Gun lobby sole representative of civil society on Canadian delegation at UN

June 17, 2010- The world’s governments are meeting at the UN in New York this week to discuss the implementation of a global strategy to combat the illegal gun trade. Small arms or firearms are used to kill more than 300,000 people each year worldwide and to injure many more. Many of the victims are civilians, including women and children. Violence fuelled by small arms fuels conflict and crime, undermines good governance, threatens human rights and impedes development. Virtually every illegal gun begins as a legal gun, and for more than a decade, governments around the world have been working on collaborative strategies to reduce the diversion of small arms to illegal markets. Governments and Non-Governmental Organizations are meeting at the United Nations in New York to review progress on international obligations at the Biennial Meeting of States on the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the lllicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All lts Aspects. In the past, Canada was viewed as a driving force behind global efforts to combat the illegal gun trade. Not only are illegal weapons a problem in conflict zones, but illegal guns fuel violence in Canada.

For the first time ever, the only representative of “civil society” on the Canadian delegation is representing the gun lobby. In the past, both anti-violence NGOs, such as Project Ploughshares and gun owners associations were represented on the Canadian delegation.

The participation of Steven Torino on the Canadian delegation was publicized on the gun lobby message board “Canadian Gun Nutz” yesterday by the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. He wrote: “CILA’s Tony Bernardo and CSSA’s Steve Torino are currently in New York attending the UN Biennial Meeting of States on Small Arms and Light Weapons; Tony as part of the NGOs and Steve, as a member of the Canadian Government Delegation. In other words, we have our reps on the inside and outside of the process. They will be making a full report when they return next week.”1 Torino’s participation has been confirmed from sources at the UN.

All countries, including Canada, report to the summit on their progress in implementing the UN Programme of Action (PoA) which was agreed to in 2001. Under the PoA, our government has committed itself to keep its citizens safe from gunfire and ensure that Canada is not responsible for causing gun violence in other countries. Our PoA responsibilities include:

* Imposing strict regulation on arms brokers who are Canadian citizens, or are operating in Canadian territory
* Marking all Canadian produced guns at the point of manufacture, and marking all guns imported to or exported from Canada to enable tracing
* Managing arms stockpiles and ensuring safe disposal of surplus weapons
* Liaising with states in need of assistance in solving the gun violence epidemic.

In addition, some maintain that the existing licensing and registration system is key to fulfilling our obligations to combat the illegal gun trade. Canada is supposed to have a national commission on small arms to provide advice and support to the government in implementing its international obligations.

Wendy Cukier, President, Coalition for Gun Control said: “Canadians want action to prevent gun violence. Canadians want their government to take a strong stand on the fight against the illicit trade in small arms. The Canadian Government has already caved to pressure from the gun lobby and postponed once again the regulations on marking firearms, essential to fulfil our international obligations. Canada’s three major policing organizations – the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Association of Police Boards and the Canadian Police Association all called on the Conservative Government to pass these regulations because of the threat posed by the illegal gun trade. Canada has failed to ratify the OAS Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms which it signed on to in 1997. Bill C-391, currently before parliament, threatens to dismantle gun control in Canada undermining efforts to prevent gun violence and combat the illegal gun trade. Canada used to be leading the way on the international effort to combat the illicit trade in small arms, but its position is steadily slipping.”

Candice Hoeppner’s anti-long-gun registry road tour

By: Alison Crawford, CBC News, June 15, 2010

Manitoba Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner says she’s hitting the road this summer to promote her private member’s bill to scrap the long-gun registry.

The controversial bill escaped a final vote this week, after Liberal MP Mark Holland missed his time slot in the House of Commons to move a motion that would have asked the House not to proceed with Hoeppner’s proposed law. The debate on that motion is now scheduled for Sept. 21 with a third and final vote on C-391 tentatively lined up for the next day. Many opposition MPs had hoped Holland’s motion could have been debated and voted on this week.

Those who follow this issue closely will remember how 12 NDP MPs and eight Liberals helped Hoeppner’s bill pass second reading last fall. Several of those MPs are not looking forward to a summer back in the riding being lobbied by opposing sides of the firearms registry debate. A vote before the summer break would have afforded them the opportunity to dodge a prickly issue.

In any event, Hoeppner says she’s going to make the most of her summer vacation. Today she expressed relief in having more time to persuade her opponents to stick to their guns.

