- National Firearms Association

Transcription

April/May 2010
$4.50
Firearms Journal
C A N A D I A N
Guns, Schools
AND Zero tolerance:
The Politics of
Terrorizing Kids?
Fully Committed On All Fronts:
Canada’s National Firearms Association
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April/May 2010
C A N A D I A N
$4.50
Firearms Journal
Greeting from Head Office
Inside
This Issue
Guns, schools
AnD Zero tolerAnce:
the Politics of
terroriZinG KiDs?
Regulars
The days are longer, the sun is shining,
the birds are singing --- I think it must be
spring.
The CONFERENCE AND ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING will be held
May 14 – 16, 2010 at Fantasyland Hotel
in Edmonton. This will definitely be an
informative and fun weekend. Price for
the weekend including guest speakers,
all meals, a chance to have a fun shoot at
Wild West Shooting Range, round table
discussions plus more is only $150.00.
If you haven’t already done so please
register on-line right away as space is
limited.
From the Editor’s Desk ...............................................6
We are always kept busy sending out
renewals, receiving renewals, answering
the phone and dealing with e-mails. We’d
like to say thanks for your prompt replies
when we send mailings and alerts out.
You make our job much easier and it
increases our efficiency.
the nicest people that way.”
Diane is also fortunate enough to be
able to attend lots of gun shows in both
Alberta and British Columbia these days
on behalf of the NFA. Thanks to all the
Clubs that donate space and to everyone
that comes by and says “Hello”. She
really appreciate you taking the time to
stop by and as she says, “I always meet
So, become an ACTIVE member of the
NFA. Attend the Conference and Annual
General Meeting. We’ll see you there!
In closing, please remember Canada’s
National Firearms Association needs all
of us working together in order to protect
our rights as responsible firearms owners.
We will succeed in eliminating Canada’s
egregious gun control laws!
Sean G. Penney & Grayson Penney
From The Bookshelf - Winchester
- An American Legend ................................................7
Wm. Rantz
Fully Committed On All Fronts:
Canada’s National Firearms Association
President’s Column - The Battle for the Future........8-9
Blair Hagen
On The Cover
Vice President’s Column - The Slippery Slope:
Registration Does Equal Confiscation!. ...............10-11
Sean G. Penney
Recently a Michigan kindergarten student was suspended
from his elementary school for “brandishing his hand in
the shape of a gun.” Similar suspensions have happened
in Canada and the frequency of such punitive actions
seems to be on the rise. These questionable suspensions
have been made under the auspices of “zero tolerance”
policies toward firearms. The question must be asked are
such polices doing more harm than good given the tender
age of many of the affected kids.
Bev, Megan, Ted and Diane
Letters to the Editor .............................................12-13
Preserving Our Firearms Heritage
- Putting Our Firearms Heritage in Jeopardy
Gary K. Kangas ...................................................................15
Politics & Guns - Ottawa Update..........................18-19
Sheldon Clare & Sean G. Penney
The International Front ........................................22-26
Gary Mauser
Legal Corner...............................................................27
Grayson Penney
Members Soapbox - ................................................. 41
Photos: Oleg Volk
Jon McCormick
Mission Statement
Features
Guns, Schools and Zero Tolerance:
Canada’s National Firearms Association exists to pro- The Politics of Terrorizing Kids? .........................16-17
Grayson Penney
mote, support and protect all safe firearms activities,
A Tribute to the Teacher .......................................20-21
including the right of self defence; firearms education Marie Camino
for all Canadians; freedom and justice for Canada’s firearms community, and to advocate for legislative change Bill C-391- Countering Ten Misleading Claims ..22-26
Gary Mauser
to ensure the right of all Canadians to own and use fireCrime Control by Licensing the Dangerously
arms is protected.
Law-abiding .........................................................30-31
Bruce Gold
Cast Bullets for Beginners - Part 1 ......................32-35
The contents of the Canadian Firearms Journal are Sean G. Penney
copyrighted and may be reproduced only when written
The Shootists .......................................................36-39
permission is obtained from the publisher.
Jesse L. Hardin
4
April/May
www.nfa.ca
www.nfa.ca April/May 5
NFA Book Shelf
WINCHESTER:
AN AMERICAN LEGEND
By Wm. Rantz
Welcome all to another issue of the Canadian Firearms Journal. This issue has probably been one of the
tougher for us to put together and is much changed
from what it originally had been planned to look like.
Like life, gun politics is rarely as neat and ordered
as one would like and we had to scramble to make
room for a number of last minute additions that were
necessitated by developments coming out of Ottawa.
Although this issue is a little more “political” we’ve
tried to maintain that potpourri balance our readers
seem to like in terms of human interest, technical and
more academic content.
Probably one of the most inspirational submissions
I’ve read in quite a while is the tribute to her firearms
safety teacher by Marie Camino. Marie’s story is so
honest, so raw and so heart-wrenchingly inspirational
that the first time I read it; I knew we had to publish it.
Jesse Hardin is also back with another great story examining the myth and truth of the Old West “Shootist.” What he reveals may surprise many who grew
up accepting the Hollywood version of the professional Old West gunfighter.
In response to requests from readers, we’re running
another how-to primer for shooters looking to save
some money and/or find new ways to enhance the fun
of reloading by casting their own lead alloy bullets. I
hope you enjoy “Cast Bullets for Beginners.”
The NFA Bookshelf if full once again with Bill
Rantz’ review of Winchester: An American Legend.
6
Author – R. L. Wilson
Publisher – Chartwell Books Inc. Reprinted 2004
Edited by R. L. Wilson
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
404 Pages, 8 ½ X 11, Colour and Black/White Photographs
It is a great coffee table book that would make a fine
addition to any shooter’s library.
With Bill C-391 still winding its way through parliament, plus recent unilateral reclassifications of
legally registered firearms by the RCMP, and a narrowly averted catastrophic revision of the federal
Explosives Act by NRCAN; not to mention renewed
threats to firearms ownership on the international
front, we’ve included timely submissions from a very
diverse group of contributors including Gary Mauser
who returns this issue with a timely expose of the 10
gun control myths gun grabbers are using to derail
passage of C-391, in addition to his report from the
international front.
Bruce Gold and Jon McCormick take a look at the
firearms issue from two distinct individual perspectives and examine issues of crime control, vigilantism
and how law-abiding gun owners fit into the mix.
Finally, we have our cover story dealing with the issue of kids and the widespread implementation of
so-called “zero tolerance” policies in schools. Not to
minimize the tragedies of events such as the Columbine or Virginia Tech shootings, the question has to
be asked: as a society, are we doing right by our kids
with these draconian policies that effectively tie the
hands of school administrators and unduly punish our
kids.
We hope you enjoy the issue as much as we did putting it together.
April/May
R. L. Wilson, author of WINCHESTER AN AMERICAN LEGEND is a world renowned firearms
authority with more than 20 firearm books to his credit. Throughout the years he has developed an
outstanding reputation as well as a
vast list of personal contacts in the
gun collecting fraternity. This has
enabled Mr. Wilson to gain access
to the finest Winchester firearms
ever produced. The knowledge obtained from examining such guns is
shared in both text and photographs
so that all Winchester enthusiasts
may gain from his experience.
WINCHESTER: AN AMERICAN
LEGEND reflects the general trend
in firearm publications towards
books which may be referred to as
“coffee table” editions. They are intended to appeal to a larger segment
of the market rather than the experienced collector. Authors catch the
prospective purchaser’s eye with
high quality photographs on shiny
dust jackets. Titles are specific
which will bring the book up in
online searches for information on
that chosen make of firearms.
This marketing strategy allows the
author and publisher to produce a
quality book which will sell in significant numbers to a vast population of firearm enthusiasts. The
high volume is reflected in list prices that are very reasonable for the
content and quality of the publication. WINCHESTER: AN AMERICAN LEGEND is an excellent ex-
www.nfa.ca
www.nfa.ca ample of such marketing. The only
disappointment that I have with this
edition is the fact that the spine on
my edition has already started to
separate from the front cover. It
appears that the interior pages are
simply too heavy for the type of
binding used.
Wilson has divided this book into
twelve chapters beginning with
“Genesis of the Winchester” which
familiarizes the reader with the
early firearms of makers such as
Walter Hunt, Lewis Jennings and
the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company. The evolution of the famous
Henry rifle and the brass framed
1866 Winchester is explained as is
Oliver Winchester’s business strategy which enabled him to create a
manufacturing empire.
Subsequent chapters are devoted
to each type of firearm that Winchester produced and the reader
will likely consider one of these
their personal favourite depending
on their specific interests. I found
Chapter Three “Perfecting the Lever Action” which focuses on the
1886, 1892, 1894 and 1895 Winchester rifles quite interesting. No
doubt other readers may find chapters covering bolt actions, shotguns, military production or even
commemoratives catch and hold
their attention.
Wilson outlines the business decisions that took place in the mid to
late 20th century which saw the
April/May ownership of the company change
hands and direction several times.
Browning became a major investor in the U. S. Repeating Arms
Company and in 1990 became the
sole owner of the corporation. The
Winchester name will be used for
decades to come as it is one of the
most familiar names in firearm history.
The photographs in this book are
outstanding. Subjects range from
exquisite engraved rifles to priceless historical images of those who
carried these guns over 100 years
ago. The number of early photographs which show men proudly
holding their Winchester rifles
reminds us that these guns were
prized possessions. They provided
protection from villains, helped
control predators and put game on
the family dining table.
WINCHESTER: AN AMERICAN
LEGEND includes a twenty two
page appendix of tables which includes a wealth of knowledge pertaining to both the guns and cartridges of Winchester. It concludes
with a ten page index which allows
the reader to search and locate specific models or information quickly.
You can order WINCHESTER: AN
AMERICAN LEGEND online or
at any major bookstore for around
$40. Start by inquiring at your local
gun shop so that they know there is
an untapped market in quality firearm reference material.
7
President’s
Message
The Battle for the Future
The battle for the future direction of gun control in Canada
goes on. Will the civil disarmament agenda set into place
by Liberal governments in the 1970’s, and advanced by
Progressive Conservative and Liberal Firearms Acts in the
1990’s continue? Or will the Conservative government set a
new direction in addressing the criminal misuse of firearms
and public safety?
MP Candace Hoeppner’s private members bill C-391 proposes
to amend the current Liberal Firearms Act by removing the
requirement to hold a registration for a non restricted long gun.
While a logical step, C-391 doesn’t begin to address some of
the most fundamental problems of Canada’s broken firearms
control system.
Bill C-391 is limited in scope, perhaps necessarily so, given the
current structure of parliament. While many opposition MP’s
chose to support Bill C-391 based on the clear and widely
recognized failure of the “long gun registry,” along with the
massive waste of billions of taxpayer dollars associated with
its imposition; many still hold bigoted anti firearms attitudes
and continue to regard Canada’s firearms community as a
threat to public safety that must be eliminated from the cultural
fabric of Canada.
The civil disarmament lobby has also stepped up its campaign
to derail Bill C-391. Political police chiefs, the Public Service
Alliance of Canada (PSAC), left wing feminist groups and the
Coalition for Gun Control have all dramatically increased their
lobbying efforts to stop even the modest reforms to Canada’s
failed firearms control legislation that the dismantling of the
long gun registry represents.
Despite the massive failure of the Firearms Act, the issue is
symbolic for them. To the gun control lobby, forcing people
to register their guns, regardless of the effect on public safety,
differentiates Canadians from Americans. To the gun haters,
the presence of firearms in private hands indicates a lawless
society, or worse, a society of individual sovereignty and rights
to property, including arms. The civil disarmament lobby holds
these up as “American” ideals unfit for Canada.
RCMP has also begun the process of confiscating registered
Chinese Type-97A carbines from registered owners. These
licensed owners, who purchased these firearms in full
8
accordance with the Firearms Act, are now receiving letters
informing them that their registration certificates have been
revoked. How can the RCMP do this despite government
promises that registration would never lead to confiscation? In
actuality, unbeknownst to most gun owners, the administrative
command structure created by C-68 specifically and
deliberately empowers them to do so and said powers are
written right into the Firearms Act.
This was not by pure happenstance. The gun control bureaucrats
who wrote the Firearms Act knew that confiscating property
was potentially legally dangerous in Canada, they knew that
registration in conjunction with empowering firearms control
bureaucrats with powers to determine just who was “allowed”
to possess what firearm would speed the confiscation process
greatly. Facetiously, Liberal politicians, during the period,
continued assuring Canadian gun owners that the registry
would never be used to confiscate legal firearms; all the while
their non-elected minions took legislative steps to fast track
their government’s ability to do just that. Obviously there is
good reason why Canadian gun owners have come to expect
so little from any Liberal government.
The Chinese Type-97 rifles aren’t the only legal firearms slated
for confiscation. Registered owners of High Standard 10B
Shotguns also seem to have been caught up in the RCMP’s zeal
to ban guns. These have also been “prohibited,” the registrations
revoked, and owners advised to surrender them. Incidentally,
the High Standard 10B is a semi auto shotgun marketed in the
1970’s. There are very few registered in Canada. I suppose
the RCMP is counting on the fact that only a handful of lawabiding gun owners are affected and thus should expect little
protest or comment from the general gun owning public.
For those owners who aren’t directly affected by these seizures,
you need to ask yourself, “What are they going to ban next?”
If you’re a gun owner in Canada, you can no longer afford to
be apathetic. Bans have started once again and eventually the
gun grabbers will find time for you, no matter if you’re the
‘one-gun hunter,’ genteel collector of fine target revolvers or
your basic, unassuming trap or skeet shooter - just as they did
in Australia and Great Britain before it.
