in E News Team CSSA E-NEWS – November 5, 2014
Team CSSA E-NEWS – November 5, 2014
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COMMENTARY – THE CABELA’S POPPY KERFUFFLE: Every now and then people make mistakes. We are, after all, only human. That we make mistakes should not be the primary issue though. How we respond to the mistake when it’s brought to our attention is, or at least it should be.
Here’s what happened.
The North Edmonton location of Cabela’s reportedly turned away a group of cadets who volunteered their time to distribute Remembrance Day poppies. This move, reported widely and immediately, brought down the ire of both the hunting and shooting community and Legion officials.
Other people immediately promoted a boycott of Cabela’s instead of finding out what happened.
One person hopped on Twitter with this post: Boycott Cabela’s in Edmonton #boycottcabelas #againstpoppies
Another [email protected] wrote from her Twitter account: You suck Cabela’s, never shopping there: Cadets distributing poppies turned away at Edmonton store http://disq.us/8ksc0c #supportveterans
Were these people and groups correct to criticize a store specializing in outdoor gear for turning away cadets just a week before Remembrance Day?
Absolutely!
However, those who called for an immediate boycott of the entire Cabela’s chain were quite wrong. Their first step should have been to find out what happened and what Cabela’s would do to correct the problem. That takes time, however, and our insatiable demand for instant gratification doesn’t allow time to hear the other side.
There are always two sides to a story and a lack of willingness to hear the other side makes all of us look bad.
From the Edmonton Sun news report of this incident:
A group of volunteers dispatched from the Royal Canadian Legion Kingsway Branch for the kick-off of the Poppy Fund Campaign were invited to offer Remembrance Day poppies at the Cabela’s store at 15320 – 37 Ave. by an employee, the father of one of the cadets.
When they arrived, management allegedly told the volunteers they had to leave, saying the employee didn’t have the authority to allow them on the premises.
The Royal Canadian Legion distributes poppies as a way of raising funds and collecting donations to provide assistance to ex-servicemen and women in need. It is a worthy cause and one Canadians have supported since poppies were first worn as a sign of remembrance in 1921.
Stores turning away cadets and legion members is not new. It’s happened many times before, but generally not from stores who deal in outdoor and hunting gear.
We hunters and shooters ought to judge Cabela’s by how they responded to the problem, not by the fact a problem happened in the first place.
Here is the statement by Cabela’s CEO Tommy Millner: (https://www.facebook.com/cabelascanada): “Knowing Cabela’s long-standing commitment to supporting the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Legion, I was deeply concerned when I learned of the misunderstanding that led to cadets planning to distribute Remembrance Day poppies being turned away from one of our stores.”
“Of course, cadets are welcome to distribute poppies at our stores, just as they have done in the past, and to make up for the missed opportunity Cabela’s will proudly contribute $10,000 to the Royal Canadian Legion’s Poppy Fund.”
“Cabela’s Canada, headquartered in Winnipeg, remains absolutely committed to the Canadian military, I assure you that. In 2013, for example, Cabela’s Canada partnered with Veteran Affairs Canada’s ‘Hire a Veteran’ initiative, which gives veterans opportunities to make a successful transition to civilian life.”
“Again, on behalf of myself and Cabela Canada’s more than 1,600 employees, I deeply apologize for this unintentional mistake and thank everyone for their understanding and continued support.”
That their honest mistake was rectified almost immediately is a testament to the integrity of the entire Cabela’s chain.
That Cabela’s apology was sincere is measured, not by the words their CEO used in his Facebook post, but by the fact he put the chain’s money where his mouth is. He backed his words with his financial commitment.
That’s integrity in action.
On OutdoorsmenForum.ca writer “Morpheus32” put it best when he explained: “Cabela’s supports the military, period. The company has made a commitment to reservists, giving time off for training and operations. They protected my job while I was away for 18 months in Afghanistan and when I returned injured, they went out of their way to accommodate me. They seek out more ways to support the military including hiring, support to the MFRC and parental leave when the spouse has to deploy. I can’t think of a more supportive company.”
This was not a case of a store policy against distributing poppies or against veterans themselves. It was a mistake brought on by the wrong person giving permission they didn’t have the authority to give. It was exacerbated by our media desperate for a story on a slow news cycle.
From the Toronto Sun report of the apology issued by Cabela’s head office: William Fecteau, a volunteer with the Edmonton Poppy Office who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force for 42 years, explained that the leaders of this cadet group did not contact the correct person before arriving at the store, likely catching the manager off guard.
“It’s unfortunate that this happened because Cabela’s is a proud supporter of the Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Fund,” Fecteau said. “We get donations from them every year, and they put honour boxes in their stores for us every year.”
