in E News TEAM CSSA E-NEWS – May 30, 2014
TEAM CSSA E-NEWS – May 30, 2014 ** Please share this E-news with your friends **
COMMENTARY: PROPOSED ONTARIO HANDGUN BAN IS AN ELECTION PROD
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is rallying her election troops around the handgun boogeyman.
Q. When will opportunist left-wingers stop using gun owners as their favourite pre-election punching bag?
A. When responsible firearms owners get out the vote and help elect an alternative.
Wynne knows full well that firearms restrictions are a federal responsibility, so her call for a handgun ban is provincial Liberal dross. She tossed the notion of handgun bans into her electoral grab-bag because Liberals and most media wags are willing cheerleaders. Backroom Liberals appeal to their voters by simply mentioning gun control. If it works, watch for Wynne to copy Quebec’s ploy by pretending a provincial firearms registry could also be in the offing.
Gun owners in other provinces who believe they’re untouchable if the Liberals win the June 12 Ontario election should think again. If it works in Ontario, it could work in your province or territory, too. We shudder at the doomsday prospect of a successful Ontario Liberal run if Justin Trudeau’s national popularity catches fire. Now add the possibility of former federal NDPer Olivia Chow winning the mayor’s chair in Canada’s largest city. Gun owners could face the most perfect of storms – and not just in Ontario.
Let’s nip this stuff in the bud. It’s up to gun owners to show gun-grabbing politicians that campaigning against us is a non-starter – because we will help you lose. When politicians promise the sun and the moon to gullible voters, they must learn that anti-gun rhetoric works against them.
In the wake of the Ontario Liberals’ 11-year rein that has gutted the provincial economy to “have-not” status, there could be many reasons to take Wynne and company out to the woodshed. But be warned – National Post columnist Scott Stinson penned this recent piece: “Incredibly, Kathleen Wynne’s nonsense actually appears to be working.”
Still want to sit at home on election day?
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COMMENTARY: SANTA BARBARA MASS MURDER A STUDY IN MENTAL DISORDER
California has among the strictest gun laws in the United States, so why don’t they work?
Anti-gun groups stubbornly ignore hard evidence as they lobby for even more gun control laws that fail to rein in mentally ill people who aim to kill. Meanwhile, responsible gun owners watch in amazement and wait for gun control dreamers to finally wake up and smell the gunpowder.
Dr. John Lott again predicts that the media will assume their customary role as purveyors of myth and folly. The media have become complicit pistons in the anti-gun engine as they suggest that banning guns will strip them from the hands of criminals. It’s obviously not true, and Dr. Lott reiterates the National Rifle Association’s conclusion that good guys with guns are usually required to neutralize bad guys with guns. The author of More Guns, Less Crime, Dr. Lott further cites that the Santa Barbara killer’s manifesto includes his own concern about being shot before he can successfully complete his own killing spree. If mentally ill criminals realize that good guys with guns threaten their longevity, why can’t the media figure it out?
“Deterrence matters,” writes Dr. Lott. …”Letting people defend themselves doesn’t just prevent these attacks from occurring, it also limits the harm should the attack occur.”
There is growing evidence that well-planned mass killings by deranged individuals are nearly impossible to thwart when mental health “red flags” go undetected. When those signs are missed (or go unreported) by family, friends, police or mental health experts, the wheels stay in motion. Disarming the populace is a fake solution. Gun ban advocates are either kidding themselves or deliberately hoodwinking the public to garner favour or votes or both.
The current failure to find a plausible solution to avert mass murder doesn’t mean there is no solution. But banning every gun in the world will not fix the problem. It could even escalate if evildoers are emboldened by knowing there are no good guys with guns standing in their way.
It’s time to seek societal surgery instead of administering mere anti-gun band-aids.
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“Allan Rock said he came to Ottawa with the belief that only the police and military should have firearms. I believe that firearms ownership is a right, but a right that comes with responsibilities” – the Hon. Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety
HELP SUPPORT THE GREAT WORK THE CSSA DOES TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. DONATE HERE
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GUN AND MILITARIA SHOW: Sunday, June 1 at the Orangeville Fairgrounds in Ornageville, Ontario at 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Guests $5.00 ladies & accompanied children under 16 free. Lots to see buy, sell and trade with 230 tables. For more information call Monica at 905-679-8812. Other Ontario shows can be seen at www.ontariogunshows.com
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ON THE TUBE
CANADA IN THE ROUGH – SPOTTING AND STALKING MULIES: Every hunter dreams of hunting prairie mule deer with the bow. This week Keith is joined by good friend Garett Armstrong from Elite Archery as they chase big mule deer through the Alberta coulees. Tune in as they get really close! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1LdWpudHpc
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ON THE RANGE
Waterloo County Revolver Association — CND 1800+900 Monthly Match Invitation – June 2014
Date: Saturday, June 28, 2013, 10:00 A.M. with a pre-fire date on Friday June 27, 10:00 A.M. for the range officers and those who cannot attend on the Saturday. Shooters wanting to participate on the Friday must pre-register, no walk-ons. Pre-registration for Saturday is recommended to ensure the relay of your choice.