April/May
www.nfa.ca
This is not the first time firearms have been confiscated in
Canada. With each new round of gun control initiatives
introduced going back to the 1970’s, police forces across
Canada have used both new legislation and the confusion
generated by it to confiscate firearms from law-abiding gun
owners. As a result of Bill C-17 (1992) and Bill C-68 (1995),
thousands of guns in Canada were seized, supposedly in order
to determine their legality. Some were eventually returned, but
many more were destroyed or simply disappeared when owners
could not foot the legal costs to challenge those seizures.
Some were prohibited and confiscated outright. The Franchi
SPAS 12 and variants were “high tech” advanced pump action/
semi auto shotguns marketed and sold in the 1980’s. When gun
control bureaucrats were drawing up the lists of guns that were
to be banned in the 1990’s, one of them remembered that “scary
looking shotgun from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator
movie”. Further investigation revealed that only a few had
been imported into Canada, so the gun control bureaucrats
decided that the ones that had could be easily prohibited and
confiscated without too much public furor.
And they were. With no long gun registration in place in the
early 1990’s, the police simply went to the guns stores where
they were sold, got the names and addresses of those who
had purchased them with F.A.C’s from the individual store’s
permanent firearms records and paid those self-same owners
a visit. In each case, fellow law-abiding gun owners were
warned and essentially intimidated into surrendering their
shotguns immediately in order to avoid prosecution. There was
no compensation paid, as none was required. I recently spoke
to one former owner of a SPAS 12; he’d actually only taken
delivery of his shotgun the day prior to the visit from police
demanding its surrender. At the time, the SPAS 12 was one
of the most expensive and technologically advanced tactical
shotguns on the market and the confiscation of such was a
severe financial loss to many owners.
registration and demand that it be surrendered. All quite nice
and legal thanks’ to the Liberal’s gun control program.
Think your gun is safe? Think again. Any firearm can be
converted to automatic with little trouble. .303 British Enfield
rifles were converted to automatic in Australia in WW2 to
make up for shortfalls in automatic weapons. Many of you
will remember the advertisements in the gun magazines for
instructions on how to make your Ruger 10/22 or SKS rifle full
auto. In the 1990’s, semi auto rifles were banned outright in
Australia, and owners forced to surrender them. Compensation
was paid in Australia; it is not required by law in Canada.
Is the agenda of RCMP at this point to progressively and
unilaterally reclassify all semi auto firearms as prohibited
based on the excuse of “ease of conversion to full auto”? The
question must be asked, as once the precedent has been set,
it becomes easier to make a case by make and model that a
firearm must be banned for the sake of public safety.
All of this begs the question: “Who is making law and policy
in Ottawa?” Is the RCMP doing this with the approval of
the minister of public safety and the government? Or is the
minister just simply unaware of the RCMP’s agenda? All
important questions and answers to which the NFA is currently
working to find answers to.
One thing is certain. This RCMP action proves that registration
does eventually result in confiscation. Now is the time for
all gun owners to make their voices heard in their own local
communities and in Ottawa. Gun control advocates have been
using the argument that the long-gun registry is completely
benign and that gun owners are being unreasonable in their
opposition to registration and/or support for C-391. We now
know that is not the case and have the proof to support it.
The assertion of gun control supporters that registration is not
about confiscation is now proved a bold-faced lie. Here we have
absolute proof, courtesy of and facilitated by the C-68 Firearms
Act. License the owner and then make him unqualified to hold
a firearms license. Register the gun, then prohibit it; revoke the
Vice President’s
Column
The Slippery Slope:
Registration Does Equal Confiscation!
Sean Penney, National VP Communications
By now, most of you, my fellow
members and readers know that I
feel pretty strongly about the issue
of what I call the “modern sporting
rifle.” They’re the so-called “black”
and “green” semi-automatic rifles that
scare the heck out of most gun-hating,
liberal elites and which the left-wing
media consistently demonize with the
moniker “assault rifle.” They aren’t
my only interest and if you ask any
of my hunting and shooting buddies
they’ll tell you I’m just as passionate
about my uber accurate bolt guns, my
collection of classic .303 British LeeEnfield milsurps, or Detonics 1911
pistols. There are no safe queens in
my collection. I view firearms as tools
to be used and enjoyed, whether it is
harvesting a moose for the freezer,
shooting a round of trap or punching
paper from the bench.
I don’t discriminate over cosmetics,
cost or function and I’ve been
working hard to instill that same
attitude in my fellow shooters from
coast to coast. Serving as a member
of your national executive the past
couple of years has allowed me to
overcome some of those subconscious
prejudices that almost all shooters
have to some degree or another and
see the “big picture.” While the
pendulum may be starting to swing
back in favour of firearms owners in
Canada, there are no assurances that
this momentum can be maintained.
Every single major political party in
Canada can be classified as hostile
toward the private ownership of
firearms, with the exception of the
Conservative Party of Canada. Their
seemingly perpetual minority status
puts limits on what they can deliver to
the recreational firearms community
in terms of reforms. As such, we must
stay the course and persevere. To do
otherwise is to ensure that we go the
way of Australia and Great Britain.
The “Firearms Issue” is a thorny one
and it still remains poorly understood
in Ottawa despite the outlay of
massive amounts of resources to
educate and lobby government. The
ephemeral nature of government itself
is probably the biggest reason for this,
as the cast of characters is constantly
changing. Thus National Firearms
Association oftentimes must contend
with a completely new crop of
fledgling parliamentarians following
each of our now too frequent federal
elections. For opposition MPs it is
basically distilled down to a “guns
bad - gun control good” equation,
with the exception of a handful of
rural NDP and Liberal members and,
of course, Conservative MPs. While
10
April/May
I am loath to admit it, for many MPs
in Ottawa, the firearms issue is, often
considered of lesser importance in
terms of policy making than say
health care, international trade, EI
reform, etc...
As a life-long “gun guy” and NFA
executive I’ll always see “our”
issue as being the most important,
personally, yet pragmatic politics
also requires us to recognize some
key limitations we face. However,
we still continue to work tirelessly
to ensure that our representatives
in Parliament learn to care just as
deeply about said file as we do. At
times it may seem like we take two
steps back for every step forward on
firearms reform in Canada - especially
when forced to contend with cabinet
shuffles every couple of years, but we
cannot become disheartened. Instead,
we have to buckle down and establish
working relationships with each new
Minister and their senior staffers as
gatekeepers and primary advisors to
their principal. We’re in the process of
doing just this with the new minister,
the Hon. Vic Toews.
Time is of the essence, however,
and there are a number of extremely
important outstanding issues facing us
this sitting of the House. While passage
of Bill C-391 is extremely important,
www.nfa.ca
just as important is the re-emerging
issue of firearms classifications that
almost assuredly will have negative
long-term implications for future
firearms ownership in Canada. If you
remember from last year, National
Firearms Association led a dedicated
letter-writing campaign aimed at then
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan
over our objections to the unilateral
reclassification of semi-automatic
firearms attempted by the RCMP.
We even launched a dedicated,
member-driven postcard campaign
on the issue to drive home the point
that NFA members were prepared to
fight to the end to protect our rights
as responsible firearms owners on this
issue. The message was made clear to
the minister that any such actions by
the RCMP would not be acceptable,
under any circumstances. Frankly,
we were staring down the barrel of a
very scary gun had this process been
allowed to proceed unopposed; as
this would almost assuredly proved
but the first of many steps onto the
slippery slope of eventual prohibition
and confiscation of all semi-automatic
firearms in private hands.
Follow-up meetings with the Minister
and staff enabled us to clearly lay
out our concerns and objections to
the manner in which the RCMP had
handled this issue. This intervention
led to Minister Van Loan and his
senior staff physically walking from
the Parliament Building to the offices
of the RCMP detachment in charge
of the registry and the administration
of the firearms control program
and personally putting an end to it.
Consequently, Firearms Reference
Numbers for such firearms as the
Norinco M-14S, Armalite AR-180B
and other similar black guns that had
mysteriously disappeared from the
table, reappeared with just as little
fanfare.
The one sticking point that we weren’t
able to get a positive resolution to was
www.nfa.ca the issue of the status of two additional
black rifles, the Norinco Type-97
semi-automatic .223 rifle and a shortbarrel version of the VZ-58 semi-auto
rifle in 7.62X39mm, that were already
going through an official review
process. For their own reasons, the
RCMP deliberately kept the status of
these firearms in bureaucratic limbo
for countless months, refusing to
release an official decision in a timely
manner, while millions of dollars of
firearms that had been pre-approved
for import languished in Canada
Customs warehouses. As a result, the
principal importers of the firearms
were unable to initiate legal action
to challenge the reclassification, as
no official determination had been
made. Consequently, the T-97, would
languish in legal limbo for almost an
additional year, when just a couple of
weeks ago the RCMP finally ruled that
it was a prohibited firearm because it
could “easily” be converted to fully
automatic.
Bull-pucky! Given a talented
gunsmith or machinist, enough time
and a fully equipped machine shop,
any style or type of firearm can be
converted into a machine gun. John
Moses Browning, inventor of the
Model 1911 pistol and many of the
still popular Winchester lever action
rifles actually converted a Model
1973 Lever Action to fully automatic
over 100 years ago. Even knowing
how he did, I can’t say as I would be
able to replicate his feat, even though
I consider myself something of an
amateur gunsmith and have a decent
workshop.
My point here is that given the
resources of the RCMP technical
laboratory, it isn’t surprising that they
were able to effect this modification.
In fact, given the sheer amount of
resources they committed to it and the
thousands of man hours they poured
into this particular firearm conversion,
I’m surprised it took them as long as
April/May it did. However, they currently are
refusing to share with importers of
the Type 97 rifle, retailers, owners and
the National Firearms Association
how exactly they managed this
conversion. Access to Information
requests filed with the RCMP, CBSA
and federal government have yielded
heavily redacted documents that have
blacked out the processes involved.
This makes it almost impossible
for a legal defense team to cogently
respond or refute just how “easily”
this conversion is in real-world terms
and just how likely the average gun
owner would succeed in completing
such a conversion; no matter that he/
she would be breaking the law by
doing so.
NFA will definitely have more to say
about this issue in the days to come.
For now, we’ve made contact with
the new Minister of Public Safety and
laid the groundwork to counter these
latest developments. In the weeks
ahead we’ll be preparing a formal
briefing paper and will continue to
coordinate with affected businesses
and owners. Bear in mind that these
stakeholders acted completely in
good faith, had the appropriate
paperwork in order and had the nonrestricted FRT number in hand when
they placed their orders with factories
in China to the tune of millions.
Also, the RCMP’s continuing
promulgation of what equates to an
official institutional anti-gun policy
brings with it some pretty scary
ramifications for the future of firearms
ownership in Canada. I’m sure there
many of you right now muttering to
yourselves that what is the big deal
anyway? It may be to some, an ugly,
over-priced, Chinese rifle, so who is
going to miss it? However, I can tell
you anyone who currently owns a
semi-automatic firearm or who has
hopes of owning such a firearm in the
future will miss it dearly.
VP Message Continued on Page 46
11
Letters to the Editor
Dear NFA,
I really loved the varmint hunting article featuring the
Swiss Arms Blue Star that ran last issue. Can you tell me
where I can purchase my own?
Mike K.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for your letter. We’ve been very surprised and
pleased with the positive response that particular article
has generated and have fielded dozens of calls, E-mails
and faxes about where to purchase Swiss Arms rifles in
Canada. I purchased mine from The Shooting Edge of Calgary, Alberta (Ph. 403.720.4867). They were the original
importers of Swiss Arms products and the gang we need
to thank for bringing these great rifles into the country.
There are a number of other retailers including Wolverine
Supplies located in Virden Manitoba (Ph. 204.748.2454),
Ellwood Epps (Ph. 705.689.5333) and Target Sports Center (1.877.988.4867) in Ontario, along with a number of
others across the country. Prices have been fluctuating
with the exchange rate on the loonie, so it pays to shop
around. As far as I know, importation of the Blue Star has
been superseded by the more muted grays and blacks of its
twins, the “Classic Green” and “Black Special” models.
Editor
12
Editors
Dear NFA,
I am a life-long hunter and target shooter. I’ve recently
relocated to a new town after accepting a temporary twoyear job contract. My new position keeps me extremely
busy and allows little time for shooting. The nearest approved shooting range and gun club is also several hours
drive away from my new home.
I don’t want to have to purchase an expensive club membership that I’ll never get to use, but my CFO requires that
I provide “proof of club membership” before he will approve transfers of recently purchased restricted firearms.
Can the CFO do this legally?
Doug H.
Dear NFA,
My great-uncle just passed away and as part of the estate there were a number of live and deactivated firearms
in his collection. My aunt is serving as executor and it
was her husband’s desire that his collection be distributed
amongst his nephews. I’m the only real “gun guy” and the
only nephew currently holding a firearms license. There
were only three live firearms in the collection and all were
properly registered and have been legally transferred into
my name. My non-shooting cousins were worried about
the legal ramifications of accepting one of the deactivated
guns as a keepsake of our favourite uncle as there is no
paperwork on them other than an old receipt from the gunsmith who did the deactivations years ago.
James C.
Hello James,
You can reassure your cousins that they can go ahead and
accept their mementos without worry as deactivated firearms are legally classified as non-firearms under current
legislation. No license or registration certificate is required
for possession. Making photocopies of the gunsmith receipt to give to each recipient will probably give them
some additional peace of mind, but isn’t necessary. Once
deactivated, those firearms became nothing more than expensive wall-hangers.
Hi Doug,
You are under no legal requirement to purchase a club
membership in order to get restricted firearms approved
for transfer under the “target shooting” justification for
purchasing said firearms. Literally thousands of Canadian
shooters participate in legal competition and target shooting activities as an official guest of other club members
and never possess a membership of their own.