Instead of publicly shaming and boycotting one of our own for making a mistake, perhaps we ought to write letters of gratitude to Cabela’s CEO Tommy Millner as well as the manager of the Edmonton store for their willingness to resolve the problem promptly as well as for putting their money where their mouths are.
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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.” – 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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SECOND AMENDMENT CRUSHES GUN CONTROL CANDIDATES IN MIDTERM ELECTION: As the election returns came in on November 4 one thing was evident — the second amendment crushed gun control candidates in senate and gubernatorial races around the country.
In so doing, the Second Amendment annihilated the left’s relentless claim that 90 percent of Americans support more gun control.
On the gubernatorial level, in Arizona, pro-Second Amendment candidate Doug Ducey (R) beat gun control candidate Fred DuVaul (D). And in Florida, pro-Second Amendment incumbent Rick Scott (R) beat gun control candidate Charlie Crist. These victories were enhanced by the fact that Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly endorsed DuVal and Giffords’ gun control PAC gave $100,000 to Crist’s campaign.
The Second Amendment trumped their endorsement and their money.
In Texas, NRA-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott (R) won. In Maryland, NRA-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan (R) won. In Alabama, NRA-endorsed Governor Robert J. Bentley (R) won. In Wisconsin, NRA-endorsed Governor Scott Walker (R) won. In Michigan, NRA-endorsed Governor Rick Snyder (R) won. In Nevada, NRA-endorsed Governor Brian Sandoval (R) won. In Ohio, NRA-endorsed Governor John R. Kasich (R) won. In Oklahoma, NRA-endorsed Governor Mary Fallin (R) won. In Wyoming, NRA-endorsed Governor Matt Mead (R) won. In Idaho, NRA-endorsed Governor Bruce Otter (R) won. In Kansas, NRA-endorsed Governor Sam Brownback (R) won. And in Maine, NRA-endorsed Governor Paul R. LePage (R) won against gun control candidate Michael Michaud (D). (On August 8, Breitbart News reported that Michaud was supported by Gabby Giffords.)
In Senate races, gun control Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) was defeated by NRA-endorsed Cory Gardner (R) and gun control Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) was defeated by NRA-endorsed Thom Tillis (R). In Kansas, NRA-endorsed Senator Pat Roberts (R) won. In Georgia, NRA-endorsed Senatorial candidate David Perdue (R) won. In Arkansas, NRA-endorsed Tom Cotton (R) won. And in West Virginia, NRA-endorsed Shelley Moore Capito (R) won, marking the first time that state has sent a Republican Senator to Washington DC in over five decades.
The spotlight was also on the race between NRA-endorsed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and pro-gun control challenger Alison Grimes (D). McConnell won handily.
NRA-endorsed Senatorial candidate Joni Ernst (R-IA) also won.
On November 3—the day before the elections took place—Breitbart News reminded red state and pro-Second Amendment voters to vote like their guns depended on it. They did. And as result, the Second Amendment won the day, Republicans won the Senate, and gun control took a beating. (By AWR Hawkins | 4 Nov 2014) Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at [email protected].
Read more at: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/11/04/Second-Amendment-Crushes-Gun-Control-Candidates-In-Midterm-Elections
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TORONTO POLICE CHIEF REJECTS REQUEST TO ALLOW OFFICERS TO CARRY SERVICE GUNS WHEN OFF THE CLOCK: Police union says members are concerned about safety in light of attacks on Canadian soldiers. Most Toronto Police officers will not be packing their service weapons for a grocery store trip or night out at the movies anytime soon.
Mike McCormack, President of the Toronto Police Association proposed his members to carry their guns when out of uniform as a way to deal with safety concerns. They stem from two recent fatal attacks on Canadian soldiers and the general threat of ISIS.
The union boss put the idea to the Chief of Police Monday. Bill Blair turned it down, pointing to the lack of specific threat against the service.
“The intelligence or the risk assessment they’ve done…he (Blair) doesn’t feel it warrants having officers carry fire arms as a general rule while they are not at work,” McCormack told Newstalk 1010 after the meeting.
Toronto Police rules allow officers to bring their guns to and from work. The Police Chief can allow a service weapon to be carried around the clock in special circumstances, like when an officer’s life has been threatened.
The conversation around gun rules is not over. McCormack will raise the subject with Blair weekly.
“If the landscape changes again or the intelligence changes, he’ll let me know,” McCormack said of the Chief.
McCormack would not lay out exactly what has changed, but rejects the notion that it has been status quo for his members in recent weeks.