Location: The Waterloo County Revolver Association is located at 2278 Snyder’s Road East, Wilmot Township, Ontario. Visit our website: http://wcra.ca for more driving directions.
Event: 900 Rimfire fired as per NRA Rule #3.4, 900 Centerfire fired as per NRA Rule #3.2. (NRA 1800) Optional 900 .45 ACP as per NRA Rule #3.3. (NRA 2700)
Membership: Participant must show proof of recreational shooting insurance (CSSA/CFI/SFC, etc).
Rules: The match will be run in accordance with NRA Conventional Pistol Rules (April 2013).
Range: The match will be conducted on our 16 position outdoor 50 yard range (facing north) using NRA approved B-6 and B-8 targets/centers. Competitors are responsible for policing their brass and moving their shooting table at the completion of the 50 yard Slow Fire stages to the 25 yard firing line for the Timed and Rapid stages. Targets will be fixed (non-turning). START and STOP will be administered by audio electronics. Provisions have been made in the event of rain.
Scoring: Scoring will be done by the competitors on the line. Score cards will be passed to the left and competitors will score the target to their right. At the end of each scoring stage, the competitors are responsible for patching the centers and any shots on the bed sheet and backer board.
Register: Walk-on registration will be until 9:45. Pre-registration is suggested (16 per day)
Entry Fees: One caliber: $20.00, Two/Three calibers: $30.00
Please send your entry form and cheque to :
Waterloo County Revolver Association
P.O. Box 24074 RPO
West Highland Plaza
Kitchener, Ontario N2M 3C2
Make cheques payable to Waterloo County Revolver Association.
Relays: Saturday June 28, 2014 – 10:00 am & Friday June 27, 2014 (pre-register only) — 10:00 am
Inquiries: Ed : (519)-699-0009 or e-mail them [email protected]
Awards: Awards will be in cash for the 1800 (RF/CF) aggregate match and will be awarded by the Lewis System. .45 ACP leg is optional.
Food: There are various eateries within 5 minutes drive of the range.
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IN THE NEWS
TAKING AWAY GUNS DOESN’T REMOVE THE PROBLEM: How can we prevent mass murderers? Elliot Rodger, the 22-year-old who killed six innocent people this past Friday in California, is causing everyone to ask that question, yet again. Rodger spent over a year and a half meticulously planning his attack.
His 141-page “manifesto” makes it clear that he feared someone with a gun could stop him before he was able to kill a lot of people. Consider his discussion about where he thought the best place to attack people was: “Another option was Deltopia, a day in which many young people pour in from all over the state to have a spring break party on Del Playa Street. I figured this would be the perfect day to attack Isla Vista, but after watching Youtube videos of previous Deltopia parties, I saw that there were way too many cops walking around on such an event. It would be impossible to kill enough of my enemies before being dispatched by those damnable cops.”
Many gun-control advocates have long dismissed the notion that guns can deter these killers. In April, UCLA Professor Adam Winkler noted: “many shooters don’t really care whether it is a gun-free zone or not, they are just there to kill people and they expect to die in their event . . . so I don’t think that mass shooters are to be as responsive . . . as a careful calculating rational person might be.”
Indeed, Rodger did expect to die. His manifesto explained in detail how he was going to commit suicide after he had killed others. But he was equally clear that it was important to him to kill as many people as possible before that.
He spent much of his 141 pages writing about: “the attention and admiration I so craved” and “I should be the one they pay attention to.” Maximizing the carnage is the way that these killers know that they can get attention.
If police were around everywhere, we could stop these attacks. But, of course, they aren’t. And with the exception of the police, Santa Barbara County, where Isla Vista is located, is essentially a gun-free zone. As of February 2014, there were only just 53 individuals with a concealed handgun permit in the county.
According the Brady Campaign, California has the strictest state gun control laws in the nation. In fact, gun control advocates regularly hold up California’s universal background check system as a model for the rest of the country. All the weapons and magazines involved in the attack complied with California’s strict laws. But these regulations didn’t stop Friday’s attack.
