais, who on Tuesday evening announced his candidacy in the Bloc Québécois-held riding of Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot, is no longer a strong public advocate for the survival of the registry, which the Tories have long pledged to kill.

The Conservative position on the gun registry is nothing new, and a candidate towing the party line, not news.

But what's with all the police officers joining the Reform movement? If they win this election, they will have just as many cops as religious fanatics. An odd and somewhat dangerous combination.

I've written often on Canada's history of gun control and the American NRA's involvement to halt it. And Liberal Mark Holland's Conservative opponent was given $10,000 from the gun lobby to help with his campaign.

Gun owners across the country are pouring thousands of dollars — nearly $10,000 so far, acknowledged Alexander — into his effort to defeat Holland, at $39.10 a pop.

Alexander says it is a relatively small amount that pales in comparison to the $130,000 to $150,000 he has raised since 2009 in his effort to canvass the riding and reach out to voters.

Although Alexander says websites like canadiangunnutz.com and turfmholland.ca are not affiliated with his campaign, he welcomes the contribution of “all Canadians” because he, too, believes the long-gun registry is bad policy.

It's interesting that they promote Jason Kenney's Canadian Taxpayers Federation, who have also provided candidates for Harper, like John Williamson. Another was parachuted into Tim Hudak's Ontario ranks.

Despite knowing that most Canadians support gun control, Stephen Harper has never gone off message. He will shut down the gun registry if elected. And he's sticking to that message because he needs the support of groups like Gunnutz, who are gun nuts.

I didn't sleep much last night. For the first time during this campaign I was genuinely frightened, and it takes an awful lot to frighten me.

Harper's strange interview with Peter Mansbridge, that looked more like a Conservative infomercial. The Conservatives promoting the NDP and the polls that suddenly took a strange turn.

But it has also invigorated me. And keeping my friends close and my enemies closer, I went back to Harper's past for answers, and found them with the National Citizens Coalition.

We are being played.

But what's important is that we don't lose focus. The NDP still has the best chance in the West, so in many ridings, we throw our support behind those candidates. We do the same with the Green and Liberals. Whatever we can do to get rid of Harper.

I mean do you really want a group of gun nuts determining how we vote?

May 2 vote and vote wisely. And listen to groups like Catch 22 Harper Conservatives, Leadnow.ca and Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper.

And above all. IGNORE THE POLLS!!!!

The American Gunfight Travels North

I watched the HBO documentary Gun Fight last night, and while the American movement is far more radical, the rhetoric and passion was the same as that of the Canadian gun movement.

And yes we do have a movement here. It's not as visible and is being softened as a debate over our long gun registry.

But if you visit right-wing sites where this is discussed, you get a different view. What they are striving for is a "gun culture" in Canada. They believe that guns should not be limited to police officers and that if citizens carried guns there would be less crime.

Not an Old West pistols at dawn, but citizen vigilantes and armed patrols, not ruling out the option of "packing" to be prepared for anything.

A New Direction

NOW Magazine has an excellent story this month: Harper’s dangerous gang

In it they discuss the new direction this government has taken over the issue of gun control. (You can read a brief history of Canada's gun control here)

Once upon a time, the Firearms Advisory Committee included experts from all sides of the gun debate. Former member Marilou McPhedran, principal of Global College at the University of Winnipeg and a lawyer specializing in women’s, children’s and disabled rights, says it was “evident that some members had ties to the U.S. National Rifle Association,” but meetings were substantive.

... Now the committee has [gun enthusiast Gary] Mauser, Greg Farrant of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA) prez Tony Bernardo, three firearms experts and/or dealers, a doctor from Nova Scotia whose pro-gun letter rants can be found in various newspapers, a champion shooter, a cop who appeared in NRA ads, a couple of past presidents of the Sporting Club of Niagara (a gun club) and an ex-RCMP assistant commissioner who denounces the gun registry.

Hardly a fair and balanced crew.

