CSSA Newsletter July 18th 2013
CANADIAN SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION / CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION
TEAM CSSA E-NEWS – July 18, 2013
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CSSA COMMENTARY: TORONTO STAR NEEDS TO BE EDUCATED — BUT WILL THEY LISTEN?
And the hits just keep on coming.
The barrage of anti-gun bafflegab at the The Toronto Star refuses to go on vacation. Case in point, see the July 17 column under the Current Affairs header by Judith Timson. Anti-gun rhetoric is so common in the Star, it’s tempting to overlook it – but this potty portrayal of gun owners is a mass media sinkhole, even for the Star.
Timson riffs on the verdict that found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012. The jury concluded that Zimmerman was forced to defend himself after being attacked. Timson bemoans racial profiling in her Star essay, and then proceeds to profile gun owners as capable of gunning down anyone with whom they disagree. It is to laugh, and then perhaps to weep, at her deep ignorance of those she claims to understand. And the Star provides all the column inches she needs for this drive-by mud slinging.
Anti-gun folks seem to share the belief that simply having firearms in one’s possession means bad things are imminent. In her bid for disarmament, Timson doesn’t even trust herself to resist the temptation to harm others. This says way more about gun haters than gun owners. Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, Timson provides this excerpt. And pity her husband:
…”Here’s an idea for an anti-gun campaign. Pop this question: “If I had a gun, what would have happened in my life over the years?”
“Hmm. Let’s see. Would my husband of 30 years still be alive? Probably, but maybe not. Domestic life, is, after all, where much gun violence unfolds. The rage! How dare he be late for dinner again? Most of it is silly and passes in minutes, but perhaps in one, hot-tempered moment, it leads to the gun. And to the end of love and life.
“What about that house painter we hired off our streets, the one who, clearly troubled, thrust his paint bucket at me, violently shouting obscenities, as he approached me in a threatening manner after I pointed out he had painted my front door the “wrong” shade of red? Bam. Self defence, sir. You’re gone. Lacking that option, I showed him the door, then locked it and called the cops.
“Traffic fights? Parking lot differences of opinion? For those who carry heat, it’s never out of the question.
“A rustling midnight noise, sparking fear of intruders? Just protecting myself, folks. In the Zimmerman case, according to the New York Times, the judge had pointed out that if Mr. Zimmerman was not ‘engaged in an unlawful activity and was attacked in any place where he had a right to be, he had no duty to retreat and had the right to stand his ground and meet force with force, including deadly force.’ How can this be morally right, let alone legal?
“Continuing with the what ifs, my lack of physical coordination might result in shooting the wrong person. Oops. In a highly-evolved gun culture, I could probably get away with that too.
“All of which is to say I wouldn’t have a gun in my house or on my person for any reason whatsoever. A gun isn’t the way to protect yourself, let alone resolve disputes. A gun is the way to maim or kill others — or yourself. A gun makes you feel falsely safe or aggressive. Or both. …
Gun owners are allowed to feel revulsion when a paid journalist says, “A gun makes you feel falsely safe or aggressive.” Yet that’s what many anti-gun nuts think. Responsible firearms owners are perpetually battered by the colossal ignorance of those who profess to know us. Gone missing are our true motives, like enjoying Canada’s heritage activities of hunting, target shooting, action shooting, and the many formal target pursuits. According to Timson, people just own guns to “resolve disputes.”
This would be the right time for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association to challenge the editorial board of the Toronto Star to meet with us. If they’re going to write about firearms ownership, they owe it to us to find out who we really are. It is disappointing that they haven’t extended an invitation nor accepted ours. We could have saved them years of embarrassment while they presented fiction as fact.
Where the media are concerned, it’s impossible to predict what’s next. How short-sighted can they be? Perhaps featuring the alleged Boston bomber’s picture on the cover of Rolling Stone? Oops, too late. How better to encourage every would-be copycat to become an instant rock star? The irresponsibility is breathtaking.
Before the media do more finger-pointing at the unwashed, they really need to take a hard look at themselves.