Deterrence matters. As my research with Bill Landes at the University of Chicago found, letting people defend themselves doesn’t just prevent these attacks from occurring, it also limits the harm should the attack occur. At some point, the fact that virtually all these mass shootings take place where victims are defenseless is going to have to matter. (By Dr. John Lott – www.crimepreventionresearchcenter.org – May 28, 2014)
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NEED PRESPECTIVE ON ACTUAL U.S. GUN DEATHS? There are roughly 32,000 gun deaths per year in the United States. Of those, around 60% are suicides. About 3% are accidental deaths (less than 1,000). About 34% of deaths (just over 11,000 in both 2010 and 2011) make up the remainder of gun deaths. Sometimes the 32,000 and 11,000 figures are used interchangeably by gun control advocates. Clearly, the 32,000 figure is a far more dramatic number and is often used for impact. These numbers are also regularly compared to other countries’ gun statistics. But are they true? Here, we will examine some of the most common gun control arguments used and put those figures into perspective…
See the rest reprinted on the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership web site:
http://jpfo.org/articles-assd03/gun-stats-perspective.htm
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MASSACRE PREVENTABLE IF WARNINGS HEEDED: The most depressing part of last weekend’s mass shooting in Santa Barbara, California, other than the six dead and 13 wounded, of course, is the bigger implication. After every shooting incident like this one, we are quick to demand answers as to how this has happened, and suggest how things could have gone better. But this latest rampage was the textbook example of a shooting that was completely preventable. Everything was in place here to stop it. Everyone had done the right thing. And six people died, anyway. This may be the time in the collective conversation where we acknowledge that there’s sometimes no real defence against such evil acts.
Consider what we know so far. The alleged shooter, Elliot Rodger, had some history of mental health issues, and was reportedly under the care of therapists. Local police officials were aware of his issues and had visited him in the past to check on his wellbeing and mental state. His family was actively involved in his life, and was aware of his troubled state, and were trying to help him — indeed, in the hours before the shooting, they were apparently frantically trying to prevent the incident. He lived in a state with reasonably tight gun-control regulations, and though he did own firearms, they were reportedly properly registered and did not have the dreaded high-capacity magazines.
Considered against the background of the sad history of such incidents, that’s actually an astonishing set of facts. Normally, in the aftermath of such a shooting, we quickly realize that the shooter had been slowly building up to a violent eruption, but was doing so quietly. They’d avoid contact with their families, be largely unknown to police and mental-health-care experts, and amass an arsenal, sometimes using illegal channels. Not so here. Everything we count on to be our early warning system against this kind of incident — families, mental health experts, police, gun control systems — were in play. They all failed… (By columnist Matt Gurney – National Post – May 26, 2014)
See the rest: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/05/26/matt-gurney-santa-barbara-shooting-was-definition-of-preventable-six-people-died-anyway/
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AMERICANS NOT AWARE HOMICIDES ARE DOWN DRAMATICALLY: It seems there is something in the news every day about gun violence. The recent mass shooting in Isla Vista, California, a movie theater riddled with bullets in Colorado, children and teachers gunned down at school in Connecticut, and the list goes on. While you may be seeing more and more shooting, the fact is, overall gun homicide rates have dropped dramatically over the past two decades, according to a recent study.
More than half of Americans believe gun violence has increased over the past two decades, but what you’re watching on the news, may be skewing your view. That recent study said compared to 1993, the peak of US gun homicide, the rate was 49 percent lower in 2010, even though the population had grown. In other words, fewer people are dying by guns.
Assaults, robberies, and sex crimes also went down by 75 percent in 2011. Perhaps images from shooting crime scenes seem all too familiar, but perhaps the attention to gun violence in recent months has caused more Americans to be unaware that gun crimes are actually markedly lower than they were two decades ago.
There have been about two mass shootings per month in the US over the past five years, according to another report. A mass shooting is constituted as four deaths or more, but this study said each year less than one percent of gun homicides are from mass shootings. Between 1983 and 2012 there were 547 deaths from mass shootings. These shootings are highly publicized and the public is paying close attention.
“I don’t normally just read on it all the time, but when there’s a mass shooting or something like that and it’s big on the news, yes I do read about it and I take part in online debates and stuff,” Anna Katrina Pecson, a Tyler resident, said.
No story received more public attention from mid-March to early April 2013 than the debate over gun control. Though, seeing is believing, numbers don’t lie. The study also noted more than half of gun-related deaths are suicides. Researchers aren’t sure why gun violence has gone down so drastically, but the study did note that the decline has slowed over the past decade compared to the rapid reduction in the 90’s. (KLTV – Tyler, Texas – May 28, 2014)
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WOMEN EXCEL AT THE HUNT: Bailey Steciuk’s heart was beating so loudly she thought it was going to explode. She just hoped the bear couldn’t hear it. Only 10 metres away from the 110-pound, 12-year-old girl was a 300-pound black bear. Although her hands were shaking uncontrollably, she pulled back her arrow and released.