And there are many others working behind the scenes to promote this gun culture. And they are doing it with the full backing of the American NRA.

Counting over 2.8 million members, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been called “perhaps America’s most powerful political lobby,” and “serves as spiritual godfather to gun groups around the world.” The Chief Executive Officer of the NRA, Wayne La Pierre, is a member of the Council for National Policy [Where Harper delivered his anti-Canadian speech]. Under his direction, the NRA has been extremely active in pursuing its anti-gun control agenda abroad, especially in Canada. According to Tony Bernardo, Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action (CILA), a gun lobby group, the NRA was “instrumental to the formation of the CILA” and provides “tremendous amounts of logistic support.” On July 4, 2001, La Pierre stated “the National Rifle Association of America supports and endorses the work done by the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action,” which works with the National Firearms Association to advocate for the “rights” of gun owners.(3)

This is a question of sovereignty. The American right wants to dictate our morality and write our gun laws.

Stephen Harper's own Pro-Gun Stance

Though Stephen Harper tries to project the image of a moderate, it was he who rewrote the Reform Party's pro-gun policy.

In his book Waiting for the Wave, former Harper insider Tom Flanagan, mentions that not everyone was happy with the position the party was taking, (cost of licensing to be born by gun owners and "higher priority on the right of Canadians to public safety than on the right to own and use firearms" (Reform Party Caucus Issue Statement, February 22, 1992,)) so Stephen Harper himself "intervened to table" several amendments.

... the right or law-aiding citizens to own and use firearms will be protected.

... the Reform Party support the right of citizens to protect themselves and their property, against criminal acts using all reasonable means, and that their right to do so has priority over the offender's rights.

Says Flanagan, "This, together with the first resolution, came close to endorsing a right to bear arms ..." (1)

And during the 2005/2006 election campaign, the NRA threw their support behind Harper:

Buoyed by recent successes in the US Congress and Brazil, America's powerful gun lobby - the National Rifle Association - is turning its sights to Canada. At a session in Toronto, organized by the Canadian Shooting Sports Federation, the NRA will conduct training sessions for the Canadian Gun lobby. The website notes: "We have a Federal election looming on the horizon and we must be prepared.... How do we protect our rights? By being more politically active and effective at the grass roots. And who better to show us how than the most powerful lobby group in the world, the National Rifle Association."(2)

The Use of fear

They are also resorting to the same fear tactics used by the NRA, that the police and the government are coming for your guns.

In fact U.S. organizations have had their "sights" on Canada for some time:

Many Canadians think themselves immune from the anti-politics of right-wing extremists. But consider how the National Firearms Association (FA) moved into the spotlight during the 1997 controversy over the Liberals gun control legislation. The NFA's director, John Bauer, alleged that federal gun control was some kind of world disarmament conspiracy, led by the pacifist Canadian government and their girlymen army of peacekeepers. "A [Liberal] majority means the end of a culturally distinct Recreational Firearms Community [RFC] in Canada and maybe even [in] the world as we are being used to pave the way for Total Global Disarmament by 2003" said Bauer. "The RFC has been pushed ever closer to extinction every year. Why? Why? Why? What have we done to deserve this oppression?" (3)

And more recently one of the men on the Conservative gun advisory committee, M.J. Ackermann, wrote:

As I predicted a few years ago, the escalation of police response from a polite knock on the door and discussion to SS type raid is the direct result of gun licensing and registration coupled with the pogrom of cultural genocide that has been going on for the last decade and more. Sooner or later they are gonna start shooting us first and asking questions later. (4)

In the HBO documentary I found it interesting that one of the signs being carried had the words 'Fed Up', the same name given to a pro-gun rally organized by Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, who used his Parliamentary office to attack the RCMP.

Here Are the Facts

Homicide rates across Canada are stagnant and the number of them committed using firearms has dropped considerably, according to new figures that are raising questions about the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda.