NFA has been working to put a stop to such
practices and if you hang tough, they will
eventually approve the transfer. Unfortunately,
they’ve had great success thus far bullying unsuspecting gun owners into complying with this
“non-regulation.” We hope to change that with
the aid of stalwart, law-abiding firearms owners
such as you who are willing to say NO to being
bullied by our non-elected public servants.
Editors
Questions?
Do you have a question? Something you want
clarified? Please send us a letter or an e-mail.
We would love to hear from you.
Letters should be directed to the Editor. Legal
and political questions should be directed
to the NFA Legal Department. Letters
must include the Name, Address,
and Phone Number of the sender.
P.O. Box 52183
Edmonton, AB
Canada T6G 2T5
e-mail: info@nfa.ca
www.nfa.ca
Firearms Journal
The Official Magazine of the
National Firearms Association
Editor .................................................... CFJEditor@gmail.com
Sean Penney & Grayson Penney
Advertising .............................................................info@nfa.ca
Diane Laitila (780) 439-1394
Accounts / Membership / General Info .... membership@nfa.ca
Legal Inquiries ...................................................... legal@nfa.ca
National President .............................................(780) 439-1394
Blair Hagen natpres@nfa.ca
National Vice-President Communications.........(780) 439-1394
Sean Penney natvpc@nfa.ca
National Vice-President Finance .......................(780) 439-1394
Henry Atkinson natvpf@nfa.ca
Provincial Contacts
British Columbia .................................................bcpres@nfa.ca
Sheldon Clare (250) 563-2804
Alberta ....................................................................info@nfa.ca
(780) 439-1394
Saskatchewan ......................................................skpres@nfa.ca
Dan Lupichuk (306) 332-3907
Manitoba ......................................................mvormeng@nfa.ca
Mike Vormeng (204) 886-2667
Ontario ................................................................onpres@nfa.ca
Bill Rantz (705) 385-2636
Quebec ................................................................pqpres@nfa.ca
Phil Simard (514) 365-0685
Vice-President sab@nfa.ca
Stephen Buddo (450) 430-0786
Nova Scotia .........................................................nspres@nfa.ca
Dave Udle (902) 567-3600
New Brunswick ..........................................................................
Harland Cook (506) 459-7416
Newfoundland ....................................................natvpc@nfa.ca
Sean Penney (709) 598-2040
Creative Design by The AD Guys .................... (780) 488-5776
Box 52183 Tel: (780) 439-1394
Edmonton, Alberta Fax: (780) 439-4091
Canada T6G 2T5 info@nfa.ca
www.nfa.ca
Continued...
Canadian
National Executive
This requirement is one of those “made-up regulations”
that provincial CFOs have dreamed up unilaterally, with
absolutely no basis under existing firearms law. Thus they
are unable to provide a written reference or supporting
sections of the Firearms Act when asked to justify their
position.
April/May
Notice of 2010 Annual General Meeting
May 14 -16th, 2010
Hello
Members;
We would like to invite you to attend the
2010 AGM. We have spent many hours
preparing for this event and we hope you
enjoy yourselves. Check our website for more
information.
There are a few things to remember during
this fun filled weekend. Everyone must have
their NFA membership card and name tag at
all times, you will not be allowed to enter any
of the buffets, meetings, fun shoot or banquet
without it. You will require meal tickets for
all meals.
We will supply you with information to help
you get around West Edmonton Mall. Please
pay close attention to WEM attractions page,
if you have free time this page gives you great
ideas on how to spend your time.
If you have any questions or concerns about
this weekend call us at 780 439 1394 and
we
will try our best to help you out.
Thank you. We look forward to meeting you
at the 2010 Annual General Meeting.
Diane Bev Megan
Registration Form:
2010 Annual General Meeting - May 14 -16, 2010
Fantasyland Hotel, West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton 1-800-737-3783
Full Conference Fee:
Includes: Administration Fee, Registration, Wine & Cheese, Seminars, Wild
West Shoot, Meals, AGM and Banquet
AGM Administrative Fee:
$150.00
Name:
$10.00
Saturday Banquet Dinner Only: $50.00
Guest(s) for Banquet: Total for AGM Weekend
Prices include GST and Gratuity
$50.00
YES - I will attend the Wild West Shoot
(Full Conference Fee required to attend)
Membership # Address
Phone #
Payable by Cheque Mastercard
Visa
American Express
Card #
Expiry Date:
Complete Registration and Mail to:
PO Box 52183, Edmonton, AB T6G 2T5
Preserving Our
Firearms Heritage
PUTTING OUR FIREARMS
HERITAGE IN JEOPARDY
By Gary K. Kangas
Controversy arises once more! There are individuals in the firearms community who would censor
what is published in outdoor magazines. They take
it upon themselves to determine what is a good firearm and what is a bad firearm based on its cosmetic
appearance. Is a Ruger 10/22 (which looks like a
WW2 M1 Carbine) a plinking and small game .22
or an assault rifle? Or does it transform into an
assault rifle when an AR style stock assembly is
bolted to it? When does a firearm begin being an
assault rifle and when does it stop being an assault
rifle? Is the individual loading the Brown Bess
loading an assault rifle? How about the competitor
shooting a Henry clone or an 1863 Sharps, a .577
Snider, perhaps an Enfield in .303? All the
foregoing were military rifles at one time.
Does that designate them as assault rifles
under today’s considerably broader definition?
There are all types of black rifles available
today. Those who would censor what is
advertised and what we can own should
visit their local gun shop. I doubt they
could identify what is a .22 target rifle and
plinker from serious competition rifles to
hunting rifles. Some that are illustrated:
Remington 597 VTR .22LR, Remington
R-15 .223, Ruger Mini-30 7.62X39mm,
Ruger Mini-14. 223 Remington, Beretta
CX4 Storm, Norinco M14 .308 Win, and
Polytech M305.308 Win.
I also had the good
fortune in June
2009 to shoot an
Auto
Ordinance
Thompson in Wyoming (where they
are legal to own).
Was I using an assault rifle?
There are no good
firearms or bad
firearms, there are
only firearms. Some have military roots and some
recreational beginnings. One or the other does not
designate the correctness or value. Should baseball bats that are often used in assaults be labeled
assaults bats? How about golf clubs that are improperly used, should they be called assault clubs?
Any consumer product can and most likely will be
used in an inappropriate manner. The item cannot
be held responsible, it is inert until it is used.
No firearms owner or enthusiast should be misled
by someone labeling an item. A firearm is only a
tool. At the end of the day, we’re all fellow firearms owners, no matter the type of firearm we
own. It is up to each and every one of us to ensure
that no fellow gun owners fall prey to this deliberate ploy by gun control advocates to mislead. To do
otherwise places our firearms heritage in jeopardy.
Guns, Schools
and Zero
Tolerance:
The Politics of
Terrorizing Kids?
By Grayson Penney
Before I retired some years ago, I was an educator and school
principal. Probably the most important requirement the job
necessitated was common sense and the ability to exercise
good judgement. Rarely was any problem, issue or situation
requiring my input or intercession totally black or white.
That held true for such diverse issues as managing teacher
workloads, or problems in the cafeteria to dealing with student disciplinary problems.
Over the years I had to play ‘Solomon’ to many dust-ups
and school-yard fights. Most were dealt with by a trip to the
principal’s office where they received a stern lecture, loss of
privileges or a trip to detention. For the worst offenders, the
mere threat of calling their parents was often enough to cure
16
them of their need to act out; as their folks often meted out
far harsher penalties than I did. Only in the most extreme
cases were kids suspended and only then when all other options had been explored.
Guns and gun violence wasn’t even a concern back then.
In fact, while teaching in many rural communities around
Newfoundland, rarely was an eyebrow raised when students
were encountered toting a shotgun or .22 rifle to school.
In those days, the instant assumption was that the student
planned to go hunting immediately after school, not that a
“school shooting” was in the offing. As long as the actions
were open, the firearms unloaded and safely stored in their
lockers during school hours there wasn’t a problem. Unlike
today, we didn’t lock down the school and immediately call
the police if someone discovered a spent piece of .22 rimfire
brass in the parking lot.
For those of us born and raised in a true hunting or gun
culture, firearms were seen as wholly non-threatening and
were viewed as useful tools and not offensive weapons. We
weren’t afraid of them and we didn’t force our children and
students to fear them either. That isn’t to say that our attitude
toward firearms was blasé. Kids might not have been taught
to fear firearms, but they sure as heck were taught to respect
them! Every local kid knew that if they were seen horsing
around, their folks would know before the day was done
and they could expect severe repercussions; not the least of
which was loss of their firearm.
What initiated this trip down memory lane you may be wondering? It was the story of kindergarten student Mason Jammer, age 6, who was suspended from his elementary school
for using his hand to form a “gun” a couple of weeks ago.
April/May
www.nfa.ca
That’s right, a finger gun. Sadly, this
isn’t the first case of what I call “liberal
lunacy” infecting the North American
education system. Political correctness,
the domination of the liberal point of
view toward education, and emotiondriven, knee-jerk policy making has
saddled teachers and school administrators with an idiotic “zero tolerance”
policy. A policy that is destroying children’s trust in their teachers and needlessly inflicting emotional harm; all in
the pursuit of some warped belief that
terrorizing kids will somehow make
them safer and prevent some unknown
future tragedy. However, “zero tolerance,” as a policy, has not and cannot
work; just as gun control will never
equal crime control no matter how
much liberals wish it.
Young Mason hasn’t been the only
victim of this idiotic policy initiative.
A couple of years ago Billy Barnes,
age 8, from East Sable River, Nova
Scotia was suspended from school for
pointing a breaded chicken finger at a
teacher during lunch and saying “Pow.”
Billy’s school had a zero tolerance policy for “weapons” and consequently he
was suspended for firing his “chicken
finger gun.” Kyle Walker, age 7, was
suspended from his primary school for
www.nfa.ca drawing a stick figure wielding a crudely drawn “stick figure gun.” Kyle had
given the picture to a friend, and that
child’s parents lodged a complaint with
the school after they found it. Kyle was
subsequently suspended because his
drawing violated the school’s zero tolerance policy. In February, 4th grader
Patrick Timoney was suspended for
bringing a toy weapon to school. Patrick had brought along some of his favourite Lego Blocks to play with during
lunch. These included a Lego “soldier”
armed with a 2” plastic “rifle.” The 9
year old was removed from the lunchroom, without being told why, and was
immediately suspended for breaking
his
school’s
zero tolerance
“gun” policy.
There
have
been a rash of
similar cases
over the past
decade
and
they seem to
be becoming
more frequent.
The sheer insanity of this
blatant attempt
at socially re-
April/May engineering our society, via schoolsponsored indoctrination of our kids,
can only be characterized as criminal.
Kids are taught to fear guns and by
association gun owners. There is no
differentiation made between actual
criminals and law-abiding gun owners.
Instead, the focus is wholly upon the
firearm itself.
Our school systems, like our society,
have some very real socio-political issues to deal with; but terrorizing and
ostracizing children with inflexible
rules and emotion-driven policy making is NOT the answer. Common sense
and good judgement are. As a principal,
I had a set of standardized guidelines I
had to follow. However, I also had the
power and a responsibility to make and
enforce rules, and to mete our punishment appropriate to the infraction when
those rules were broken, and/or the
good order and discipline of my school
disrupted. We had discretion and our
superiors expected us to not only exercise good judgement, but ensure that
we were acting in the best interests of
the individual student as well as the
general student body.
Zero Tolerance Continued on Page 46
17
Politics
& Guns
Ottawa Update
by Sheldon Clare & Sean G. Penney
NFA Legal Affairs Committee Chair Sheldon Clare met with
David Anderson, who is the Parliamentary Secretary to Natural Resources Canada Minister Paradis, and executive staff
on March 26th in Ottawa to discuss the NFA’s legal opinion
on the Explosives Act Regulations.
Photo: Sean Penney
Mr. Anderson shared many of the same concerns that we
at NFA held and was very well briefed. He indicated that
the ministry was not interested in making any unnecessary
changes to regulations affecting storage of powder and hand
loading in dwelling houses. He did enquire if NFA had any
concerns with the current regulations. In response, NFA put
forth the position that the status quo is preferable to changes
and proposals made by a recent NRCAN study group that
would’ve negatively impacted many high-volume hand loaders, competitive shooters, black powder shooters and historical re-enactors. As a NATIONAL organization, NFA is
unwilling to sacrifice the rights of minority members of the
Canadian recreational firearms community to satisfy purely
regional interests.
NFA had already taken the precaution of drafting an alternative proposal for former Minister Riatt. However, assuming the status quo was maintained, immediate NFA’s current
concerns with the Act could be satisfied merely via clarification and definition of a few points within the language of
the Act itself. Our recent legal opinion commissioned on this
subject was a helpful point of reference that coloured the discussion. Mr. Anderson related his own experience as a hand
loader and shooter which was certainly helpful in building a
sense of mutual understanding.
In addition, NFA Legal Affairs Chair Sheldon Clare met with
the executive assistant to our new Public Safety Minister Vic
Toews for a wide ranging and frank discussion on several
critical issues affecting the firearms community including
High Standard
Type 97a
the UN small arms marking issue, and the unilateral re-classification efforts of the RCMP regarding the Norinco Type
97 rifle and the Model 10B Police Shotgun. NFA positions
regarding current magazine capacity issues, grave concerns
about current bureaucratic controls of the process and a need
for more ministerial oversight were covered.