“I plan as taking as much time as I can to go to different ridings to make sure that constituents in these 12 NDP ridings are aware of what’s going on,” she says. “I would like see these NDP and Liberals come out very publicly as to what they’re going to do. I think each one of their constituents deserve to hear that.”

Hoeppner says she’s pleased that NDP MPs John Rafferty, Bruce Hyer and Peter Stoffer have communicated their ongoing support for her bill to scrap the long gun registry.

“But you know members like Charlie Angus, Nathan Cullen, Carol Hughes, there are a lot of them that have not been public. So I would certainly would like them to come on record. They don’t owe me an explanation, but they owe their constitutents.”

As for who would pay for her tour, Hoeppner says she still hasn’t worked that out. She says many of the Southwestern Ontario (NDP) ridings in her sights are close to her southern Manitoba riding.

“I basically only have my MP budget so that’s what it would be on.”

http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/06/candice-hoeppners-anti-long-gun-registry-road-tour.html

Missing the mark

By North Shore News, June 11, 2010

The federal government’s push to kill the long gun registry is irrational.

The private member’s bill to abolish the controversial database, widely supported by Conservatives and by a handful of opposition MPs, will achieve nothing beyond buying a few rural votes.

As its critics are quick to point out, the registry — basically an electronic list — cost taxpayers a mind-boggling $1 billion to create. True, this is as inexcusable as it is incomprehensible, but it is not by itself a reason to end the project. At this point, the registry costs just $3-4 million annually to maintain — peanuts by federal standards. Its death will save that relatively small sum, but it will not recoup the initial outlay. It will just mean that, rather than a billion-dollar database, that initial outlay will have bought us nothing.

Police in B.C. have made it clear they want the registry to stay. Officers here search it close to 3,000 times daily in the course of their work. Surely, as the frontline workers most likely to come face to face with a gun on the job, they are best positioned to judge the registry’s value — and in their estimation it’s worthwhile.

The only people who adamantly oppose the database are gun owners themselves or the ideologues who support them. Registering a gun is no more onerous or unfair than registering a vehicle — some people just don’t want to do it. The registry is being killed for no other reason than to appease this group. There is nothing in it for the rest of us except an erosion of public safety.

http://www.nsnews.com/news/Missing+mark/3141664/story.html

Top North Vancouver Mountie supports gun registry

By Benjamin Alldritt, North Shore News, May 19, 2010

The officer in charge of North Vancouver’s RCMP detachment is defending the usefulness of Canada’s Firearms Registry in response to efforts from a Conservative MP to abolish it.

In her capacity as vice-president of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police, Supt. Tonia Enger said the registry is used by the province’s police officers thousands of times each day.

“It’s used in criminal investigations to determine the origin of firearms,” she said. “It gives us a heads-up; we can determine if a residence that we might be going into may or may not have a licensed firearm and also the number and type of firearms. We have a lot of domestic violence situations and a lot of disturbance calls when we don’t know why we’re getting called. If we have the names and addresses we can see if there’s any firearms.”

Enger said the registry is also used to help return stolen firearms to their lawful owners.

Candice Hoeppner, who represents the southern Manitoba riding of Portage-Lisgar, filed a private member’s bill that, if passed into law, would remove the requirement for gun owners to register their weapons, effectively abolishing the registry. The bill has enjoyed the support of rural MPs from several different parties.

“For me, when I’m driving around listening to the radio,” Enger said, “I’m very alerted when dispatch tells a member ‘Just so you know, so-and-so is residing there and is believed to be in possession of four handguns and three rifles.’ I know on the North Shore it’s active all the time.”

The Firearms Registry was first set up in 1995, and the Liberal government of the day believed the program would cost taxpayers about $2 million. But in a scathing 2002 report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said the registry’s bill would be closer to $1 billion. Abolishing the registry has been a popular topic for Canada’s centre-right parties ever since.

“The estimated cost to operate the program currently is between $3.5 million and $4 million per year,” Enger said. “You may be able to say there were substantial costs to start it up, but we are now in a maintenance mode and it costs substantially less than it did initially.”

Enger also turned aside criticism that the registry is an expensive hassle for law-abiding gun owners without helping to catch armed criminals.

“It helps,” she said. “It’s one component and if you take it away, we lose something. B.C. chiefs of police are coming out to say they support the registry and there’s no question that it’s strongly supported by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police as well.”

http://www2.canada.com/northshorenews/news/story.html?id=61a54f24-f7c5-4d46-a9c4-60a4d104f8d9

Chatham police support long gun registry as a valuable tool

By Blair Andrews, Chatham Daily News, May 18, 2010

The Chatham-Kent Police Services Board strongly opposes the move to scrap the long gun registry.