The latest homicide study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada shows there were 179 firearm-related killings in 2009, 21 fewer than the previous year. Most of them involved handguns which are tightly controlled in Canada. (5)

The Harper government has given a five year amnesty to gun owners, telling them to ignore the law and forget about registering their firearms. Five years of information lost. And in their platform, according to Cheryl Gallant, they are going to wave license fees for handguns, costing taxpayers $26 million.

He has sent out taxpayer funded ten per centers suggesting that his party is the only party that has their interests at heart, ensuring that gun enthusiasts not only vote, but vote for him. This despite the fact that 2/3 of Canadians support gun control.



He doesn't respect Canadian culture, so instead is determined to change it, taking his marching orders on the gun issue from the NRA.

Asked in a 1997 CBC interview, "Is there a Canadian culture?" Harper replied: "Yes, in a very loose sense. It consists of regional cultures within Canada, regional cultures that cross borders with the US. We're part of a worldwide Anglo-American culture. And there is a continental culture." He just doesn't get us and is not "Here for Canada".

On May 2 vote and vote wisely. Because this is not OUR Canada.

Sources:

1. Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning, By Tom Flanagan, Stoddart Publishing, 1995, ISBN: 0-7737-2862-7, Pg. 196-7

2. NRA Assisting Canadian Gun Lobby with Election, Montreal, CNW, December 2, 2005

3. Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pg. 159-160

4. Firearms owner accused of assault, By M.J. Ackermann, Cdn-Firearms Digest Volume 14 : Number 381, April 13 2011

5. Gun Murders Down in Canada: As Usual, Most Victims Knew Their Killer, The Canadian Press, October 26, 2010

Harper's Gun Registry Adviser Compares Canada's Police Force to Hitler's SS

On September 22, 1998, a large group of what I will call "gun enthusiasts" marched on Parliament Hill. They billed it as Fed Up II, so I can only assume there must have been a Fed Up I.

During this, from what I understand, rather large rally; some of the people who were "fed up", noticed RCMP snipers on the roof of the Parliament Buildings. When reporters asked about the snipers, they were told by the RCMP boss that there were no snipers, only officers with binoculars.

This upset the people who were already "fed up" and with great will and determination, they set out to prove that the RCMP were lying. They filed an Access to Information Request to determine what weapons had been signed out that day, to RCMP officers on the Hill. I think they were big ones ... lots of letters and numbers. Very impressive.

Now I can't speak for everyone, but when there is a large group of angry gun owners marching on Parliament Hill, I for one do not want to see snipers on the roof. I want tanks. Lots of them. They are gun owners and they are "fed up" .. for the second time!

Leading the charge was Reform-Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz, who has done little else during his time on Parliament Hill, but promote the idea that Canadians should have the right to bear arms.

I have written of this often, because while Stephen Harper will suggest that he is only worried about farmers having to register their guns, the fact is, that what he is actually promoting is a gun culture. One endorsed by the American NRA.

They stacked the Firearms Advisory Committee, with gun enthusiasts, including the man in the photo that I posted with this piece.

Cowboys for Social Responsibility have recently discovered an article written by another of those firearms enthusiasts: M.J. Ackermann, published in the Cdn-Firearms Digest, in which he says:

So all it takes now to have the Black Shirts bomb your house and take you down is an unsubstantiated call by a disgruntled whoever. Thank god this guy didn't have a comb in his hand when the Black Shirts got to him.

As I predicted a few years ago, the escalation of police response from a polite knock on the door and discussion to SS type raid is the direct result of gun licensing and registration coupled with the pogrom of cultural genocide that has been going on for the last decade and more. Sooner or later they are gonna start shooting us first and asking questions later.

Black Shirts and SS all because of the gun registry.

Nothing to do with farmers.

Women Upset With Harper Still Threatening Gun Registry

The National Post has an article today: Leaders' Debate Reveals Conservative Contempt for Women

During the debates Harper tried to defend his determination to get rid of the gun registry, prompting Michael Ignatiff to ask how he could abolish something that protected women, not to mention front line police officers.