The issue of reclassification of semi-auto firearms will require further follow-up and NFA has prepared a briefing
paper on the subject, including the issue surrounding the
Norinco Type 97 and High Standard shotgun specifically. It
has been forwarded to the minister and is available on-line
on our website. As such, NFA continues to partner with strategic stakeholders within the shooting community and will
be working closely with the original importer, Lever Arms
on the issue. A professional firm in the firearms industry will
be retained in order to provide us with an impartial expert
opinion and potential testimony to refute claims made by
RCMP technicians that said firearms are “easily convertible”
to full-auto and thus must be prohibited.
Finally, the Minister’s representatives also broached the subject of metal identification strips and enquired as to what
NFA’s position would be on same? The point was made that
NFA was unequivocally opposed to that option as it would
ultimately prove just another overly expensive and unnecessary form of marking; especially as there seemed to be an
intention to make marking retroactive.
It was an encouraging exchange in which there were no
promises made, but the door was opened to further discussions. It is an unfortunate consequence of our political system and every cabinet shuffle that NFA must devote extenPhoto: Sean Penney
sive resources and time to re-educating key staffers and new
ministers on firearms related issues. However, from initial
discussions we are confident that the basis for good working
relationships has been established with these new ministers,
just as we did with their predecessors.
Editors Note: Full copies of NFA NRCAN proposals and our legal
opinion on the issue are available on-line at www.nfa.ca
To date, the RCMP have refused to release information as
to how exactly they were able to effect this “conversion”
and all information related to this issue was redacted or
“blacked-out” following an “access to information” request
of the RCMP, CBSA and federal government on the subject.
RCMP refusals to release this information certainly makes
it unnecessarily difficult for NFA, Lever Arms or other importers/owners to offer an informed counter to the “official”
opinion that took RCMP labs months to prepare.
It certainly raises some red flags and brings into question exactly how the RCMP defines the term “easily convertible.”
Simply saying something can be converted to full automatic is not a valid argument for prohibition and confiscation
when even bolt and lever actions can be made to fire full
auto - given enough time, a well equipped workshop and a
talented gunsmith or machinist. For instance, the Charleton
and Howell conversions of the bolt-action Lee Enfield rifle
done in World War II, or the conversion by John M. Browning of an 1873 lever action rifle by using the gas to operate
the lever completed in the late nineteenth century. Neither
rifle is currently on any prohibition list, so where is the line
drawn and what determines a “good” gun from an officially
determined “bad” gun?
www.nfa.ca Photo: Ken Lunde
Sheldon Clare (NFA) meeting with Shawn Fried, (Senior Staffer for
Public Safety Minister the Hon. Vic Toews)
April/May 19
By Marie Camino
Canadian firearms owners were under
the gun of a deadline implemented by
the government’s mandatory changes to
Canada’s gun laws effective January 1,
2001. Consequently devoted shooters
had no recourse but to bite the bullet or
surrender their firearms. Personally, I
wondered if it was worth it to continue
being a gun owner and voluntarily
become embroiled in another political
quagmire? I really didn’t need more
stress in my life to go along with my
ongoing health problems, including a 12
hour neurosurgery for a brain tumour.
Due to post operative realities I had
had to make certain painful decisions,
including changes to my lifestyle due
to chronic pain and fatigue. Formerly
an avid athlete, my health forced me
to give up many of the activities that
once brought such joy into my life and
forced me to the sidelines as a spectator.
Shooting was one of them. However,
my gray cells were still intact and I
was not prepared to simply surrender
my firearms because of my health and
needless over-regulation - no matter the
red-tape.
My firearms license was still valid and
so I opted to make some additional
inquiries as to exactly what the new
government regulations would require
so that I could legally keep my firearms.
The first firearms licensing instructor
I contacted sounded like personable
individual who factually gave me the
low-down. At that point I was unable
to physically attend formal classes
due to the long drives required. After
explaining my situation, he suggested
a workable alternative plan for me. I
could pick up the student handbooks
and undertake to study at home and
challenge the exams. Having been an
omnivorous bookworm all my life I
leapt at this opportunity.
A time was arranged to come to his
residence and pick up the manuals.
This was my first meeting with Bert
Cronkwright, a gentleman who was to
become my firearms mentor and friend
for many years to come. Right from
this introductory contact he put me at
ease and instilled confidence in me.
Only later did I find out he does this
with every aspiring student. In reality
I was rife with anxiety, but on parting
Bert advised me to feel free to call him
if I ran into any difficulties.
Upon perusal of these handbooks it
became evident the focus of the course
was on safety regulations. However,
some of the information seemed
incomprehensible and so I contacted
Bert and he clarified the terminology
for me. Due to my aphasia, it was
only after prolonged studying sessions
and note taking that I began to fully
absorb and comprehend the gist of the
material. Although somewhat leery,
I thought it was time to take a shot
at writing the tests. I gave Bert a call
and after expressing my apprehension,
he suggested that perhaps I’d feel
more comfortable taking just the
non-restricted course exam first and
attempting the restricted test at a later
time. Having put so much work into
my studies to this point, and with Bert’s
quiet encouragement that I knew the
material inside and out, I resolved to
take both tests at once instead.
Again I made the trip to Bert’s residence
and again my nerves acted up, but ever
the consummate teacher, Bert was able
to reassure me that I’d be fine as I had
applied myself in my studies and
20
April/May
with a good dose of common sense I
couldn’t go wrong. Hence, I proceeded
to write the tests and complete the
required practical exam. When Bert
informed me of my scores the relief I
felt at passing was palpable. My hard
work had paid off and my sense of
accomplishment was my reward. To
the able-bodied it might seem silly, but
even my sense of self-worth was ratified
by the result; as too many times in the
past I’d had to endure the needless
questioning and justifications required
by self-important firearms bureaucrats.
I’d shown them, albeit for now my guns
would remain safely stored in a state of
disuse. However, one never knew what
opportunity might eventually present
itself to reverse this scenario.
Bert and I eventually began exchanging
hunting and shooting stories and a
friendship was kindled. I gleaned
a better picture of this kindly, open
person and it became obvious how
wholeheartedly he was dedicated to
helping anyone who expressed an
interest in learning more about firearms
and their safe use. We kept up our
friendship, running into one another at
local hunting or gun shows where Bert
seemed ever present with his repertoire
of safety literature and Canadian
Firearms Safety Course materials.
Having been a firearms instructor since
1980 he was always promoting the
opportunity available to any wouldbe firearms enthusiasts to explore this
innovative and satisfying sport. It soon
became apparent his presence was a
fixture amongst the local recreational
firearms community.
Whenever we ran into one another,
Bert encouraged me to join him for a
visit at his local club, the Townsend
www.nfa.ca
A Tribute
to the Teacher
Windham Fish & Game Club. Bert had
been a member of the club for over
30 years and he provided a through
explanation of all the amenities and
shooting opportunities it offered. He
certainly made it seem appealing, even
if the distance I would be required to
travel was still daunting given my
health. However, there simply were not
any other clubs that I could join closer
to home. Bert was an accomplished
competitor and had taken many prizes
in small-bore handgun competition
with his 1950s vintage Ruger MK I
pistol.
Bert had almost convinced me to join
when I suffered a further devastating
blow; sustaining additional injuries
which necessitated three separate
surgeries on my back, left knee and
shooting arm, as well as my shoulder
in three places. My plans to rejoin the
ranks of active shooters were once
again on hold as I recovered. My
new cane made getting around more
difficult and operating my standard
jeep even more onerous, however, I
had not forgotten Bert’s encouragement
to join his club and go shooting with
him. It was on the way back from
one of a seemingly endless number
of appointments with my orthopaedic
surgeons that I remembered Bert’s
invitation and on the spur-of-themoment asked my volunteer driver to
swing by the Townsend-Windham Fish
& Game Club. It was all Bert had said it
was, with a broad range of facilities for
trap, skeet, rifle and pistol, including
an indoor handgun range, plus a very
nicely accommodated clubhouse.
Impressed, I submitted my application
that same day along with a cheque for
my membership.
www.nfa.ca It would be some months before my
rehabilitation was complete enough for
me to set aside my cane, but by May of
the following year I was ready. During
this time I had consulted with Bert
extensively and he was kind enough to
permit me to try a number of different
guns in order to figure out what would
work best for me. In the end we
decided that my own Remington Model
1100 would do if we replaced the
hard rubber plate with a softer, more
absorbent recoil pad. I was going to
need the maximum protection available
to protect my damaged shoulder. He
recommended a talented local gunsmith
and fellow trap shooter to effect the
upgrades to my Remington and the
results were more than pleasing. I was
ready to rejoin the ranks of my fellow
shooters and because of Bert’s tutelage
and faith in me I found my love of the
shooting sports rekindled.
Bert was the consummate teacher
and the epitome of patience as he reintroduced me to the sport. At first I
was so gun-shy prior to our first round
that I expressed to him my fear that I
would flinch so badly at the expected
recoil that it would be impossible for
me to shoot accurately. However, Bert
once again calmed my fears and to my
surprise found the recoil from the light
trap loads so mild that the kick was
barely perceptible to me, even with a
damaged shoulder! My confidence even
grew to such a degree that I went so far
as to try a number of other shotguns, in
addition to my 1100, just in case I could
shoot them better. Ultimately, I realized
that my Remington was the gun for me
and I was determined to master it.
Having decided upon Skeet as my
April/May game of choice, Bert offered to give
up his evening’s planned outing to the
club to shoot Bulls-eye handgun, and
instead shoot skeet with me. He must
have sensed my feelings of trepidation
at going it alone to the club on my first
solo shoot. It was with great excitement
that we arrived at the club where the
report of shotguns resonated in my ears
immediately. Bert walked me through
the required club protocols, including
checking in, paying for our clays and
locating the available skeet range. A
brief safety refresher followed and Bert
gave a rundown of the expected path of
the different clays from each station. In
order to demonstrate and teach, Bert
offered to shoot first to illustrate what
he meant. In his usually self-effacing
manner, Bert stated that skeet wasn’t
his strong suit and then proceeded to
shoot a clean string!
Now it was my time to step up to the
plate. So much to remember and me
frazzled and scared that I’d forget
something. Bert, cognizant of my
hearing disability, remained on my right
side and my functional ear and spoke
clearly and distinctly when offering
instruction as I shot, but mostly he
offered encouragement. It wasn’t until
Station 3 that I finally connected and
Bert’s words, along with the pointer’s
I’d gleaned from a book I’d picked up
by former championship skeet shooter
Lee Braun finally, kicked in. I started
breaking clays and my “jinx” was gone.
Not even an improperly installed O-ring
in my shotgun’s gas system could throw
me off my stride that evening.
Teacher Continued on Page 46
21
Bill C-391-
According to the Canadian Firearms Program, the number
of people with valid firearm licences is just under 2,000,000
(RCMP, various years).
Countering
Ten Misleading
Claims
December 2005 1,979,054
December 2002 1,912,939
Depending upon the year, the homicide rate for licensed Canadian firearms owners varied from 0.35 per 100,000 to 0.85
per 100,000 firearm owners. In other words, less than one licensed firearm owner per 100,000 gun owners is accused
of murder in any given year.
By Gary Mauser, Ph D
www.garymauser.net/
Editor’s Note: The following paper was presented to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security by Professor Mauser in response
to misleading claims made by Ms. Wendy Cukier and the Coalition for Gun
Control concerning passage of Bill C-391.
Executive summary
Bill C-391 is a simple and straightforward bill that proposes
to dismantle the long-gun registry for non-restricted long
guns, nothing more. Bill C-391 leaves in place the rest of
Canada’s gun control regime, including the requirement to
obtain a licence, the screening of applicants, the requirement
to register restricted and prohibited long guns, the need to
take and pass the firearms safety course, and the rules on safe
storage and transportation of firearms.
The evidence demonstrates that the repeal of the long-gun
registry will not reduce public safety in Canada and may
even improve it. After a brief review of the arguments, I examine and rebut the key points in the Coalition’s letter sent
to MPs on October 20, 2009.
The statistics provided here clearly shows that the long-gun
registry has not been effective in reducing criminal violence
and most especially that it has not saved lives. The multiple
murders by shooting that have occurred since the registry
was put in place prove that it is a waste of time and money.
Bill C-391 deserves support because the long-gun registry
has failed to protect Canadians from gun violence and diverts vital police resources away from more effective efforts.
In her report to Parliament, the Auditor General of Canada
found that the long-gun registry cost taxpayers at least one
billion dollars; later research doubled this estimate. She also
noted that the Department had been unable to substantiate
whether the long-gun registry had increased public safety or
saved lives, which is surely the standard by which any success of the program should be measured.
22
Every one of the claims made by Ms Cukier made in her
October letter to oppose bill C-391 is false or misleading.
Before countering the specific claims made in the October
20th letter, it is important to briefly review the Canadian firearms control system:
* Handguns have been registered since 1934.
* Police screening has been required for long-gun purchasers
since 1979.
* Bill C-17 introduced greater restrictions on all gun owners
in 1992.
* The legislation setting up the long-gun registry and owner
licensing (Bill C-68) was passed in 1995, but virtually none
of the regulations were put into effect until 1998.
* The long-gun registry began operations in 2001 and all
long guns were required to be registered in 2003.
In response to the misleading claims made by the Coalition
for Gun Control, please consider the following information.
Over the same time period, the Canadian national homicide
rate ranged from 1.74 per 100,000 to 2.06 per 100,000 people in the general population (Beattie, 2009). In other words,
approximately two people out of every 100,000 Canadian
residents are accused of murder. Thus, the likelihood of a
licensed Canadian firearms owner committing murder is less
than one-half that of the typical Canadian. It follows that, on
average, Canadians who do not own firearms are more
likely to commit homicide than those who do.
Claim #1: Access to a gun increases the risk of murder.