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IN THE NEWS
TIMSON’S JAW-DROPPINGLY AWFUL ASSESSMENT OF GUN OWNERS: What a strange world, the world of the gun. George Zimmerman, post his unsurprising acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, is by some accounts getting back the gun he used to kill the unarmed 17-year-old. I assume he is free to use it again.
Thanks to Florida’s jaw-droppingly lax Stand Your Ground laws, the man at the centre of this painful racially charged case — the only man left standing, as it were — probably sees even more justification to resume his gun-toting life. Or as his brother Robert Zimmerman Jr. told CNN with a level of irony I’m not sure he fully appreciated: George is “going to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life.”
You mean like the many black Trayvon Martins in their hoodies do every day lest they be racially profiled, and arrested or shot?
But let’s face it. No matter how many street protests argue the point, racial profiling didn’t tragically end Trayvon Martin’s life. A gun did. A gun in a freedom-loving, political and social culture that worships violence, and can’t find the legislative willpower to set reasonable legal limits on gun use no matter how many children lie dead.
Since the Newtown schools shootings last December in which 20 little kids lost their lives, there have been, as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said, stumping in a failed initiative for sterner laws, more than 5,000 fatal shootings.
And we shouldn’t be smug. In Toronto, we’ve just observed the sad first year anniversary of the bloody Danzig Street shootings, in which two young people were shot and killed during a gang-related shootout at a BBQ. Just this week, a Star story revealed that eight alleged gun offenders in Peel walked free because of illegal searches. Those guns — or guns like them — are now set to go off… (By Judith Timson — The Toronto Star — July 17, 2013)
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CANADIAN SHOOTERS SUCCESSFUL IN KENTUCKY: The second Pan American IPSC Shotgun Championships were held July 25-30 at the Rockcastle Shooting Center near Cave City, Kentucky.
Once again, action shot gunners from around the world congregated at this magnificent range to showcase their shooting skills. The Top American Open, Standard and Standard Manual teams were on site, with many names that viewers of various shooting programs would recognize, such as Patrick Kelly, Katie Harris, and Jerry Miculek. Joining them were many international competitors from Brazil, which fielded a team of 16 members from all divisions. Others competitors hailed from Canada, Serbia, Russia, Italy, and Hungary.
Canada was well represented by both athletes and range staff. The Standard team of Kang Lee, Jordan Schmidt, Karl Blum and Paul Sarantis took the silver medal in the team competition.
While the Standard Manual team did not medal in the team event, Eugene Koulechov managed a 6th place finish and CSSA Regional Director John Evers brought up 10th place. Other Canadians included Mark Martin, Mike Prest, Rachel Blum and Andrei Poteranski.
Rockcastle has indicated their desire to repeat the event in 2016 and we are encouraging a larger Canadian contingent to make plans to attend this terrific event. It would be great to outnumber the Brazilian team and enter teams in all three divisions.
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GUN OWNERS OF CANADA WEB FORUM – CHECK IT OUT! The web forum Gun Owners of Canada is well worth visiting on an on-going basis. It has 5,000+ members and is still growing. The forum does not charge fees for advertising. Come and visit at: http://gunownersofcanada.ca/forum.php…
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WIN 11,000 ROUNDS OF AMMO FROM RIGHT EDITION: Brian Lovig’s popular website Right Edition (formerly The Daily Split) is holding a contest to give away 11,000 rounds of ammo to a lucky winner on January 1, 2014. The prize is 10,000 rounds of .22 calibre and 1,000 rounds of 9 mm ammo.
Entries are limited to one per person per day, but enter every day if you like! No purchase necessary and the entry deadline is midnight, December 29, 2013. The contest is free for legally qualified residents of the United States and Canada. As a bonus, entrants will receive a free email reminder of upcoming shows on Right Edition and the CSSA E-News.
For entry and draw information, see: http://rightedition.com/win-11000-rounds-of-ammo-contest/
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U.S. PUBLICATION EXAMINES FAILED CANADIAN GUN CONTROL EFFORT: Gun control advocates have long promoted a wide range of policies and laws intended to restrict the “right of the people to keep and bear arms.” Their arguments follow the direction that while broad, sweeping laws to eliminate private gun ownership and use would be ideal, even small, incremental restrictions on ownership and use (e.g., background checks prior to purchase, gun registries, etc.) would be a clear step in the right direction and would provide measurable reductions in the rate of gun crime. Canada has run the latter experiment, and the results in no way support gun-control efforts.