He is also threatening a huge omnibus crime bill that will be devastating to Canadians.

Now an ad hoc group of women, representing several organizations, has come out to publicly denounce his plans.

In an unprecedented abuse of the democratic process, the Harper government now proposes to consolidate multiple Conservative crime bills into a single bill, literally ramming it through Parliament at breakneck speed, without any meaningful discussion or debate, and regardless of the consequences to ordinary Canadians. If passed into law, the bill will cost Canadian taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, while putting the safety of women and children at significant risk, says the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women's Equality and Human Rights.

"Stephen Harper bragged about his plan to implement his proposed Law and Order Agenda in tonight's leaders' debate, but didn't mention women once. He proposes to "get tough on crime" but abandons proven strategies that actually keep women and children safe, such as gun control. In fact, his agenda will not help women and children who are victimized. "Our government should be investing these billions in child care, affordable housing, social, educational and health services, all of which are proven means to prevent crime and benefit all Canadians," said Kim Pate of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies.

And Cheryl Gallant is also taking a lot of heat over the issue, but for different reasons. Could this be her swan song?

Conservative Cheryl Gallant Says the Only Way to Save the Gun Registry is to Vote Her Party Out

Further evidence that this government has no intention of following the wishes of Canadians, comes as Cheryl Gallant, Neocon MP for Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, is using as part of her re-election campaign, the fact that her government has extended the amnesty for gun owners, to keep them from registering their weapons.

This after Parliament voted to save this important law enforcement tool

They just don't care.

They will do what they want come hell or high water. Sorry Cheryl but the water is rising and you are going out with the tide.

And don't be counting on the coast guard to save you.

Further Evidence That Stephen Harper is Just Not Listening to Us, as he Chooses the NRA Over Canadians

Further evidence that Stephen Harper is not going to listen to the Canadian people, but will again just do what he pleases, comes with the gun registry.

The majority of our elected MPs, acting on the wishes of their constituents, voted to keep the gun registry.

But Harper has instead chose the American NRA over us, just telling people to ignore the law.

It's time for him to go.

The Gun Registry is Working as Firearm Murders are Down

Homicide rates in the United States are two to four times higher than they are in countries that are economically and politically similar to it. During the 1980s and early 1990s, homicide rates surged in cities across the United States with firearm murders accounting for nearly all of the overall increase. (Wikipedia)

All Americans have the right to bear arms.

By contrast:

Homicide rates across Canada are stagnant and the number of them committed using firearms has dropped considerably, according to new figures that are raising questions about the Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda.

The latest homicide study released Tuesday by Statistics Canada shows there were 179 firearm-related killings in 2009, 21 fewer than the previous year. Most of them involved handguns which are tightly controlled in Canada.

So why is Stephen Harper taking direction from the American NRA and promising not to "stop until he scraps the registry"? It boggles the mind.

Harper's Shot Across the Bow Had a Horrible Recoil

So for all of his posturing, taxpayer funded pamphlets and billboards that must have left him longing for his National Citizens Coalition days, Stephen Harper's anti-police, anti-Canadian battles to scrap the gun registry went up in smoke.

The latest poll shows that 2/3 of Canadians now support the registry.

Two-thirds of Canadians support the controversial long-gun registry and even voters who back Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are split on the issue, a new poll has found.

The national survey conducted exclusively for Postmedia News and Global Television finds that support for the registry stands at 66% nationally. Moreover, support is strong in regions throughout the country — even though Harper has said his party will not “rest” until it abolishes the registry.

Harper's only gain was shoring up the support of his "base". They will now be frantic realizing that their dreams of an armed populace are further away than ever, so we can expect anything next election campaign.

But the uglier they get, the more Canadians will be reminded of Stephen Harper's extremist past. He may have opened up a real can of worms.