This should not be surprising since prospective firearms
owners have had to pass criminal record checks since 1979.
Also since that date, the conviction of a violent crime has
been grounds to revoke a firearms licence (or FAC).
The police should find this information quite helpful. When
the Canadian Firearms Database (via CPIC) shows that an
individual is a licensed firearm owner, the police will be
able to know that he is less likely to be dangerous than other
Canadians. Of course, it goes without saying that the police
should always be wary and take all reasonable precautions.
Criminals do not tend to see themselves obliged to obey gun
laws.
False: Canadian gun owners are less likely than other
Canadians to commit homicide.
Claim #2: Rifles and shotguns are the weapons most
likely to be used in domestic homicides.
Based upon statistics from the Homicide Survey and the Canadian Firearms Program, the probability of a licensed Canadian firearms owner committing murder is less than onehalf that of the typical Canadian.
False: The problem is the murder of family members,
not the means of killing.
In any given year, there were between 7 and 17 people accused of homicide who possessed a valid firearms licence or
an FAC (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2006).
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
17
2002
10
2003
11
2004
7
2005
11
April/May
14
14
16
11
www.nfa.ca
Focusing on murder weapons - whether long guns, hand
guns, or knives - is a red herring. It is false to assume that
if there had been no gun of a particular kind available in a
particular incident there would have been no murder committed. There is copious research that shows that when laws
are directed to restricting particular instruments such as firearms, the murder rate stays the same (See Kleck, 1991, 1997;
Kates and Mauser, 2007; Mauser, 2008). Spousal murderers
are opportunistic in that they use whatever implements are
available to them to kill. Every home has many normal obwww.nfa.ca jects, such as baseball bats, hockey sticks, kitchen knives and
rifles which can be used for assault or murder.
Nevertheless, Ms Cukier has raised this issue of weapon use,
and even in this, she is incorrect. Knives, not long guns
(rifles or shotguns), are the weapons used more often to
kill women than firearms. A recent study found that in the
period 1995-2008 knives were used in 31% of the murders of
female spouses (Casavant, 2009). Long guns are involved in
only 18% in female spousal homicides. Firearms of any kind
are used in 29% of homicides of female spouses. See
Tables 1a and 1b.
In a typical year there are almost 600 homicides and 60 female spousal murders; long guns are involved in the deaths
of 11 female spouses.
Table 1.
Female spousal homicides (Annual average 1995 to 2008)
1a. Types of Firearms Used in Homicide Number Percent
Handgun
5
11%
Long gun (rifle or shotgun)
11
18%
Other type of firearm or unknown 2
3%
Total homicides involving firearms 18
27%
Source: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, (Casavant, 2009).
1b. Types of Weapons Used in Homicides Number Percent
Spousal homicides involving firearms
18
27%
Knife or other cutting/piercing tool
19
31%
Total (average annual number
of female victims)
60
100%
Illegally possessed handguns pose a much greater problem. In 2008 handguns were involved in over 60% of homicides involving firearms. This follows from the discussion above: licensed firearms (including handgun) owners
are a safer group than those who do not own firearms, and by
a very considerably large margin. Those who illegally hold
handguns are outside the law and consequently are criminals.
Claim #3: Spousal murders with guns have fallen threefold since the law passed, while spousal murders without
guns have remained the same.
False: Spousal murders (with and without guns) have
slowly been declining since the mid-1970s.
1
April/May 23
This claim confuses the date the law passed with when the
long-gun registry began. The law setting up the current firearms system was passed in 1995, but the long-gun registry
did not begin until 2001 and all guns were required to be
registered by 2003.
The female spousal murder rate fell by more than 50% from
1979 to 2000 (the year before the long-gun registry started);
it has slid only 15% since that time. It is unknown why spousal murders have become less frequent over the past few decades but what is certain is that this decline is a long-term
trend. It is logically incorrect to link it to the legislation of
the last few years.
Bill C-391 does not interfere with licensing or screening,
but only changes the long-gun registry. Licensing and the
screening of persons wanting to own firearms legally will
continue as before.
The long-gun registry and licensing are rarely useful to police in solving spousal homicides; in almost all cases the accused is immediately identified.
The firearms used by abusive spouses to kill their wives
are almost all possessed illegally. One study of long guns
involved in homicide found that approximately 4% were
registered and 24% of homicide suspects who used a firearm
had a valid FAC or licence (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2006).
It has been illegal since 1992 for people with a violent
record to own firearms. Despite this, we do not currently
have in place a system that would track prohibited offenders
but choose instead to track legal, law abiding, licensed duck
hunters, farmers and recreational sport shooters.
Police reports show that 63% of spousal victims come from
a family known to have a history of violence (Dauvergne,
2005). Approximately two-thirds of those accused of homicide were known to have a Canadian criminal record; the
majority of these were previously convicted of violent offences. Over one-half of the victims were also known to
have a Canadian criminal record; most had been convicted
of violent offences (Homicide in Canada, 2001, 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005).
Claim #4: Stronger gun laws have helped reduce gun
violence.
False: Ms Cukier’s letter begs the question of the effectiveness of gun laws against crime. Instead of showing
how changes in gun laws have reduced homicide or suicide
rates, she trots out the names of all the women’s groups who
oppose Bill C-391. Rationally, this approach cannot support
her claim that gun laws reduce violence against women.
The rate of homicides committed with a firearm generally
declined from the mid-1970s to 2002. This steady, longterm decline has been driven by economic and demographic changes.
However, the use of firearms in homicide has increased
since 2002. In 2002, the percentage of homicides that involved
firearms was 26% in 2002, but by in 2008 it had jumped to
33%. Firearm homicides increased despite the registering of
long-guns between 2001 and 2003. See Table 2.
Table 2. Percentage of Homicides that Involve Firearms
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Percentage of homicides
that involved firearms
27%
31%
34%
31% - Long-gun registry started
26%
29% - Long-guns required to be registered
28%
34%
31%
32%
33%
Source: Table 4, (Beattie, 2008)
Over the past 30 years, the use of handguns to commit homicide has tended to increase, as a result of gang-related activities, while the use of rifles and shotguns has generally
declined. The long-gun registry began in 2001 and all longguns had to be registered by 2003. (See attached Chart 2).
The long-gun registry had no effect on this long-term decline. Ms Cukier is again incorrect.
Gang-related homicides have been increasing since the early
1990s. In 2008 about one in four homicides were gang-related. (See attached Chart 3). Of the 200 homicides committed
with a firearm in 2008, 61% or 121 were with handguns (almost all illegally possessed). There were also 34 homicides
committed with rifles or shotguns. Again, Ms Cukier is incorrect.
24
April/May
www.nfa.ca
Over the past 10 years, firearms were involved in approximately as many homicides as knives; long-guns (rifles and
shotguns) are involved in 8% of all homicides. See Tables 3a
and 3b. Again, Ms Cukier is incorrect. Guns are not uniquely
dangerous.
Table 3. Homicides involving firearms (percent total homicides)
3a. Types of Firearms Involved in Homicides
(Annual average 1998 to 2007)
Number
Handgun
106
Rifle or shotgun
45
Other type of firearm or unknown 25
Total involving firearms
176
Percent
18%
8%
4%
30%
Source: Table 5, (Beattie, 2008).
3b. Types of Weapons Involved in Homicides
(Annual average 1998 to 2007)
Number
Homicides involving firearms
176
Homicides involving knives
198
Average annual number of victims 584
Percent
30%
31%
100%
Source: Table 4, Beattie, Homicide in Canada, 2008.
Again, Ms Cukier is incorrect. The long-gun registry has
not reduced gun violence. The rate of homicides committed with a firearm generally declined from the mid-1970s to
2002. However, the use of firearms (overwhelmingly illegal ones) in homicide has increased by 24% since 2002
despite the introduction of the long-gun registry.
Claim #5: Firearms stolen from legal owners are a significant source of crime guns. Registration is essential to
prevent dangerous individuals from getting guns.
False: All studies of crime guns (or guns used in murders) agree that stolen registered firearms are infrequently involved.
It is the criminal record check, which is part of licensing, and
certainly not registration, that stops criminals from getting
guns legally. Bill C-391 will not change the current provisions for obtaining a firearms licence. Registration simply
refers to the firearm, not the owner.
The claim about stolen firearms is disingenuous. Ms. Cukier
should know better. A study, co-authored by her, reported that
more than 66% of crime guns seized in Canada have their
origin south of the border (Canadian Press, 2009). A study
of homicides between 1997 and 2005 reported that 13% of
all firearms involved in a homicide could be found in the
www.nfa.ca registry (Dauvergne, 2005). A variety of police studies have
found that between 2% and 16% of crime guns were stolen
from legal owners or were ever in the Canadian gun registry.
Even stolen guns rarely end up being used by criminals to
commit subsequent crimes. An Australian study of almost
1,500 firearms stolen over the two-year period, 2004-05,
found that just 1% had later been identified as having been
used in a serious crime (Borzycki and Mouzos, 2007).
We consequently find that the bulk (54% - 69%) of crime
guns are smuggled into Canada by criminal gangs.
(Source: Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2006; Toronto Police Services, 2004, 2005; Toronto Police Annual
Report, 2001; Project Gun Runner, 1993). It is abundantly
clear that long-gun registration has no effect whatever on
guns used in crime. The gun registry merely ties up police
time and funds, and thereby contributes to blocking more effective means of prevention.
The key to preventing dangerous people from getting
guns is police screening and criminal record checks. Bill
C-391 will not change the strict firearms controls in Canada. The claim by Ms. Cukier and the Coalition for Gun
Control that the repeal of the long-gun registry will make
it easier for people to get a gun is disingenuous, given that
she knows (or should know) that it is the firearms licensing
system, and not the registry, that determines who can or cannot have legal access to a firearm. In addition, the amount of
time, effort and money directed towards preventing criminals from having easier illegal access to the guns of lawful
owners is not as effective as increasing police staffing and directing it against criminal activity. One undetected container
load of illegal firearms fuels criminal needs for decades.
Claim #6: Firearms pose more problems in smaller cities where there are more gun owners.
False: Homicide is a particularly acute problem in large
cities where ironically there are fewer legal gun owners.
Canada’s major metropolitan areas are increasingly plagued
with gang-related homicides that predominantly involve
handguns imported by criminal activity.
Ms Cukier talks about “firearm problems” rather than homicide because she wishes to use the term “gun deaths” which
are mostly suicide. Suicide is a greater problem in small rural
communities than in large cities, but suicide rates cannot be
reduced by gun registration. Firearms are involved in only
15% of suicides; hanging (or asphyxiation) is much more
prevalent. What is needed is greater effort in suicide prevention programs.
April/May 25
Table 4. Homicide Rates in Rural and Urban Canada
Homicide rate per 100,000 population by census area (2008)
Census metropolitan areas
(population 500,000 and over) Census areas less than 500,000 population
Canada
1.93
1.73
1.85
Source: Table 3 (Beattie, 2008)
Table 5. Firearms ownership is lower in urban areas than in
rural areas
Urban
Rural
Firearms-Owning Households
13%
30%
The term ‘gun deaths’ is a red herring.
One of the most important aspects of understanding the debate about guns is to be clear that observing so-called “gun
deaths” is not an appropriate measure for evaluating firearms
laws. If the point of gun laws is to improve public safety, then
the proper goal for stricter gun laws is to reduce homicide or
violent crime, the figures for which have been kept for many
decades in all civilized countries. The primary goal of public
safety is to protect the public from criminal violence, and
secondarily to diminish suicide rates. The term “gun deaths”
has been widely adopted by activists when closer scrutiny
shows that it is a red herring which masks changes in more
important indicators.
Table 6. “Gun deaths” consist primarily of suicides.
Gun deaths (Canada, 2005)
Number
593
223
17
833
As expected, and at the urging of National Firearms Associa-
Table 7. Trends in Suicide Methods in Canada (selected
years)
The extension would involve the three existing complementary measures to help bring law-abiding Canadians into compliance with the firearms licensing system. These are:
• a one-year amnesty to give owners of non-restricted
firearms an opportunity to register those firearms and re-
new expired licences without fear of prosecution;
• a one-year waiver of the fee for firearms license renewals or upgrades; and
• allowing eligible holders of expired Possession-Only
Licenses to apply for a new one within a year.
1991
1995
2000
2003
2005
Source: GPC Research (2000)
Suicide Homicide Accidents Total Lives cannot have been saved if the number of “gun deaths”
declines but there is no corresponding drop in total homicides or suicides. This is known as “the problem of method
substitution.” Yet those criticizing gun ownership assume
that removing guns would automatically stop the crime (or
the suicide). This is false as can be seen immediately in Table
7. This “substitution effect” is not limited to Canada, but can
be seen in other countries, such as Australia, where suicide
by asphyxiation immediately filled the gap left by a decline
in firearm suicides (Baker and McPhedran 2007; Klieve et al,
2009; Lee and Surardi, 2008). In New Zealand, suicide rates
continued to increase after the 1992 Firearms Act (Beautrais,
2006).
Percent
71%
27%
2%
100%
Note: 2005 is the most recent year suicides and accidental
deaths are available nationwide.
Total suicides
3,593
3,968
3,605
3,764
3,741
Firearms 1,110
916
685
618
593
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced March 15th that
it was the Conservative Government’s intention to re-extend
the current firearms amnesty for registration of long-guns.
The further extension of the amnesty is intended to allow time
for the Private Member’s Bill C-391, which is now at the committee stage, to go through the steps necessary to eliminate the
current registry.
Hanging
1,034
1,382
1,546
1,662
1,682
Source: Statistics Canada: Causes of Death
The long-gun registry has saved no lives. There were 3,605
suicides in 2000 before the registry started and 3,741 in
2005. Clearly, this analysis suggests that the money wasted
on registering guns would have been better spent on suicide
prevention efforts.