Before looking at the Canadian data in detail, it is useful to consider the global relationship between the firearm ownership rate and the corresponding homicide rate by firearms, as shown in the chart below using data for 102 nations (including the USA, of course).
There is no significant correlation between the rate of gun ownership and the homicide rate by guns among these countries. Similarly, we see no significant correlation between the rate of gun ownership and the percentage of homicides by firearm within this group of nations.
Moving back to the Canadian gun control experiment, and as noted in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 2010 report on this topic, “[i]n 1993, the Federal Government indicated its intention to proceed with additional [gun control] measures, including a universal licensing system that would apply to individuals and a universal registration system that would apply to all firearms. Senate approval and Royal Assent for Bill C-68 (An Act Respecting Firearms and Other Weapons to create the Firearms Act) were granted on December 5, 1995.”
To see the rest: http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2013/07/gun_laws_and_gun_crime.html
(American Thinker – July 12, 2013)
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ALLEGED FIREARMS REGISTRY SHENANIGANS: Two senior police officers have been suspended following a wide-ranging investigation into corruption in South Africa’s Central Firearm Registry, the police confirmed on Monday.
The suspensions follow recent media reports alleging corruption after an ex-employee at a gun shop said that he bribed officers at the registry in order to fast-track the issuing of gun licences.
South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesman Solomon Makgale said that Mathapelo Mangwane, a section head at the registry, and Hlamane Mahlabane, a section head for firearm compliance, had been suspended from duty as of Monday for their involvement in corrupt activities.
Another employee, an administration clerk, has been issued with a letter of intention to suspend her and had been given until Wednesday to make representation as to why she should not be suspended.
“This is extremely disappointing, as the people who have been suspended are the ones who were given the responsibility of cleaning up the Central Firearm Registry, with the clear objective of eliminating all corrupt activities,” Makgale said. “Now they stand accused of the very same thing that they were employed to stamp out.”
Investigations are continuing and the possibility of disciplinary as well as criminal action against other employees could not be ruled out, Makgale said. …This inquiry is under way and includes looking into those dealers who are not complying with the Firearms Control Act, as well as those possibly colluding with staff at the Central Firearm Registry… (www.southafrica.info — July 15, 2013)
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POLICE HAMMERED FOR ILLEGAL SEARCHES: Judges in Peel Region have let at least eight alleged gun offenders walk free after finding police made illegal searches and, in some cases, misled the court to cover up the misconduct. A “disturbing pattern,” Justice Bruce Durno recently called it before tossing the case against Jahmarr Sterling-Debney, who was found with a .22-calibre pistol and faced a minimum of three years in prison if convicted. The judge said Peel officers Stephen Porciello and Michael Bishop broke the law by arbitrarily detaining, searching and arresting the suspect on Derry Road in Mississauga, and then attempted to mislead the court about how they seized the man’s gun.
“The public has an interest in having these serious charges prosecuted to a verdict,” Justice Durno said but added the officer’s behaviour was the more serious threat to the reputation of the justice system. “It is essential that the court (dissociate) itself from the police misconduct at the roadside and in court.” Durno’s ruling is yet another message from Ontario courts that police misconduct undermines public trust in the justice system and must be condemned. A 2012 Star investigation revealed more than 100 cases of police dishonesty in courts across the country… (The Toronto Star — July 15, 2013)
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(Editor’s note: The CSSA is proud to have many law enforcement officers among its members. Any perceived criticism in the CSSA E-News commentaries or news clips is presented with the tacit understanding that police officers have a difficult job to do and the vast majority do it very well.)
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THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
The CSSA is the voice of the sport shooter and firearms enthusiast in Canada. Our national membership supports and promotes Canada’s firearms heritage, traditional target shooting competition, modern action shooting sports, hunting, and archery. We support and sponsor competitions and youth programs that promote these Canadian heritage activities.
To join or donate to the CSSA, visit: http://www.cdnshootingsports.org/membership.html