After my last posting on Harper's hypocrisy over the registry, someone sent me a couple of nuggets from Reform Party policy. When Stephen Harper was policy chief. It's pretty clear they supported the registry.

Reform Party Caucus Issue Statement
February 22, 1992

...the cost of licensing must be borne primarily by firearms users themselves. Those who are not gun owners should not be forced or even asked to subsidized those who do exercise this freedom

There must be higher priority on the right of Canadians to public safety than on the right to own and use firearms.

In his book Waiting for the Wave, former Harper insider Tom Flanagan, mentions that not everyone was happy with the position the party was taking, so Stephen Harper himself "intervened to table" several amendments.

... the right or law-aiding citizens to own and use firearms will be protected.

... the Reform Party support the right of citizens to protect themselves and their property, against criminal acts using all reasonable means, and that their right to do so has priority over the offender's rights. [This, together with the first resolution, came close to endorsing a right to bear arms ...] (1)

So the guns had to be registered and the costs absorbed by gun owners. But to appease the gun totin' crowd, Stephen Harper added a 'right to bear arms' and the right to shoot anyone who touches your stuff.

It's those two amendments that we should be concerned with, because it's exactly what I've been saying. After browsing through pro-gun sites on the web, it's clear that abolishing the gun registry was only the first step. They support allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons and keep a loaded gun by the door to shoot intruders.

This has nothing to do with farmers or hunters.

Sources:

1. Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning, By Tom Flanagan, Stoddart Publishing, 1995, ISBN: 0-7737-2862-7, Pg. 196-7

Bored on the Corner Gets it Right on the Gun Registry

I love this guy. His videos are always well researched and presented. And he gets it absolutely right when discussing Harper's nonsense over the gun registry. Another incident where he will not allow facts to get in the way of decisions that could hamper his chance at holding onto power.

Keep the "base" happy and for everyone else, he just makes stuff up.

But Stephen Harper may have made a big mistake when he decided to make the gun registry a "wedge issue". It could turn out to be a "wedgie".

According to David Climenhaga:

Obviously, the Conservatives concluded registration of rifles and shotguns was a wedge that could separate sufficient numbers of habitual NDP supporters in rural Northern Ontario and Liberal supporters in rural Atlantic Canada to give them the Parliamentary majority they crave. There is no doubt wedge issues work. They may be divisive and negative, polarizing the populace into bitter camps, but they have effectively driven politics in the United States since the era of Richard Nixon. The cynical Republican strategist Karl Rove used them to push the sophomoric loser George W. Bush right into the White House.

But while Harper's Conservatives clearly admire Rove and imitate his tactics, there are reasons to believe the divisive campaign they have crafted using the long-gun registry could drive just as deep a wedge between Conservatives and many of their natural supporters as the other way around.

Like supporters in the urban west, who vote out of habit. They abandoned the Tories when they didn't believe that Brian Mulroney was listening to them. They are quite capable of doing the same to the Reform-Conservatives, especially when they are listening to the NRA instead of them.

And EKOS pollster Frank Graves, also sees that this could spell trouble for a party hoping to fool people into thinking they are governing from the center.

Mr. Graves characterizes the spin as “egregiously flawed political arithmetic,” suggesting the Tories – rather than winning seats because of their position – would actually lose seats because of it. “Surely, we might at least consider the question of whether Conservative MPs in urban areas, who were elected by slim margins, might not be concerned their fealty to the destruction of the gun registry might not push them into the realm of failure next time?” It’s an emotional issue, he argues, not just for rural voters but also for others, such as women voters in Quebec where the province’s 11 Tory MPs all supported scrapping the registry.

It was a stupid move, and add that to all the other stupid moves, and I sure would not want to be trying to campaign on them.

Stephen Harper and a Few Gun Facts

I know that facts are anathema to our current government, but with their posturing over scrapping the gun registry, even after the vote, Alex Roberts provides some very compelling 'facts' and statistics on gun crime in Canada.