Table 8. Number of Homicides in Canada, 1991 to 2008
(selected years)
1991
1995
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
tion and other stakeholders, the current CPC government of
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has opted to once again extend
their “Compliance Incentives Amnesty” for another year.
Number of homicide victims
756
588
558
546
533
- long-gun registry started
582
549 - long guns required to be registered
624
663
606
594
611
l
a
g
e
L
r
e
n
r
Co
b
enne
son P
y
a
r
yG
y
26
For more information call the CFP’s toll-free number:
1-800-731-4000
Bill C-391 Continued on Page 42
April/May
www.nfa.ca
The amnesty permits the following:
• Licensed individuals can obtain a registration certificate for their non-restricted firearm;
• Individuals with expired licences as described above can obtain a registration certificate after renewing their licence.
• All individuals can:
◦deactivate the firearm so that it is no longer a firearm;
◦sell or give the firearm to a public service agency (such as police service), to a business (including a museum) that holds a licence authorizing the acquisition, or to an
individual who holds a PAL;
◦export the firearm in accordance with all legal
requirements, including those of the importing country; or
◦turn in the firearm to a police officer or a firearms officer for destruction or other disposal.
The amnesty does not apply to individuals who have never
obtained a Canadian firearms licence (POL or PAL).
Source: Beattie, Sara (2009) Homicide in Canada, 2008
Source: Statistics Canada: Causes of Death
An amnesty has been enacted to protect non-compliant owners
of non-restricted firearms from criminal liability while they
are taking steps to comply with the licensing and registration
requirements of the Firearms Act. This amnesty will be in
effect until May 16, 2011.
www.nfa.ca 27
ignore government weapons because the UN recognizes
their sovereignty, regardless of the nature of the government.
Many governments, as a matter of security, manufacture
“unofficial” weapons which they distribute to their clients
in the third world. Since the UN deliberately excludes
government armaments, the very core of the problem is
ignored.
SALW and the United Nations
By Gary Mauser
“It is not merely a mistaken analysis but an
evasion of responsibility to suppose that we can
prevent the horrors of war by focusing on its
instruments. They are more often symptoms than
causes.”
- Margaret Thatcher, 1982 speech
at the UN General Assembly
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, as we’re
told, who should we blame? The gullible idealists whose
naiveté got them into trouble, or the cynics who exploited
their vulnerability? This summer, we will see, once again,
this age-old drama unfold; this time at the UN Biennial
Meeting of States on the Programme of Action (POA) in
New York.
(SALW) that will meet in New York this June. (The UN loves
acronyms). Every two years, the “Conference to Review
Progress Made in the Implementation of the Programme of
Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in
Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects” meets at
the United Nations Headquarters in New York. (Or, in UNspeak, the BMS on the POA to combat SALW).
It may sound ridiculous, but there is nothing funny about
the dangers these UN-driven programs pose for normal,
peaceful firearms owners in Canada or elsewhere. The
UN claims that these controls are needed to help countries
protect their citizens from “fear and violence,” but their goal
is the strict control of firearms. Unfortunately, because the
UN demonizes all firearms, this goes so far as to include
confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens.
Here is how the UN justifies their war on guns:
Disarmament at the United Nations is gaining more and more
impetus in a bid (at least theoretically) to take guns out of the
hands of terrorists. At the same time, there are forces at work
in the shadows which jump at the opportunity to remove any
and all guns, including those that have been lawfully held for
generations. The United Nations will in effect take another
important step towards disarming peaceable civilians.
SALW/firearms are lethal instruments. They have been
used to kill thousands of men, women and children who
are not a party to a war or armed conflict. Left uncontrolled
or unregulated, the misuse of such weapons can cause
significant damage to peoples’ livelihoods, health
and security, as well as create an environment of fear.
(ISACS03.30).
The NFA and the World Forum (the World Forum on The
Future of Sport Shooting Activities) will be there to defend
your rights. The Canadian Firearms Journal has published
several articles warning readers about the disarmament
efforts of the UN. Instead of attempting to disarm dangerous
dictators in Asia and Africa, the UN prefers to pass highsounding resolutions that turn out to be more successful
at taking guns from civilians instead. African farmers are
disarmed, not tyrannical governments.
Their language emphasizes “control” and “regulation,” not
“collection” or “confiscation.” One might ask how could
it be any worse than the Canadian firearm licensing and
registration system we are familiar with? The UN has made
it clear now that the goal of their disarmament processes is to
eliminate civilian firearms ownership.
Every year, the UN holds numerous meetings in a variety
of countries to coordinate the efforts to restrict or eliminate
civilian gun ownership. The most important decisions
are taken at the BMS on Small Arms and Light Weapons
28
What can be done to oppose the UN’s plans for civilian
disarmament? The World Forum is virtually the only
international group that is fighting for the right of civilians
to own and use firearms. Thanks to your support, the NFA is
one of the leaders in the World Forum. NFA members can be
proud of their involvement in the world-wide battle for all
civilians to own firearms. The NFA is there when it counts.
Under Dave Tomlinson originally, and now with Blair Hagan
and myself, the NFA speaks for Canadian firearms owners at
the United Nations. See http://www.wfsa.net/.
The UN’s effort to disarm civilians is becoming ever more
relentless. There are a variety of international initiatives that
NFA and the World Forum are actively monitoring: the Arms
Trade Treaty, the Programme of Action, the United Nations
Firearms Protocol, and International Small Arms Control
Standards (ISACS) program.
The UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)
The goal of the ATT is a treaty that will subject all international
transfers of arms and ammunition to strict control under
international law under United Nations authority. The ATT
is scheduled to be adopted in 2012; it is strongly pushed by
the United Kingdom and other European countries. When
Obama replaced George Bush, the United States switched
April/May
www.nfa.ca
David Penn, BSSC, Gary Mauser, NFA, Vito Genco, Italy at World
Forum, Austria meeting.
The World Forum had a representative at the recent meeting
of UN Arms Trade Treaty. This was the first ATT Group of
Government Experts (GGE) meeting during the week of
February 1 in New York. The Forum is concerned that there
is an unprecedented level of secrecy. The ATT GGE met
again in the week of May 12, 2008 and again from July 28
to August 8, 2008. The World Forum was present at both
meetings.
Not only are these meetings being held virtually in secret, but
the participants do not appear to recognize the legitimacy of
civilian firearms ownership. The original justification for the
ATT was terrorism, but, with the presence of anti-gun NGOs
at the conference, that is shifting to crime control. This is
quite alarming as it implies even more restrictions on civilian
firearms.
The World Forum’s presence is very important at ATT events.
If the ATT meetings are more open, then other gun-rights
organizations will be more able to participate. In light of the
world’s optimism when the UN was founded after World
War II, it is extremely disappointing that the UN has not
been more effective in ushering in a better world. The UN is
increasingly being seen as worse than ineffective. Even the
UN’s strongest supporters are dispirited by the UN’s inability
to cure itself of widespread corruption.
A programme of weapon registration may be established
as the first step towards the physical collection phase. Such
programmes can provide both the international community
and the local security agencies with an indication of the
scale of the problem. (ISACS05.40)
Why doesn’t the UN rein in tyrannical governments? As
surprising as it may seem, the UN’s disarmament resolutions
from opposition to support.
Gary Mauser in front of an Austrian Gunsmithing School
www.nfa.ca While some countries (and NGOs) may support disarmament
out of idealism, others, particularly those run by tyrants,
cynically recognize that they will be able to better control
(or in some places even eliminate) annoying civilians in
their own countries once they have all the guns. While the
UN has the power to make agreements that affect compliant
nations, it has so far shown little or no power to distinguish
adequately between violent rogue governments and peaceful
civilian populations. All too often, the UNs legislative efforts
affect the wrong people.
April/May 29
Crime Control
by Licensing
the Dangerously
Law-abiding
By Bruce Gold
One argument supporting gun control is the assertion that
law-biding gun owners and the “gun culture” are the root
causes of violent crime. This argument also appears in more
restrained forms, for example, blaming the victims of theft
for “supplying” criminals with guns. This distrust of the
law-abiding is one of the ideas supporting our current gun
control system. As the Auditor General noted in her 2002
report, (Auditor General Report 10.67- 68) the Department
of Justice told the Government that it wanted to “focus on
the minority of firearms owners that posed a high risk while
minimizing the impact on the overwhelming majority of lawabiding owners.” The Department later admitted that the focus had, “changed from high risk firearms owners to excessive regulation and enforcement of controls over all owners
and their firearms.” This shift from known problem areas
such as drug gangs to all firearms and all owners resulted in
convoluted and very expensive regulations that were based
on the belief that, “the use of firearms is in itself a “questionable activity” that required strong controls, and there should
be a zero-tolerance attitude toward non-compliance with the
Firearms Act.”
This article examines how the shift from “problem guns” to
“guns as a problem” has affected the efficiency and effectiveness of our crime control efforts. We will pursue this
question by looking at the how our system “helps” the police
by allowing them to trace firearms and firearms owners and
by doing so solve crimes. We begin with a look at Canadian
crime statistics. Since the statistics on violent crimes committed with guns are extremely difficult to separate from other violent crime statistics we will examine the much clearer
statistics of homicides.
Licensing and Registration
as Crime Fighting Tools
Year
Yes
No
unknown
total
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
17
10
11
7
11
14
14
16
11
24
24
27
30
18
18
15
15
24
14
10
6
6
8
2
0
5
4
55
44
44
43
37
34
29
36
39
Total
111
195
55
361
Registered owners accused (111/9) avg. = 12 per year
Homicides committed with a firearm, by registration
status 1997 -2005
Year registered not registered unknown
total shootings
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
98
75
79
96
101
81
109
110
157
193
151
165
184
171
152
161
173
222
906
1572
10
11
7
12
7
19
10
19
23
85
65
79
76
63
52
42
44
42
Total 118
548
Homicide gun registered (118/9) avg. = 13 per year
Summary of Firearms Homicides Statistics 1997 - 2005
(Source Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Homicide Survey)
30
Did the Accused Possess a Valid Firearms License
To understand these tables we must compare them to total
homicide statistics. From 1997 to 2005, there were 5,194
homicides in Canada. Firearm homicides (1,572) accounted
for 30% of all homicides. Our first observation regarding
April/May
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regulatory effectiveness is that since our gun control regulations are solely focused on the control of inanimate objects
rather than criminals they will have absolutely no affect on
70% of homicides.
•
•
•
•
We can now address the relationship between regulating
abiding gun owners (the ones our bureaucratic system actually captures) and our homicide statistics. There where only
111 registered owners accused of homicide, an average of
12 per year. This represents 111/1572 = 7% of firearms homicides and 111/5,194 = 2.1% of all homicides. If we compare registered guns to unregistered and unknown firearms
we find that only (118/ (548 + 906)) 8.1 % (13 per year) of
homicide guns are actually traceable through the licensing
system. We can ask if the millions we spend on firearms
paperwork is really the best way to spend our crime control
dollar when the paperwork is only relevant to such a small
percentage of the problem.
“Crime Fighting” Activity
• Refused 348 license applications
• Revoked 2,262 licenses
• Supplied 2,636 court affidavits
• Responded to 1,840,787 CFRO enquires
We can also note that these 25 leads per year (12 licences, 13
registrations) do not prove that the police solved 25 crimes
using firearms paperwork. It is entirely possible that the police only identified a paperwork holder after something else
drew them to police attention. Determining the direction of
discovery is critical in determining how useful our paperwork system is. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine
the direction of discovery from the statistical tables. Since
this is a critical bit of information, we can also attempt to
discover the direction of discovery from the historical record. Unfortunately, this historical data is also missing. The
Department of Justice admitted in 1995 that they had no data
and could not identify a single instance where handgun registration helped solved a crime (Hansard, 1995, p. 12,259).
(Off Target pg. 2, Hansard) This dismal admission reveals
that the government had run a handgun registry for 61 years
without ever bothered to investigate whether there was any
empirical evidence to justify the effort and expense.
Canadian Firearms Centre as a
Crime Fighting Tool
The current firearms control system is a bureaucracy designed to control guns and gun owners with paperwork. To
examine how this crime control effort affects the real world
we must look at what the Firearms Centre (now the Firearms
Program) actually does.
Canadian Firearms Centre’s Activities in 2005-2006
(2005-2006 CFC)
Administrative Activities to Maintain the System
• Maintained records on 1,964,988 licensed individuals
www.nfa.ca New licenses 269,760
Licenses renewals 217,194
Maintained records on 7,079,855 firearms
New registrations 373,772
The first two items, refused and revoked licenses, are often
sold as a wonderful crime fighting measure that prevents
dangerous people accessing firearms. Unfortunately, this official claim is wishful thinking. What denial of paperwork
actually does is prevent these people from getting legal access to guns. A look at the homicide table above tells us
how successful this denial of paperwork actually was in preventing gun crime. Unregistered homicide guns outnumber
registered guns five to one (548 to 118). This denial of paperwork has no impact on the 70% of homicides that are not
gun related.
The production of court affidavits is also sold as an important
crime fighting measure that supports the police. In a sense
this is true, unfortunately the only information the firearms
bureaucracy can provide relates to licensing and registration.
Hence, the whole exercise is self-referential. The firearms
system reports on the paperwork status of persons in the
system and has no expertise to do anything else. The only
“crimes” addressed are those that system itself creates. One
wonders who is kidding who with this Alice in Wonderland
exercise.