Conservative MP Candice Heoppner’s private member’s bill to abolish the registry is coming up for a third and final vote.

At Tuesday’s board meeting, Chief Dennis Poole said that although the registry had a controversial beginning and was criticized for significant cost overruns, it has become a valuable tool for police to track firearms in Canada.

“In most cases, guns that are used in crimes come from law-abiding citizens who have had their homes broken into or had their weapons stolen,” Poole said. “And it certainly allows us to trace those weapons back or account for them, even years later when they show up, either in a pawn shop or in the hands of a criminal.”

In his report to the board, Poole said the registry is used thousands of times each day by police when answering calls such as domestic disputes.

The board accepted a recommendation to outline its position to Chatham-Kent MP Dave Van Kesteren.

Board member Uly Bondy suggested a firm message should be sent.

“We hear about rifles not being used (in crimes). Most of the incidences that you can see on television in the past few years have involved long rifles,” Bondy said. “I think a very strong message should be sent to the government, which we will do.”

Van Kesteren said he “respectfully disagrees” with the board’s position to keep the long gun registry. Despite the official positions stated by associations of police chiefs and officers, he countered that there are many in the law enforcement community that agree with government’s position to abolish the registry.

Van Kesteren believes the gun registry has been wasteful and has accomplished very little.

“There are thousands upon thousands of guns that are not listed in the registry. When I talk to police officers, they tell me that any time that they would make an inquiry (to the registry), they still treat it as a situation as they don’t know what is on the other end,” he said.

Van Kesteren also claimed that most gun crimes are committed with guns that are smuggled into Canada from the United States.

A parliamentary committee is studying the private member’s bill – Bill C-391 – before it receives third and final reading.

While the timing is uncertain, Van Kesteren said MPs could vote on the legislation within a few weeks.

“I think it could very well be out of committee before we (the House) rise. That would be in the summer. If not, then the fall.”

http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2584208

No registering of unrestricted sniper rifles?

The Steyr-Mannlicher HS .50 is classified as an “unrestricted” sniper rifle in Canada. It is reported that “it can pierce light armour from a distance of up to 1.5 kilometres.” It can also be legally acquired in Canada by anyone with a valid firearms license.

The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security is currently hearing witnesses on Bill C-391. If passed, this Bill will repeal the requirement to register unrestricted firearms like the Steyr-Mannlicher HS .50 sniper rifle. There are also no provisions in Bill C-391 to reinstate the requirement that businesses keep records of firearm sales, a requirement in place since 1977 that was removed when the Firearms Act passed in 1995 as the information would be in the registry. This information, which is a crucial component of Canada’s gun control strategies, would be lost with Bill C-391 and no efforts would be made to rebuild such information in a way that helps police officers (as the current registry does).

Austrian Weapons in Iraq: A Smoking Gun from the Alps
By Marion Kraske in Vienna
From Spiegel Online
Published on Sunday, February 14, 2007

Steyr HS .50

More than 800 high-powered weapons were shipped to Iran from Austria in 2004 over US and British objections. Now, the rifles may have turned up in the hands of Iraq insurgents.

It is considered one of the world’s most modern and precise weapons — the Steyr HS .50, made by Austrian weapons manufacturer Steyr-Mannlicher. The easily disassembled gun goes for about €4,000 in the Internet. And the buyer gets a deadly weapon that can penetrate basic armor at a range of 1.5 kilometers (just under a mile).

And they may now be in Iraq. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday, the US Army uncovered 100 of the weapons in a raid in Baghdad. Individual weapons, the paper writes, had already turned up in recent months, but now the number found has jumped to more than 100. Indeed, a Steyr HS .50 was reportedly used to shoot and kill a US officer in his vehicle.

“Obviously, if the reports are true, it would be profoundly disturbing,” said William Wanlund, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Vienna, according to the AP.

If the reports are true, it is highly likely that the hoard of HS .50 rifles US authorities found came from a shipment that left Austria in late 2004. Eight hundred of the rifles were shipped to Iran with the express approval of the government of then Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Steyr-Mannlicher, the manufacturer of the weapons, had filed a request with the Austrian interior ministry for approval to export the weapons a year earlier.

Officially the Austrian company’s buyer was Iran’s federal police force, specifically a special anti-drug unit. The Iranians claimed at the time that they needed the weapons for use in fighting the drug trade — smugglers and dealers.