NUMBER of times Harper-led governments have attempted to abolish the long-gun registry: 3.

Number of times Stephen Harper (as a member of the Reform Party) voted to keep the gun registry: 2.

Number of independent, peer-reviewed research studies cited by the Conservative Party to support their decision to try to scrap the long-gun registry: 0.

Number of months a positive RCMP report on the gun registry was held back from MPs after it was required by law to be tabled in Parliament: 3.

Cost of obtaining a licence for possession and acquisition of a gun: $60.

Cost of registering or transferring the registration of a long gun: $0.

Percentage of known homicide deaths in 2008 that involved long guns, or sawed-off rifles or shotguns: 24.

Percentage of spousal homicides that involved the use of long guns and shotguns: 72.

Average number of times the long gun registry is "accessed" per day: 11,000.
Number of police queries of the gun registry in 2008: 3.44 million.

Number of long gun licences revoked from 2006-2009 because of a deemed risk, a court order or a complaint: 6,093.

Harper should read this. But he won't. He'll attack Roberts instead, or anyone else who tries to cloud the issue with facts. Sigh.

Turnabout is Fair Play as Victims of Gun Violence go After Harper's Quebec MPs

I love this story. With Stephen Harper suggesting that he only cares about farmers, so will go after rural opposition MPs who voted to keep the gun registry, others in Quebec are fighting back.

Survivors of the École Polytechnique and Dawson College shootings in Montreal are vowing to unseat Conservative MPs in Quebec who voted to abolish the federal gun registry. A busload of current and former students from the schools went to Ottawa to witness Wednesday's vote on the registry. It was saved by a 153-151 margin. Twelve Quebec MPs voted to scrap the registry. They include all 11 Conservatives from the province and Independent MP André Arthur from the Quebec City-area riding of Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier.

Hayder Khadim, one of the 19 people who were shot and survived when Kimveer Gill opened fire on the Dawson College campus in 2006, watched Wednesday's vote from the House of Commons gallery. Khadim, who is now 21, still has bullets in his neck and head. 'The main goal is a change of government.'— Hayder Khadim, Dawson College shooting victim He said he was relieved to see Bill C-391, a private member's bid to repeal the registry, go down in defeat.

I would like to see this made a national initiative.

The Gun Registry is an Issue of Sovereignty

As we learned prior to the vote on the gun registry, the American NRA had a louder voice in our government, than the Canadian people.

But we drowned out their voices. Good for us.

However, it would appear that Stephen Harper is not done, and just as the NRA helped to get him elected in 2006, by having a representative work with their Canadian counterparts, we can expect more interference next election.

Harper is making this about rural and urban Canada. Hunters and farmers under attack.

Bull.

This has zip, zilch, nada to do with farmers or hunters or rural Canada, and everything to do with the crazy Republicans wanting to force "American values" on the Canadian people.

Loonies, Guns and a Polite Society

Many Canadians think themselves immune from the anti-politics of right-wing extremists. But consider how the National Firearms Association (FA) moved into the spotlight during the 1997 controversy over the Liberal's gun control legislation. The NFA's director, John Bauer, alleged that federal gun control was some kind of world disarmament conspiracy, led by the pacifist Canadian government and their girlymen army of peacekeepers. "A [Liberal] majority means the end of a culturally distinct Recreational Firearms Community [RFC] in Canada and maybe even [in] the world as we are being used to pave the way for Total Global Disarmament by 2003" said Bauer. "The RFC has been pushed ever closer to extinction every year. Why? Why? Why? What have we done to deserve this oppression?" (1)

Recreational Firearms Community? Not guns to shoot rascally varmints? And where does this notion of Total Global Disarmament come from? In large part through men like Wayne La Pierre (shown above), who wrote a book: The Global War on Your Guns

The Global War on Your Guns takes you inside the U.N. plan to destroy the Bill of Rights by attacking the one right that makes any right possible, the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. LaPierre's well-researched chapters outline the threat itself, how the U.N. works, and the phalanx of international forces determined to eliminate the basic human right of self-preservation through elimination of all private firearm ownership.