This leaves us with the Canadian Firearms Registry On-line
(CFRO) system. This system supports Canadian police agencies by providing them with real-time access to the firearms
paperwork system. In theory, this increases the effectiveness
of the police and keeps them safe by giving them advanced
warning of where the guns are. “(This rationalization is a
return to the idea that law-abiding gun owners are the threat
and that owning firearms is a “questionable activity.”)” If
we look at the government’s own homicide data, we can note
that 97.9 % of killers are not in the firearms paperwork system so 97.9% of the time the police will not be warned about
the people they actually have to worry about.
A number of police forces have set up their information systems so any query of a person or address will automatically
result in a query of the CRFO. To sort out what is happening we need to separate inquires that are actually about guns
Crime Control Continued on Page 45
April/May 31
Reasonable precautions must be taken beforehand, and as
with any hobby of its sort, I always strongly recommend new
bullet casters invest in a good handbook such as that published
by Lyman. Dealing with molten metals can be dangerous and
there are certain safety protocols and practices that must be
followed in order to stay safe.
Safety Rules:
1. Always treat molten metals, especially lead, with respect.
2. Cast bullets in an area with good ventilation. You want to
avoid breathing any noxious gases, etc...if possible.
Cast Bullets
For Beginners
By Sean G. Penney
Living in rural Newfoundland you are forced to accept certain
truths. One of them is that if you want to load your own metallic
cartridges you aren’t going to be buying your components
locally. Between the devastation that Bill C-68 left in its
wake throughout the retail firearms market and outmigration,
dedicated gun stores are few and far between. The population
just isn’t there to support them. Even fewer shops are to be
found that carry any sort of reloading components and those
that are available are almost always prohibitively expensive.
Not surprisingly, buying in bulk is often the norm and unless
you can a friend or relative driving back to the Rock that are
willing to pick up your order for you, mail-order is often the
only option.
I eventually decided to get into reloading and later casting
my own bullets as a cost saving measure; and to allow me to
shoot more often and to put back into action old war horses
of battle rifles and more esoteric calibers that factory ammo
was no longer available for or that which was prohibitively
expensive. As shipping costs piled up over bullet orders, I
started to seriously explore cheaper alternatives to commercial
offerings and finally broke down and bought my first bullet
mould a short time later. From the start I was hooked.
What is really great about bullet casting as a hobby is that you
can get into it extremely cheaply. All you really need is an
old camp stove, an old cast iron pot, a soup ladle, and a bullet
mould with handles and you can start turning out perfectly
shootable bullets. Most of this stuff you probably already
have kicking around or can be acquired from your local junk
store or Salvation Army thrift store. Bullet moulds excepted
of course!
32
3. Always wear quality safety gear including proper safety
glasses/goggles or a full face shield, thick leather work gloves
or welder’s gloves, long-sleeve cotton shirts, pants and closed
top work shoes or boots. No T-shirts, shorts or sandals!
4. Absolutely NO LIQUIDS in the casting area. Extreme care
must be taken to ensure that no liquid of any kind comes in
contact with the melt. Even a single drop of perspiration can
result in a dangerous lead explosion that can spray molten
lead about the casting area.
5. No eating (or smoking if you are a smoker) while casting
and make sure to thoroughly wash your hands before doing so
in order to remove any traces of lead residue. Done properly,
casting is perfectly safe and lead levels in my blood are no
different than that of the average adult male of my age group
even after years of casting.
The above safety rules and the potential “dangers” they
represent are probably responsible for scaring most potential
new bullet casters off. The relatively cheap cost of quality
commercial cast and jacketed bullets may have also swayed
some of the less industrious into choosing the path of least
resistance, but the benefits to casting your own are obvious.
I’ve already touched on them briefly.
into improved accuracy and it is a rare firearm that cannot
be made to outshoot its counterparts using jacketed bullets.
In poor bores and those that are pitted, frosted or extremely
worn, cast bullets can often give such firearms a second lease
on life, as their accuracy using jacketed bullets simply does
not deliver. My own cast bullets for my 1911s in .45ACP,
9mm & .38 Super, revolvers such as my .357 & .44 Magnums
and even rifles as disparate as the .303 Lee-Enfield and .45-70
Government deliver far superior accuracy than even premium
jacketed bullets.
3.Availability. As I noted before, there are a lot of less
popular, obsolescent and obsolete cartridges out there that
either you can no longer buy factory ammo for, or which
you’ll have to pay an exorbitant amount for. Many of my old
military surplus rifles use unusual or non-standard diameter
bullets, or they have oversize/undersize bores due to the
exigencies of war-time production. Ordering a custom bullet
mould or sizing the dropped bullet to a different diameter can
often translate into excellent accuracy and allow you to get a
firearm back into action that otherwise would have languished
in your gun safe.
Those are three pretty compelling reasons for gearing up and
getting into the casting game and it doesn’t look like bullet
prices are going to come down anytime soon, so perhaps that
will provide the impetus needed to get more shooters off the
fence.
I’ll admit that the entire process may seem a little daunting or
even scary at first glance, but in actual practice, bullet casting
is one of the easiest and most satisfying hobbies related to
my recreational firearms activities. Using just the simple junk
store gear I listed above and a used mould I picked up on
eBay, my first ever casting session yielded over 500 excellent
quality bullets for my .45s. Later, when I was at my reloading
bench, loading those same bullets, I couldn’t get over the
sense of satisfaction I got from each pull of the reloading
Reasons to Cast Bullets
1.Economy. Wheel weights are readily available from
local tire stores and garages and make great cast bullets.
Local scrap dealers and metal dealers are also good sources
of cheap linotype, pure lead, tin etc... That translates into
bullets that cost just pennies per hundred. Recent jumps in
lead and copper prices on international metal markets have
seen substantial increases in the price of both commercial
cast lead bullets and jacketed bullets as well. Those 30%-50%
price increases make casting your own bullets all the more
attractive, especially if you have to pay for shipping as well.
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What I found even more satisfying is seeing my groups shrink
anywhere from ½ inch to well over one inch with a variety
of 1911s. I would later see the same pattern repeated for
many of my revolvers, auto-loaders and a number of my long
guns, including several Winchester and Marlin lever guns
chambered in pistol calibers and my big boomers, such as my
prized Marlin 1895 Cowboy lever action with 26” octagonal
barrel, Ballard rifling and chambered in the classic .45-70
Govt.
What do I need to get started?
Lead Pot or Electric Furnace
You can get as cheap or as fancy as you want with this piece
of kit. An old cast iron bake pot or Dutch oven will work just
fine. I’d buy the largest I could find but even a small 1.5L
pot will do the job. I eventually added several additional pots
to my collection and dedicated one pot to smelting wheel
weights and scrap lead into ingots, another to my preferred
pistol alloy and a third to a harder alloy intended for my rifles.
If you can luck into one, a used plumber’s pot will also work
very well, or you can pick up a commercial electric furnace
manufactured by one of a number of different companies. If
you go this route, I strongly suggest that you not opt for the
cheapest furnace, but opt for either an RCBS or Lyman tool.
There are others that may offer good value, but in almost all
cases I’ve seen, the guy who buys the cheap pot eventually
upgrades to an RCBS or similar furnace. I’ve always found it
cheaper in the long run to buy the best and thus buy only once.
With respect to electric furnaces, the presence of an adjustable
thermostat and bottom pour spout is a must for me; otherwise
I prefer to stick to the basic cast iron pot and ladle. Capacity is
also important and I generally want the largest pot or furnace
that I can find. Large capacity means greater consistency from
bullet to bullet and will require less unproductive down time
as you are forced to add additional ingots and wait for the melt
to once again reach the proper temperature for casting, etc... A
20lb furnace is a good place to start in my experience, although
you can get by with some of the smaller pots depending on the
volume of casting you plan on.
Quality electric furnaces offer casters the options of utilizing
the bottom pour spout or dipping lead. If you decide to go this
route or opt to stick with the cast iron pot, you can get away
with using a simple steel or iron soup ladle purchased from the
junk store or donated to the cause by a spouse, girlfriend or
parent. A slotted spoon with holes is also quite useful when it
comes time to skim the gunk and clips floating on the surface
of your melt.
2.Accuracy. More often than not, a proper cast bullet can
yield the absolute best accuracy from your personal hand
gun or rifle. As a caster, you can deliberately cast and size
your bullets to perfectly match your firearm’s internal barrel
diameter and ensure you get full obturation. That translates
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press. At that moment I finally understood the old tongue-incheek admonition that only casters are true bullet makers; all
the rest are merely assemblers. ☺
If you prefer the old school method, you’re going to need to
scrounge up an external heat source to use with your pot and
to melt the lead. Most shooters probably already have an old
Coleman or similar camp stove kicking around their garage,
basement or attic. Propane or naphtha/Coleman Fuel, either
works equally well. I’ve even used the small single burner
back pack type stoves on occasion and even the large Turkey
Cooker type propane burners. Necessity is the mother of
invention, so with a little ingenuity, you can get almost any
type of stove to work for you. I wouldn’t advise trying this on
your kitchen stove however!
Bullet Moulds
You generally get what you pay for when it comes to bullet
moulds. I mostly prefer quality iron mould blocks, but have
a number of excellent aluminum and brass moulds in my
collection as well. The latter are generally from small, custom
mould makers that have cut moulds to my exact specifications.
Probably the most accessible moulds currently available
to the new bullet caster are those from LEE Precision. The
price is certainly right and the fact that they already come
with handles make them very attractive. By and large, with
proper set-up and adjustment, LEE moulds can be made to
cast perfectly acceptable bullets, but there are better choices
out there. Some of the better makers include RCBS, H &
G, Lyman, SAECO, Rapine, NEI, and some of the smaller
custom/semi-custom mould makers such as NEA or Mountain
Moulds. Most commercial moulds today are available in one,
two, three or four cavity versions. In years past, makers such
as H&G produced multi-cavity “gang” moulds with as many
as 8-10 cavities.
Other than the LEE moulds, most commercial moulds do not
come with handles and the purchase of a set is required. Often
the number of cavities a mould has and the particular make
of mould will determine what types of handles are required.
Unfortunately, three of the most popular makes of moulds,
RCBS, Lyman/Ideal and LEE all use their own, proprietary
mould handles, and are not interchangeable. Others, like
SAECO, can utilize Lyman handles, but not those of any other
manufacturer without alteration. Prices for the better quality
commercial handles have increased dramatically over the
past couple of years. Luckily, a new Canadian mould handle
producer has recently entered the market. I suggest that you
check out KAL Tool & Die handles, the same handles that I
reviewed last issue in our “Made Right Here” feature.
No matter the make, if you abuse your mould, you will ruin
it and you will be unable to produce quality cast bullets.
You really need to look at quality bullet molds as precision
instruments, just like that Mitutoyo dial caliper you got for
Christmas. You need to keep it clean, well oiled and must
34
take care never to drop it on a hard surface or strike it with
anything harder than the metal of which it is made. Therefore,
using an old carpenter’s hammer as a sprue plate/mould
hammer is a definite no-no and a sure fired way to ruin an
expensive mould.
I generally oil any moulds that I’m not using and zip tie the
mould halves together to prevent accidental damage due to
peening of the metal while in storage. Unsecured mould halves
can damage its mate if they hit one another with sufficient
force. Other casters prefer to leave lead in the mould cavities
in order to bind the halves together; but for long-term storage
I prefer not to keep dissimilar metals in such close contact
for fear of a potential future chemical reaction between the
mould and trace elements within the alloy. To keep the oil
from evaporating and to maintain constant low moisture
content I store all my moulds in .50 cal surplus ammo cans,
along with a handful of the small silica gel desiccant packets
that I have my local pharmacist save for me. The desiccant
packs are shipped with bulk orders of pharmaceuticals and
with a short stay in the oven can be dried out and reactivated
in just minutes. I’ve never had a single problem with rusting
or pitting of moulds as a result. If you take good care of it,
your mould can last indefinitely, and in turn, provide you with
numberless quantities of great-shooting bullets.
Lubrisizers and Sizing Dies
For the typical lead bullet caster, you will need to acquire some
sort of tool that may be used to apply lubricant to the bullet
and fill its lube grooves and/or size the bullet to the preferred
diameter. Proper lubrication prevents gas cutting of the bullet
as well as leading of the gun barrel. Some of the more fiscally
conservative will opt to pan lube by placing their cast bullets
base first into a shallow pan of melted lubricant which is then
allowed to harden. Using a hollow tube-shaped cutter the
same diameter as the bullet, the individual projectiles are
then cut from the now hardened lube. Often, bullets lubed
thusly are also shot without additional sizing. One of the
great benefits of casting bullets of soft alloys is that you can
safely get away with shooting slightly oversize bullets (within
reason).
However, this is a time consuming process and certainly not
practical for even moderate volume casters. Therefore, you
will need to invest in a combination luber/sizer tool or press
that will lubricate your cast bullet while it sizes and uniforms
the bullet to the desired diameter. RCBS, Lyman, SAECO
and STAR all make quality tools that offer a lifetime of use.
My personal preference is for the RCBS, simply because of
the build quality of their tools and their outstanding warranty.
Break it or suffer a tool failure, RCBS will fix or replace the
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tool no questions asked. Most of these tools work in much
the same fashion and have a knob or ratchet that is worked to
mechanically force lubricant through pre-drilled holes in the
component sizing die that the user would’ve installed in the
press. For instance, sizing for the typical .45 ACP pistol, most
casters will opt to size their bullets at either .451” or .452”and
will utilize a sizing die in that diameter.
The RCBS and Lyman sizing tools can use either company’s
sizing dies interchangeably, as well as the required top punch
that is associated with the particular pattern of mould that you
are casting with. The particular top punch number that fits
the nose of the bullet pattern is generally listed by the mould
maker and can be purchased for around $10.00 or so. Often,
you can use a similar top punch as a substitute or make a
dissimilar punch fit by using compounds like 5 minute epoxy,
devcon aluminum, etc... to fill the cavity of the punch and to
permit the caster to mould the punch to the shape of the bullet
by placing a freshly dropped bullet into the still curing epoxy.