Concerned that these dangerous weapons could fall into the hands of insurgents and terrorists, the governments in London and Washington both tried to put a stop to the controversial sale, but were unsuccessful. Steyr-Mannlicher went through with the deal anyway.

The reaction came swiftly. In late 2005 the US government angrily imposed an embargo on the Austrian weapons manufacturer. Since then Steyr-Mannlicher, together with manufacturers from India and China, has been excluded from lucrative US government contracts.

The company remained stubborn. Wolfgang Fürlinger, the CEO of Steyr-Mannlicher at the time, made a public effort to downplay the dangers of the weapon, claiming that the HS .50 was less harmful than a pistol. He also insisted that the Iranian government had signed a so-called end-user certificate that ruled out the re-export of the guns.

Certificate or not, the Iranian weapons deal also triggered a heated political debate in Austria. The opposition party believed that the deal between Steyr and Tehran was everything but clean. Peter Pilz, a Green Party member of the Austrian parliament and his party’s spokesman on security issues, even went so far as to call the deal “illegal.”

Pilz argued that HS .50 was not a “toy weapon,” as many had claimed, but that the rifle was in fact capable of piercing armor-plated vehicles and body armor from great distances. The HS .50, according to Pilz, hardly seemed designed for use in fighting the drug trade.

The recent discovery of the Austrian weapons in Iraq has only served to confirm Pilz’s initial criticism. Pilz assigns the blame for the politically sensitive deal to the cabinet of former Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, and most of all to Günther Platter, the then interior minister and current defense minister, former Interior Minister Ernst Strasser and Ursula Plassnik, Austria’s former and current foreign minister.

Steyr-Mannlicher continues to fend off criticism of the deal. According to Franz Holzschuh, the company’s new owner, the serial numbers of the weapons that were found in Iraq would have to be checked clarify the source of the rifles. The weapons found in Iraq, says Holzschuh, could also be imitations. After all, he adds, the patents for the HS .50 expired “years ago.”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,466284,00.html

Austrian Weapons in Iraq: A Smoking Gun from the Alps
By Marion Kraske in Vienna

From Spiegel Online

Published on Sunday, February 14, 2007

Just another unrestricted firearm

The L115A3 sniper rifle mentioned in the article below, which can shoot more than 2 km away, is classified as a non-restricted firearm in Canada.  The rifle, as issued by the British army, is equipped with a sound suppressor which is a prohibited device in Canada. If the sound suppressors is removed, the L115A3 sniper rifle is classified as a non-restricted firearm. More details on this firearm is available on the British army web site:  http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/support-weapons/1459.aspx

The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security will begin to hear witnesses on Bill C-391 today. This bill proposes to repeal the requirement to register unrestricted firearms like the L115A3 sniper rifle. There are also no provisions in Bill C-391 to reinstate the requirement that businesses keep records of sales, a requirement since 1977 that was removed when the Firearms Act passed in 1995 as the information would be in the registry.

British sniper shoots down Canada’s bragging rights
Colin Freeze
From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail
Published on Tuesday, May. 04, 2010 12:07AM EDT
Last updated on Tuesday, May. 04, 2010 1:54AM EDT

Military observers are marvelling at a British sniper, revealed this week to have killed two Taliban fighters from a mountain perch 2.47 kilometres away. The story of these shots is being heard around the world as a feat of marksmanship without parallel in history.
Sadly, the news also puts an end to some national bragging rights: Until now, the Canadian Forces had claimed the world’s best sniper shot.

In 2002, when the Afghanistan war was still in its infancy, Canadian army Corporal Rob Furlong killed an alleged al-Qaeda fighter from 2.43 kilometres away – seemingly an unsurpassable feat.

That shot was never formally publicized – snipers are covert by nature, after all – but word leaked out over the years. The legend grew to the point where military observers hailed it as a landmark Canadian achievement.

“There was a certain frisson of pride involved there,” said historian Jack Granatstein. “I don’t think it’s significant in Canadian military history except insofar that it demonstrates that we are good snipers, after 25 years of assuming that we didn’t fight anybody.”
Contemplating both shots, he couldn’t help but marvel. “It’s amazing,” Mr. Granatstein said. “It’s absolutely amazing that you could fire a shot a someone [that far] away and hit them. … And the Brit hit two!”