He sounds a little nuts, right? But in 1997 he was one of a group that Stephen Harper referred to when he said "your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world." LaPierre is a member of the Council for National Policy, where Harper delivered his speech that showed contempt for the Canadian people. He is also the chief executive officer of the NRA.

Counting over 2.8 million members, the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been called “perhaps America’s most powerful political lobby,” and “serves as spiritual godfather to gun groups around the world.” The Chief Executive Officer of the NRA, Wayne La Pierre, is a member of the Council for National Policy. Under his direction, the NRA has been extremely active in pursuing its anti-gun control agenda abroad, especially in Canada. According to Tony Bernardo, Executive Director of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action (CILA), a gun lobby group, the NRA was “instrumental to the formation of the CILA” and provides “tremendous amounts of logistic support.” On July 4, 2001, La Pierre stated “the National Rifle Association of America supports and endorses the work done by the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action,” which works with the National Firearms Association to advocate for the “rights” of gun owners.

But I thought this was about farmers ... hunters? ... gatherers? ... and puppies?

The NRA has provided most of the talking points for Stephen Harper. And they are also involved with the National Firearms Association, another group that has helped tremendously with the success of Harper's party since their Reform days.

In 1994, even before the gun control showdown, Reform's Vancouver South riding association argued for the legal right of "law-abiding citizens to own and use" firearms because "disarming law-abiding citizens not only opens the road to dictatorship, but also grants criminals an open season on the rest of us." Their assumption is that social harmony is improved by an armed citizenry, especially by folks packing concealed weapons—an outlaw-gunslinger fantasy defined by the Far Right credo, "An armed society is a polite society."

Leading up to the 1997 federal election, the NFA pledged support to the Reform Party and its efforts to protect the "culturally distinct" status of gun owners. They organized a fundraising drive, "Giving a Loonie to Save a Gun," in which Canadian gun owners were encouraged to donate a dollar to Reform for every firearm they owned; Bauer estimated that $21 million would be raised if every gun owner responded to the call. The NFA'S president, David Tomlinson, assured his membership that gun owners were playing a central role in nominating Reform candidates so that no more "enemies" could be sent to Ottawa. "The firearms community, in this area, is not outside the [Reform] Party looking in and begging for handouts," said Tomlinson. "It is an active and aware segment of the party." (1)

"An armed society is a polite society"? I guess that's why Canadians are so darn nasty. If we were packin' heat, we'd learn some manners.

"I'm sorry. Did I just shoot you in the foot? It's these tight jeans. They make me a little trigger happy."

The NFA even launched a boycott against businesses who supported the Liberal party. Now that's commitment.

This entire thing is about the "right to bear arms". They want to turn us into Americans and are using the Americans to do it. We have to remove the notion of this being a battle between rural and urban Canada. This is a battle for Canadian sovereignty.

The willingness of neo-conservatism's fringe to champion unlimited firearm freedoms over public safety evokes the ultra-violent Western: minimal dialogue, unfettered freedoms and cartoon plots. Part child, part tyrant and part sociopath, the victim-warrior of the Far Right has become a political force in the 1980s and 1990s simply because nobody knows how to defuse this hysterical cowboy; after all, he's always threatening to explode or claiming himself the victim of a major conspiracy. For people with this Rambo mindset, politics is post-literate: all action, no talk. Which means you aren't going to win too many arguments—especially with people who read the Revelation of St. John as nonfiction: "Which of us can stand his ground, now that the great day, the day of their vengeance, has come?" The Reform Party is known for these extremist tendencies. (1)

"Extremist tendencies". So not Canadian.

Sources:

1. Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pg. 159-160

Canadians Win. NRA Loses. Gun Registry Survives. Yeah!!!!

The gun registry survives. I couldn't be happier.