“We have to be more vigilant and more diligent and look for different signs of intelligence based on the way that these people (would-be terrorists) operate. And that’s gonna be a huge challenge for policing.”
On Oct. 22, the TTC revealed police’s presence at stations and on subway trains had been boosted two weeks earlier. Bill Blair said riders would be seeing more uniformed officers in those spots for weeks to come. While Blair said there was no particular threat, the TTC and police were reacting to ISIS comments about Canada’s decision to launch airstrikes on Islamic State Targets in Iraq.
The revelation came the same day Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa before storming Parliament. Two days before that, W.O. Patrice Vincent was killed when he was mowed down by a car driven by Martin Couture-Rouleau in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Both Zehaf-Bibeau and Couture-Rouleau are considered to be “lone wolf attackers” and self-radicalized Muslims. (By Siobhan Morris | November 3, 2014)
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ULTIMATE ARCTIC ADVENTURE: In this episode Keith Beasley and waterfowl biologist Scott Petrie go up to the Arctic to hunt for snow geese as they migrate to their nesting grounds. Shooting snow geese on the snow covered tundra while hiding behind piles of snow for a blind make for a hunt that you’ve never seen before! Encounters with a polar bear, seals, arctic waterfowl and caribou make this a truly epic adventure you won’t want to miss!
Read more at: http://www.canadaintherough.com/ultimate-arctic-adventure/
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HUNTING NEWS – “A WIN FOR SCIENCE OVER EMOTION” – BEAR HUNTERS VICTORIOUS ON MAINE BALLOT: Yesterday, voters in Maine solidly defeated a ballot referendum that would have virtually eliminated the state’s ability to manage the bear population.
The referendum, known as Maine Question 1, would have banned hunting with bait, hounds, and trapping as management tools for controlling the state’s bear population. Hundreds of businesses and thousands of jobs rely on bear hunting in this heavily forested state, where any other type of bear hunting would be fruitless. As it is, with the use of hounds, baits, and cable restrain traps, success rates for bear hunters runs about 30 percent.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the nation’s largest animal rights activist organization, bankrolled the effort by setting up a group called Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting which gathered more than 70,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot.
The state was bombarded with negative ads in every kind of media portraying the hunting methods as cruel, unneeded, and bad for bears. It is estimated that the Washington, DC-based HSUS spent between two and three million dollars on the failed effort. The ban went down to defeat by a margin of 52.3 to 47.7 percent.
Randy Cross, biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) and nationally noted bear expert, said this was a big victory for wildlife management everywhere. “This was a win for science over emotion,” he said. “The facts were on our side but the facts were muffled by so much static and distortion. They challenged everything we said. It was a very difficult battle to get the truth across.”
The HSUS filed a lawsuit to stop the IFW from actively campaigning for the defeat of the referendum, contending that state money was being used in a political way, but Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler ruled that Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting failed to demonstrate that the department’s opposition to Question 1 caused “irreparable injury,” and that department employees’ free speech was protected under the First Amendment.
The ban came to be seen as a fight between hunters and anti-hunters rather than just a referendum on specific hunting practices. While 97 percent of the funds from the anti-hunters came from out of state, mostly through the HSUS, 39 percent of the money used in the campaign to defeat the initiative was raised within the state.
“This is a big win for bear management in Maine,” said Cross. “This would have been very bad for the people who live here and very bad for the bears. It was a big win for wildlife management everywhere.” (By Bernie Barringer | November 5, 2014)
Read more at: http://www.outdoorhub.com/news/2014/11/05/win-science-emotion-bear-hunters-victorious-maine-ballot/
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MOOSE ON THE LOOSE – OVERABUNDANT POPULATION THREATENS HEALTH OF CAPE BRETON HIGHLANDS NATIONAL PARK FOREST: A moose harvest will be one of several techniques tested over the next four years in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park as part of efforts to restore the health of its forests.
Matthew Smith, park ecologist with the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, said an overabundance of moose has been problem for some time in the park, with the animals browsing and eating away at seedlings and young trees. It’s led to dramatic changes in the park’s boreal forests, which are home to a wide range of animals, including species at risk like Bicknell’s thrush, lynx and the American marten.
“Forest cover is really important and from our satellite imagery we’ve seen that 11 per cent of the park is now grasslands, and that grassland wasn’t there before. The park had a very small percentage of grasslands,” he said.
Smith explained that the spruce budworm consumed large areas of mature boreal forest in the park in the 1970s, creating lots of new growth of young trees and shrubs, which is perfect food for moose. As a result, the moose population in the park grew rapidly – numbering close to 8,000 in the early 2000s. While it has declined somewhat since then, it hasn’t been significant enough to mitigate the decline of the boreal forest.