Last November in Helmand province, British Corporal Craig Harrison killed the two insurgents from an astounding distance of 8,120 feet. News of the new record is only now being made public.

“The first round hit a machine-gunner in the stomach and killed him outright,” the British soldier told The Sunday Times of London. “The second insurgent grabbed the weapon and turned as my second shot hit him in the side. He went down, too.”

Former Canadian Forces sniper Rob Furlong killed an alleged al-Qaeda fighter in Afghanistan from 2.43 kilometres away in 2002, a legendary feat – but one now taking a back seat to British Corporal Craig Harrison’s two kills of Taliban fighters from a distance of 2.47 kilometres.

In war zones, soldiers are given high-powered scopes and other rifle technologies that get better all the time. “The reason they are able to make these kind of shots is they have high-quality lasers that tell them where their target is within one metre,” said retired U.S. major John Plaster, a Vietnam War veteran who now runs a U.S. sniper school.

Good students there, Mr. Plaster said, can hit a dime at 100 yards.

Luck, as ever, remains a factor. Snipers live for the those moments when their rules of engagement and a windless day combine to create the conditions for the perfect kill – even if a target is a mile or more away.

Marksmanship, of course, has impressed nations ever since ancient Greeks boasted that clear-eyed Odysseus could kill many enemies with a single arrow. The Swiss had William Tell shoot an apple off his son’s head with a crossbow. Medieval Brits marvelled at Robin Hood.

And Canada had Francis (Peggy) Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa Indian from Ontario who was the highest-scoring Canadian sniper of the First World War, with accounts of his kills running as high as 378.

As for Corp. Furlong, his shot, though surpassed, will create chatter for years to come, Mr. Plaster said. He said he even bumped into the shy Canadian – now an Edmonton police officer – at a U.S. gun show last winter.

“I applauded him. Shook his hand,” Mr. Plaster said. “You can take great pride in him.”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-sniper-shoots-down-canadas-bragging-rights/article1555772/?cmpid=rss1

Another clear example that C-391 is Private Members Bill (PMB) in name only. It is a government bill disguised as a PMB.

Globe and mail, Thursday, April 22, 2010 8:25 AM, Jane Taber (Blog) “Tory bagmen come out with long guns blazing”