The federal gun registry has survived a critical vote in the House of Commons by a very narrow margin.

The result was 153-151 in favour of keeping the registry. All MPs showed up and voted as expected.

All parties had been keeping close tabs on the voting intentions of their MPs and the result was widely expected to be 153-151 in favour of keeping the registry, with all Tories voting to scrap it.

Chalk one up for Canada. We win.

Stephen Harper Says That Canada Needs This Gun Registry

I posted a history of Canada's gun laws not long ago, including the fact that Stephen Harper had voted twice in favour of the registry, when he was a Reform Party MP.

I thought it was important for Canadians to understand that this was not a Liberal Gun Registry, but our gun laws emerged over time as various governments answered to the demands of the Canadian people.

In fact one of the major changes came about on the initiative of a former Ontario Attorney General, while Conservative Bill Davis was premier. Davis's daughters had been attending a school where a shooting had taken place.

And that Attorney General was John Clement, stepfather of Tony Clement.

Postmedia has picked up on some of the history of the Harper hypocrisy: Harper initially supported long-gun registry

He said at the time that he had made his initial decision after a poll showed his constituents supported the registry, but then a second poll showed that 60 per cent were against it after learning more about it. After he switched, he was accused of flip-flopping and rigging the survey to get the result he wanted, according to 15-year-old news stories, while at least one newspaper editorial accused him of retreating from his convictions to toe the party line.

Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

And Harper's games are resulting in more NDP members deciding to do what's right: Tory tactics driving NDP MPs to back gun registry

REGINA—A Conservative backlash is driving more New Democrats MPs into the pro-gun registry camp, the Toronto Star has learned. Welland MP Malcolm Allen confirmed Monday at the NDP’s caucus retreat in Regina that he will be reversing his earlier support for a Conservative private member's bill to scrap the controversial program “The majority (of people in his riding) … have said ‘we think at this point we should keep it and we want you to go work on it,’” Allen told the Star.

So keep up the good work Steve. Your hypocrisy is helping us all.

And speaking of hypocrisy. Remember this?

Yes Folks. It's Here. Conservative Television. And You Thought Glen Beck Was an Idiot!

I love Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper. They have the best links, including one to the above video of Rob Anders interviewing the gun nut Garry Breitkreuz.

Unbelievable.

If this is the fare of Fox News North, we can only hope to stay awake long enough to change the channel. Talk about sucking the brain cells out of you.

Sorry boys, but you can't rewrite history.

And as Don Newman rightly points out:

Late summer manoeuvring over the long-gun registry could fire a double-barrel shot to the future electoral success of both the NDP's Jack Layton and Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The posturing leading up to the Sept. 22 vote in Parliament on the registry's future is costing Layton his credibility and leading Harper down a road where he shouldn't want to go.

I've lost a lot of respect for Jack Layton over this.

And as Newman suggests, this will also hurt Stephen Harper who has been pretending to be a modest politician, governing from the centre:

But if those are Layton's woes, why could this be a problem for the prime minister? Isn't he, after all, likely to succeed at his longtime goal of getting rid of the registry? And even if he doesn't, won't he get an "A" for effort?

Well, he will. But only from the people that already support him. Other voters are likely to wonder why this has become such a big issue, particularly when the police and the RCMP think the registry is a good idea. Having this come back on the public agenda now will rekindle still-fresh memories of killing the long-form census, even though all the experts said it was the wrong idea. Proof again, to some, that the Harper government approves of its own biases rather than the advice of experts.

But there is one other problem for the Conservatives. In the triangulation of politics outside of Quebec, Harper needs a strong NDP to take votes away from the Liberals and help the Conservatives win seats. An NDP weakened over the gun control issue is not in the Conservatives' interest. In terms of the future of the long-gun registry, the vote later this month is crucial. But no matter which way the vote goes, the political impact has already been delivered.

Yet Harper is still going through with those billboards. I don't think he can stop himself now. It's almost painful to watch. (I said almost)