“As soon as it happened, I was very excited. There’s so much adrenalin that it feels like you’re on top of the world and then you think, ‘Well, jeez, I hope it didn’t suffer,’ ” said Steciuk, who is now 16. “Then I saw it was dead, and it’s a whole bunch of mixed emotions, you’re so glad, sad and excited.”
Steciuk is one of the 13,943 female hunters who got a hunting licence in the 2013 season in Saskatchewan. Although that number represents only slightly more than seven per cent of the province’s 188,998 hunters, all signs indicate an increasing trend in female hunters.
Brent McNamee, CEO of Fresh Air Educators, a company that offers online credit for the Saskatchewan hunter safety course, said about 30 per cent of people signing up for the course in the province are female.
The provincial Ministry of Environment only started collecting gender-based data on hunters last year, but statistics from Alberta show the number of female hunters there has doubled over the last decade and increased by 23 per cent between 2011 and 2013. The trend can be attributed to popular culture, more fluid gender roles, marketing, increases in disposable income and the rise of the slow-food movement.
Steciuk said she got into hunting because her family hunts and because she loves being in nature. She’s also a good shot. At the 2014 Archery in the Schools national competition, she won first place.
“Personally, it’s a marvellous activity and in terms of discourse, I think it’s important for more women to be visibly involved in order to break down stereotypes that people associate with hunting,” said Mary Zeiss Stange, a women and gender studies professor at Skidmore College in New York state and author of the book Woman the Hunter. McNamee said the stereotypical image of hunters is becoming increasingly inaccurate.
“Traditionally, hunters were seen as redneck guys with pickup trucks, but now you’re seeing a new crowd, with a lot of hippies with bikes with baskets getting involved,” he said.
A study of women hunters by an American firm, Responsive Management, found women were twice as likely as men to cite meat as their main reason for hunting. Forty-seven per cent of women in the study said meat was their primary driver, followed by 27 per cent who said it was to spend more time with family and friends.
Steciuk said her family uses all the meat from the animals they hunt. “Everything we consume is very healthy and straight out of the earth. Whatever is added, we know about,” she said.
Her favourite recipe is deer backstrap and tenderloin, cut into thin slices, marinated and barbecued.
Stange said one benefit of an increase in women hunters is that they tend to identify more with environmentalism than their male counterparts.
“In the male establishment, you hear comments about environmentalists, like ‘They shouldn’t be trusted,’ but we need to seek common ground and women have a better track record at doing this,” she said.
Danielle Bergen, 20, another female hunter in Saskatchewan, is currently a semifinalist for the American reality show Extreme Huntress.
“I don’t relish the thought of killing animals, I like to sit in the great outdoors in the silence of the morning or evening, relaxed and exhilarated by the hunt,” Bergen said. “Plus, the meat tastes way better.”
She signed up for the competition because she wants to be a role model and inspire more girls to get into hunting, she said. Bergen will get into the finals if enough people vote for her on the Extreme Huntress website. “Some people think women are meant to be kitchen appliances, but the whole competition is based on outdoor heritage and the fact that women can be providers,” she said.
Tony Bernardo, executive director of the Canadian Sports Shooting Association, said he’s thrilled to see more women and girls getting involved in shooting and hunting. Canadian shooters such as Linda Thom, Dorothy Ludwig and Susan Nattrass, who was the first woman to shoot in the Olympics in 1976, have all performed well in international competitions.
“Women are better shooters than men, and I say that emphatically,” Bernardo said. “After a lifetime of coaching, I know.”
He attributes this to women having lower centres of gravity and because they tend to be more receptive to training. “Men are always thinking they are John Wayne, but women approach shooting with less ego. It’s wonderful to watch a brand new female shooter completely humiliate their boyfriend or husband, and it happens all the time,” he said.
Steciuk and Bergen are some of the province’s strongest shooters, but they aren’t ones for stereotypes. Both begrudgingly acknowledged the Hunger Games books and movies as influential in getting more women into hunting, especially with bows and arrows.
“Sadly, it’s true. You get some girls signing up because they think it will lead to hot guys following them around. Later, (Katniss, the main character) also kills people, which is not how the weapon is meant to be used,” Bergen said.
Steciuk also acknowledged the rise of pink camouflage in hunting stores. “I do not like it at all; it’s weird and kind of girlie. Not that I’m not girlie, but I just like normal camo because it’s better,” she said. However, Stange is impressed that popular culture may have encouraged more women to pick up hunting. “This generation is far more impatient with images that disempower women,” said Stange. “So it’s very refreshing to see Katniss and company countering Disney princesses.” (The Star Phoenix (Saskatchewan) – May 24, 2014)
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