“We hoped that the (moose) population would go down, would crash, and that the vegetation would come back on its own, but from our monitoring that we’ve been doing of the population and of the vegetation, we’re seeing that it’s not happening,” he said.
Park officials have created a four-year plan to begin restoring forests in specific areas of the national park – specifically the Skyline Trail, North Mountain, and Warren Lake. Different restoration methods are being proposed in each of three areas.
On North Mountain, Parks Canada is proposing a harvest to reduce the moose population by 90 per cent in a 20-kilometre squared area, which would be approximately 40 moose over two years.
“We’re going to remove moose from that area to keep the population low enough so that the vegetation that’s there can grow back,” said Smith. “It’s going to be a Mi’kmaq-led harvest in partnership with the Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources.”
At the Skyline Trail, a small test exclosure, where the vegetation is protected from moose, has been set up for several years but grass in that area is still preventing new trees from becoming established. As a result, Parks Canada has committed to planting 30,000 trees in a larger enclosure to be built in the area.
At Warren Lake, a prescribed burn will take place to encourage forest regeneration and some small enclosures will be built to keep the moose out.
Smith said they will monitor the various techniques closely.
“It’s sort of like an experiment to see how well the techniques will work in different areas,” he said. “So we’re looking at planting, we’re looking at exclosures, we’re looking at removal of moose in a small area on North Mountain, and after the four years we’re planning on developing a hyperabundant (moose) management plan for the park.”
In order to ensure the public is informed of their proposed plans, Parks Canada has three information sessions scheduled for this week – today in Cape North at the Cabot Fire Hall from 6-7:30 p.m., Thursday in Wagmatcook at the Wagmatcook Culture and Heritage Centre from 6-8 p.m., and Friday in Pleasant Bay at St. Andrew’s United Church from 6-7:30 p.m. (By Laura Jean Grant | November 5, 2014 | Cape Breton Post)
FAST FACTS
Eastern moose are native to Cape Breton, but became rare by 1900 due to excessive hunting and habitat destruction, and were likely wiped out by the 1930s.
Parks Canada decided to re-introduce moose to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, and 18 western moose from Elk Island National Park, Alberta, were released in the Cape Breton park in 1947 and 1948.
In the 1970s, a large spruce budworm outbreak consumed large areas of mature boreal forest in the park, creating lots of new growth of young trees and shrubs – perfect food for moose.
With lots of food and few predators, the moose population in northern Cape Breton grew rapidly. In 2011, it was estimated there were two moose per square kilometre in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Source: Parks Canada
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OPEN-CARRY ADVOCATE TARGETED IN ‘SWATTING’: Fairfax, Virginia, resident and open-carry advocate Robert Dickens heard the police siren and saw the lights, so he very carefully stopped his motorcycle, locked his hands on his head and calmly waited for instructions.
He said yes when an officer asked if he could remove a handgun from a holster Dickens was wearing. He gave the same answer when the officer asked to take temporary custody of a pocketknife he had in his pocket.
In the end, he’s thankful he’s still alive after an up-close and personal encounter with “swatting,’ the practice of making a false report of an on-going critical incident to prompt an emergency response.
“Wow, I could have been killed!” he wrote in a report on the Bearing Arms website of an October incident in which officers from many police units suddenly pulled up around him while he was riding his motorcycle home from a couple of errands.
Such swatting incidents are becoming more common. They started out with Internet gamers who would hide behind online personas and anonymous names to report that their gaming opponent had a gun or had taken hostages.
The response often is a full-scale SWAT team at the location, with guns drawn and military vehicles at the ready. It’s even happened to actor Clint Eastwood.
But its danger turned from theory to tragedy over the summer when John Crawford III was gunned down in a Beavercreek, Ohio, store after being swatted by a caller who claimed Crawford was loading and pointing an assault rifle at customers in Walmart.
Actually, Crawford was merely holding a BB gun that the store sells. But Crawford died when officers fired on him, and another shopper suffered a heart attack and died after the police opened fire, the report said.
The Bearing Arms website said the activity is “a favored tactic” of gun-control supporters.
For example, from the Facebook page of Moms Demand Action, a group that tries to push retailers into public statements of opposition to guns, a Jennifer Decker wrote, “Every time I see someone with a gun in a store I will call 911 because I feel threatened, they’ll get tired of that right quick!!!”
Added Alan Crammatte, “Call the police and say you feel threatened by a man with a gun.”
The Bearing Arms report had the details of Dickens’ ordeal.
He explained he ran some errands that day, at 7-11 and a Verizon store. Then he was pulled over.