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have launched a new fundraising campaign aimed at filling their war chest on the back of Michael Ignatieff’s vow to whip his caucus into voting to preserve the long-gun registry.
A fundraising letter from Irving Gerstein, the chair of Conservative Fund Canada, pleading for donations of between $100 and $200, was sent late yesterday. It follows the party’s radio ad campaign targeting the ridings of the eight Liberal MPs who voted with the government to scrap the controversial program.
Mr. Gerstein, who was appointed to the Senate by the Prime Minister last year, names the eight Grit rebels in his letter, urging supporters to donate now to help “hold these Liberal MPs to their previous commitment.”
“They need to understand the political consequences of going back on their word. Of voting against their constituents. Of choosing Michael Ignatieff over their friends and neighbours back home.”
Mr. Ignatieff, the Liberal Leader, reignited the debate over scrapping the long-gun registry this week in a speech to police. He said his caucus would not support a Conservative private member’s bill to abolish the registry.
The bill, by Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner, is expected to return to the House for third reading in either May or June. Last November, eight of Mr. Ignatieff’s MPs, mainly from rural ridings, voted for the Tory legislation despite the fact the long-gun registry was created by the Jean Chrétien’s Liberals – at great political cost.
“These MPs have now been told that they MUST support Michael Ignatieff,” Mr. Gerstein writes. “They must vote to protect and preserve the failed long-gun registry. They must choose their leader over their constituents. They must do what they have been told.”
The Harper Tories are successful at raising money, knowing which buttons to push (anti-CBC fundraising works well, apparently) to bring in cash to help pay for their anti-Liberal ad campaigns and other pre-writ strategy spending.
But the Conservative zeal to scrap the registry has also created headaches and embarrassment for the Prime Minister. An aggressively-worded press release, saying police chiefs are part of a cult for supporting the registry and suggesting Liberal MPs should beat their leader “black and blue” for his registry support, was sent out this week from the office of anti-long gun registry MP Garry Breitkreuz.
The Saskatchewan MP apologized, saying he didn’t write the letter. And yesterday, in Question Period, Mr. Harper said the staffer who wrote the release had resigned.
Mr. Gerstein, meanwhile, says donations will “ensure that every long-gun owner, every citizen and every voter in these eight Liberal ridings will be fully aware of the choice they must make.”
“Working together we can scrap the failed Liberal long-gun registry,” he writes. “If Michael Ignatieff succeeds, the failed long-gun registry will continue to threaten law-abiding farmers, hunters and sport-shooting competitors – while doing nothing to reduce gun crime in our major cities.”
The full text of the Conservative fundraising letter follows:
(Urgent) Stop Michael Ignatieff from preserving the failed long-gun registry
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Earlier this week, Michael Ignatieff turned his back on rural Canadians by renewing his vow to protect and preserve the failed long-gun registry. And this time around, he’s promised to whip his rural MPs into protecting and preserving this costly Liberal legacy.
If Michael Ignatieff succeeds, the failed long-gun registry will continue to threaten law-abiding farmers, hunters and sport-shooting competitors – while doing nothing to reduce gun crime in our major cities.
We need your support now to prevent that from happening. Please make a contribution of $200 or $100 by following this link right now.
During the last session of Parliament, eight Liberal MPs stood with their constituents and voted with the Conservative Government to scrap the long-gun registry.
Liberal MP Todd Russell was clear:
“I’ve been clear about my position and I will be consistent with that particular position, and I will vote subsequently to scrap the long-gun registry,” (The Labradorian, Dec. 29, 2009).
So was Liberal MP Anthony Rota. He went so far as to call the long-gun registry “disgusting” (North Bay Nugget, June 18, 2004).
Russell and Rota were joined by six other Liberal MPs in voting against the long-gun registry: Scott Andrews, Larry Bagnell, Jean-Claude D’Amours, Wayne Easter, Keith Martin and Scott Simms.
These MPs have now been told that they MUST support Michael Ignatieff. They must vote to protect and preserve the failed long-gun registry. They must choose their leader over their constituents. They must do what they have been told.
We need your help today to hold these Liberal MPs to their previous commitment. They need to understand the political consequences of going back on their word. Of voting against their constituents. Of choosing Michael Ignatieff over their friends and neighbours back home.
The Conservative Party is launching a campaign to do just that. Please make a contribution of $200 or $100 right now by following this link in support of this campaign. We will ensure that every long-gun owner, every citizen and every voter in these eight Liberal ridings will be fully aware of the choice they must make.
Their choice will be clear: SCRAP the failed long-gun registry or KEEP it. It’s as simple as that. No shifting, no sliding.
We need your help today to keep these Liberal MPs to their word. Make a contribution of $200 or $100 right now by following this link.
Working together we can scrap the failed Liberal long-gun registry. Support our campaign today.
Sincerely,
Irving R. Gerstein, C.M., O.Ont.
Chair, Conservative Fund Canada
PS – Remember that you’ll receive a tax receipt for any contribution you make. This can make the actual cost of your contribution as low as 25% of your overall giving this year. Please, follow this link right now and make a contribution of $200 or $100.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/tory-bagmen-come-out-with-long-guns-blazing/article1542951/

From: Chronicle Herald, April 15, “Man arrested after traffic stop nets sawed-off shotgun”

A 20-year-old man faces a variety of charges after police found a sawed-off shotgun and ammunition during a traffic stop in Dartmouth. Police say they stopped a vehicle at Highfield Park at about 11:20 p.m. and searched the three people inside. During the search of one of the occupants, they found the gun and ammunition. He was taken into custody without incident and expected to appear in Dartmouth provincial court today to face a number of weapons-related charges.

From CBC News: Gun control advocates urge feds to keep registry

Last Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010 | 8:09 PM ET

Several Quebec politicians and gun control advocates are calling on federal MPs to vote to keep Canada’s long-gun registry.

The Conservative private member’s bill to abolish the registry passed second reading in the House of Commons last year, with several NDP and Liberal MPs voting with the governing Conservatives to abolish the registry

Bill C-301 will have its third reading in the House of Commons when Parliament returns from prorogation next week.

Heidi Rathjen, a survivor of Montreal’s 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, said at Friday’s news conference in Montreal that the leaders of the Liberal party and NDP need to unite against the move.

Rathjen, who has become an advocate of the registry since the massacre, said it does work.

She pointed to statistics showing the registry has helped reduce domestic violence deaths by 70 per cent since it was established as a result of the massacre.

“To Mr. Layton and Mr. Ignatieff, who both say they support gun control, I say words are not enough, it’s actions that count.” Rathjen said at the news conference.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2010/02/26/que-gun-registry-feds.html#ixzz0h7YNYIc1