“Now I’m thinking that I’ve got my pistol on me and I’m asking myself how I would feel if I were an officer pulling over someone who was armed,” he wrote. “OK, turn the bike off, straddle the bike, interlock your hands on your head, and be calm.”
He cooperated.
Eventually, he found out a known “swatter” had called police on him.
Reported Bearing Arms: “Unfortunately, the individual in question – like many supporters of gun control – is thought to be mentally ill. The [police department] has a difficult time pursuing a criminal SWAT-ting case against the caller because they can’t prove criminal intent.”
Just days ago in Massachusetts, MyFoxBoston quoted a private investigator observing the “game” is getting much more dangerous.
“Last July, a prankster called in a bomb threat that shut down part [of] Harvard’s campus. In Dennis last week, a gamer used SWAT-ting to allegedly target a victim. But Tuesday in Ashland, police saw SWAT-ting go to the next level.”
The report said a scammer called police to claim to be a man who was being held at gunpoint by his wife. A SWAT team, police and fire officials arrived and found no emergency.
Private investigator Tom Shamshack said, “When somebody responds to one of these calls, it’s all hands on deck and you have weaponry and ammunition that are there that could conceivably get somebody killed.”
The NBC affiliate in Philadelphia reported this month that 30 police officers surrounded a South Jersey house earlier this year, surprising Rob Richards, who was playing video games with friends.
The occupants of the home were forced outside at gunpoint by police understandably concerned by the telephone call they had received that said: “My mom and dad got into an argument and it got physical. I took the gun and I shot my dad. I want to kill her and kill myself. I don’t want to be alive anymore.”
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, in early October, a woman called 9-1-1 telling dispatchers she had no idea why officers surrounded her home and pointed rifles at her.
“Please don’t have them shoot me! I’m really scared!” she said.
Officers explained: “We got a call there was a man inside the residence at your house and that he had killed his wife and was getting ready to kill his children.”
In Nebraska, the state patrol launched a tactical response in Sarpy County at a home where family members were inside sleeping.
Lt. Kevin Griger pointed out the danger.
“Somebody’s in his own home, he hears the front door crash in, he grabs his personal weapon, goes to the front door, the SWAT team’s coming in, he doesn’t know that because he doesn’t anticipate any problems, you know, and a firefight en[sues] in the home and somebody gets hurt because of that.”
And in Florida’s Bay Area, Bradenton police got a call from a man who said he had killed his family and was going to kill himself.
The targeted family was able to explain to deputies there was no problem, avoiding a standoff.
Meanwhile, police told Dickens they will be “checking the sanity of the caller.”
Said Bearing Arms: “Mr. Dickens kept his composure during the stop despite the four squad cars in his mirror, and the Fairfax County Police Department acted very professionally as well. The FCPD responded to the call with the potential for force, but never once drew a weapon on Mr. Dickens placing him in danger, which was the clear intention of the caller.
What of the caller?
“The [citizens group] contacted the FCPD to obtain a copy of the 911 call that the caller had made, and discovered that the caller is a known SWAT-ter, who has SWAT-ted others in the past.”
CNN previously reported RedState managing editor Erick Erickson was the victim of swatting.
And WND columnist Phil Elmore earlier this year addressed the problem.
“Two years ago, this column warned you of the dangers of ‘SWAT-ting,’ a technological exploit in which hackers (or those with the ability to ‘spoof’ telephone numbers or otherwise fool emergency response networks) simulate emergency calls in order to direct law enforcement officers to a specific address. Often, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and other modern telecommunications methods are used to hide the caller’s true identity. Notably, SWAT-ting was originally invented as a new means of silencing conservatives by liberals.
“It has, however, spread to other spheres of cultural influence, becoming just yet another weapon in the griefing arsenal of gamers, computer geeks and script-kiddie almost-hackers who want to find a way to reach through the Internet and harm someone.”
Elmore cited incidents in New York, Vancouver, South Dakota and other places.
“Making the police believe a dangerous situation exists at a given location should not be, in and of itself, a life-threatening condition. The first-responders who come to your home are there ostensibly to protect you, to rescue innocent people from harm that might be inflicted by bad actors. But increasingly, Americans and (their neighbors to the north) are discovering that the armored, masked, helmeted, machine-gun toting men who smash down their doors aren’t interested in rescuing anyone so much as they are interested in neutralizing potential threats. No doubt our nation’s SWAT teams are quite adept at this neutralizing but this focus on command and control doesn’t leave a lot of room to protect and serve.” (By Bob Unruh October 31, 2014 | WND)
Read more at: http://www.wnd.com/2014/10/open-carry-advocate-targeted-in-swat-ting/#6i1EMBVQOw7lHjT3.99
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