A few hours later, you have a top punch that is an exact match
for your bullet.
You don’t have to invest in these tools immediately if your
finances do not allow. LEE offers a relatively inexpensive,
diameter specific, sizing kit that sizes bullets nose first and
makes use of LEE liquid ALOX lubricant and your own
reloading press. The process is pretty simple, albeit sticky.
Where to Buy?
If you don’t already have a basic starter set of tools, things
like cast iron pots and camp stoves can often be purchased
cheaply from local thrift stores, garage sales and from your
local newspaper or on-line classified ads.
Most small mom & pop gun shops carry at least a limited
selection of bullet casting equipment and can basically order
in whatever you need. The drawback is that you’ll often pay
more than you would at the larger stores and via mail-order.
On-line casting forums and auction sites such as eBay are also
options.
Before You Start
Producing accurate, useable bullets is not that hard, even for
a new caster. Generally, almost any type of lead can be used
to cast satisfactory bullets. For basic handgun and plinking
use your alloy need not be super hard given the relatively low
velocities involved. As a rule of thumb, generally any alloy
that is sufficiently hard not to “lead” your barrel is fine and
you don’t have to devote an extraordinary amount of time
www.nfa.ca playing with alloys unless you want to. I cast for a wide range
of firearms, running the gambit from an old, obsolete .38 S&W
Webley (not Special), to .45ACP, and .357 Magnum, right on
up to super-fast .44 Magnum loads for my T/C Contender.
Same goes for my rifles where I cast big, slow-moving .4570 pills for my Marlin lever guns and Sharps Buffalo rifle, to
odd-ball military bullets like 7.7mm Jap to the tiny .22 cal
bullets I’ve been experimenting with in my .223 and .22-250
varmint rifles. No matter the firearm or caliber, your loading
preferences will play a role here. Mild loads may succeed
with very soft bullets but the hotter the load; the harder the
alloy required and the addition of a gas check may also be
necessitated. Traditional muzzleloaders and bullets for black
powder cartridge loading, by contrast, are generally cast of
very soft alloys. Velocities are usually comparatively low and,
as a consequence, leading isn’t an issue just as long as a good
bullet lube or barrel butter is used.
Old school bullet casters often simply ran a fingernail across
a bullet to judge hardness, but there are better and more
consistent options available today, including several different
designs of lead hardness testers. The Redding/SAECO lead
hardness tester is perhaps the most widely used and has
been on the market for decades. However, LEE has recently
released their own that seems to be getting good reviews and
is offered at substantial savings over the move expensive
Redding tool. There are several other testers, such as that
produced by LBT that enjoy a very good reputation; however,
they aren’t as readily available as the others.
Whichever tool you choose, it does take the guess work out
of the equation and permits you to tailor your alloy to the
particular load or caliber you’re casting for. When a formerly
“good” load goes south on you, it is a simple matter to check
to see if you had inadvertently cast with the wrong alloy, or
accidentally used a bullet with the incorrect lead hardness
number. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook has recipes for
creating your own specific alloys using base metals including
lead, tin and antinomy. You can purchase commercially
prepared alloys, but half the fun is making up your own
using metals you’ve scrounged yourself. Old printing houses
are good sources of linotype, as is your local metal salvage
yard, wheel weights can often be had for free from local
tire stores and your local plumbing supply store can provide
you with all the tin and antinomy you require in the form of
plumbing solder. In all honesty though, most of my plinking
and competition bullets for handguns are cast from straight
wheel weights.
Watch for Part 2 of Cast Bullets for Beginners in our
next issue.
April/May 35
The
Shootists
By Jesse L. Hardin
The popular image of the Old West gunslinger is far from accurate... and yet there
was much about the true shootist that we’d all do well to emulate today.
Dave Tutt had every reason to believe that there would be
a serious confrontation if he were to ignore the heated admonitions of the ex-Union scout. Yet there was no way this
proud professional gambler was going to bend to threats of
violence, not even when uttered by a towering fellow veteran and already well known “pistoleer.” A Southern gentleman as well as unrepentant rebel, Tutt arrived at the Springfield, Missouri public square dressed for the occasion, in full
Victorian wardrobe in spite of the hot and humid summer
weather. This included his finest long tailed-suit, pin-striped
breeches, thickly felted hat and knee high riding boots. On
his belt hung a black leather holster, its protective military
flap long ago cut off and discarded in order to improve ease
of access, filled to overflowing with a .44 calibre, percussion-fired Colt’s Army revolver. Dangling from a pocket of
his genuine silk brocade vest, could be seen a glinting gold
chain securing a pocket watch held as collateral against the
scout’s recent gambling debt... the very one that he’d been
warned by a sentimental James B. Hickok not to dare wear
out in public.
As soon as they saw each other, the men began to draw and
take aim, each betting on his equipage, fortitude and accuracy to prove the righteousness of his cause. Two individuals
bravely faced off one-on-one on that July, 1866 day, with
no attempt to hide or take cover, and with every intention
of ending the life of the other. Within the first couple of
seconds Tutt had produced his revolver and sent a nearly
36
half-inch diameter slug sailing in his antagonist’s direction,
and roughly a second later the man who would come to be
known as “Wild Bill” had completed his fateful reply, sending a .36 calibre ball from his own Colt Navy model slamming into dapper Dave’s upper chest. It was an impressive
shot indeed, using a gun designed for and tested by the Army
at only 25 yards, to take down an opponent standing over
225 feet away! Ignoring the dying man’s gun and wallet,
Hickok reached into his vest for the watch that some say his
mother had given him, then stood waiting patiently for an officer to investigate, and in the end, vindicate him; Thus was
born the archetype of the classic western gunfight, recreated
multitudes of times from the best selling 1902 Owen Wister
book “The Virginian” to the 1960’s television show of the
same name, and to the robotic duel of the film “West World.”
More often in that period of Western expansion, 1866 to
1916, gunfights were between poorly shooting robbers and
ill-trained lawmen, and most commonly involved two or
more drunken cowboys who, while easily offended, were
more often than not extremely unpractised in their aim. It’s
no wonder, given how little money outriders and herders
made during the period. As such, most cowpunchers lacked
the funds for the amounts of ammunition needed to ensure
proficiency; choosing to spend what little they did make on
a few celebratory nights of whiskey and women. For them,
the Colt or other handgun was a tool on the range as well as
a badge of their independence and manhood, paid for with
months’ worth of wages, not the practiced brush of the gunslinger’s art. Press accounts are filled with reports of barroom altercations where dozens of rounds were fired, many
through an alcoholic haze and cloud of gun smoke too thick to
see through, causing only a minor wound or two, or perhaps
only resulting in “the untimely retirement of the saloon’s expensive imported mirror.” In Wilcox, Arizona in 1900, Wyatt Earp’s brother Warren once got the worst of a gunfight by
drunkenly standing up to challenge someone before realizing
he’d forgotten his gun! And a study of old newspaper and
hospital records indicates that “accidental discharges” provided black suited frontier undertakers with far more business than assassinations and shootouts combined.
Even the supposedly proficient Ben Thompson had only 4
confirmed kills in over 14 armed altercations. The “Gunfight
At The O.K. Corral” was actually the “Gunfight In The Alley
Behind Fly’s Photography Studio”, with 75% of the rounds
fired missing! The famed combatants loosed some 32 rounds
at distances of no further than 12 to 15 feet... and yet only 12
of those shots struck paydirt.
Fact is that even the majority of bona-fide western lawmen
and outlaws, robbers and “no-goods” limited their target
practice to occasional pot-shots at whiskey bottles or the
playful eradication of noisy town roosters. At the stickup
Not even the Tutt/Hickok fight conforms completely to the
most common stereotype, however. Not only was the altercation deadly – without the preferred TV effects of guns
mercifully shot out of hands – but neither gunfighter fired
from the hip, and Wild Bill actually steadied his Colt over
his opposite forearm and took careful aim in order to make
what proved to be a single telling shot. And clearly the much
trumpeted speed of draw was not the determining factor, but
rather, it was deliberation and determination deciding events,
not with the first round fired but the first to hit a vital area of
the enemy’s body.
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distance of 3 to 6 feet, much murderous mayhem was possible with the short barrelled handgun, but beyond that, pistol shots were more effective at providing cover than eliminating train guards or decimating pursuing posses. For this
reason, the handgun was never the first choice for personal
combat, but rather, the firearm most likely to be conveniently
close at hand when unexpected trouble arose. Contrary to
the myth, the most serious offensive attacks by lawmen and
outlaws alike were made using Winchester lever action rifles,
and the most effective defense of stagecoaches and railcars
was more apt to be thanks to shotguns stuffed with a formidable stack of buckshot. The most successful attacks were
often committed not only with longarms, but were ambushes
launched by hidden rifleman protected by cover.
In the 1962 John Ford movie “The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance”, a character named Stoddard has won election as a
Senator in part thanks to having shot down the evil Valance,
only to find later that it was really a rifle shot from afar that
brought down his tormentor. When he asks a newspaper
editor to print the real truth behind the reported events, the
newsman tears up his notes and famously tells him “No Sir,
this is the West. When the legend becomes fact, print the
legend!” Then, like now, the press could be counted on to
sensationalize if not outright fabricate, using appealing archetypes and contrived bogeymen to boost readership and
profits.
Just the fact of packing an arm was never enough to make
someone a true gunslinger. Nor did a single occasion of firing a gun in defense or anger necessarily mean that one was
a formidable gunfighter. It is nonetheless true that there were
a select sampling of characters in the Old West who were
notable exceptions to the rule, nerve-honed individuals who
did indeed “live and die by the gun,” for whom the drawing
of blood and metallic taste of danger and fear were as familiar to them as the horses they rode in on. Such a person can
credibly be called a “gunmen” or “pistolero.” However, my
preferred term is “shootist,” a moniker that denotes a degree
of skill and professionalism much like “dentist” or “scientist” that the other terms simply do not convey for these men
were truly professionals.
The shootist was neither a bushwhacker, robber or assassin
per se, but rather, a highly efficient if sometimes volatile fellow whose violent deeds where either spontaneous responses
to perceived insults or slights, or else deliberate and premeditated acts typically motivated by principle more so than
greed. He was more likely to be a loner than either a gang
or posse member, and whether reprising the roles of sheriff
or outlaw – white hat or black – he usually filled the part
well. Silent, pleasant or petulant, he exuded both character
and style. He felt safer and perhaps saner outside the bounds
of conventional society, and likely trusted his own intuition,
discernment, instincts and skills above all others and all else.
Slow to enter into alliances of purpose
or convenience, the shootist was likely
to adhere to the classic martial dictum
that “offense is the best defense.” And
he seldom backed down, not because he
was inhumanly fearless but because he
knew how to use his fear as fuel for assertive and sometimes explosive direct
action. Whether others thought him
right or wrong, the shootist acted out
of a moral certainty, true to himself and
his notions, adhering to his own personal code of honor even when breaking existing laws and cultural taboos.
By this measure, Wyatt Earp qualifies
as a shootist, although most often in the
capacity of an advantage-seeking vigilante rather than as the stand-up artisan
of arms more emblematic of the breed.
So does his tubercular friend Doc Holiday, a tragic Shakespearian character
ready to draw down over any imagined
slight, though in truth more willing
than accurate, missing far more times
than he connected and remarkably only
ending the lives of 2 men unassisted...
out of 8 known gunfights! The homicidal “Wild Bill” Longley was a shootist by most measures; his 11 confirmed
kills out of 12 encounters easily showing up not only Holiday but most of the
famous western gunfighters. So too
was John Wesley Hardin; guns always
at the ready, fearlessly prepared to face
all-comers, no matter how tough the
opponent, nor how many. This eventu-
ally resulted in what is believed to be
30 or more in-your-face encounters!
And we can include without question
the likes of handsome “Longhair Jim”
Courtwright, and King Fisher who were
known to exhibit style as well as lethality, dandily dressed for even the bloodiest of occasions, quick with clever verbal comebacks and a fast draw of the
pistol just like in the movies. Hickok’s
total of 11 dead is impressive, averaging as he did 1 administered fatality per
fight, but his record would have been
a lot bloodier if not for the very nonmovie-like penchant for using the butt
of his revolver to “brain” or “buffalo”
miscreants instead of shooting them.
On the other hand, while the famed
Jesse James was indeed deadly with
a six-gun, he was more of a guerilla
raider and thief, preferring the support
of a sizable outlaw gang, avoiding like
the plague anything approaching a oneon-one duel, and suffering no moral or
stylistic compunction against shooting
from a “hide” or pumping bullets into
turned backs. Billy “The Kid” Bonney
was more of a gregarious rascal than
shootist per se, a killer not by nature,
but in response to unjust events and
largely unavoidable circumstances.
For all his bravado, we know he would
have preferred a life of dancing at
Mexican “fandangos” and making love
to warm señoritas to a lifetime of nervously fingering cold grey revolvers.
The Kid’s 4 recorded kills in 14 gunfights is nothing to be sneezed at, but
neither the number of altercations nor
numbers of victims/opponents are
alone sufficient to qualify one as an
archetypal shootist. The part time outlaw, part time lawmen, John Selman,
gunned 8 men down on and off duty,
though often in what were described
as the most cowardly ways. Tom Horn
blasted a series of small-time independent ranchers at the behest of a Cattleman’s Association intent on maintaining a monopoly, but he did so with his
Winchester from a place of concealment. Another despicable master of the
ambush was the hired bushwhacker Jim
“Deacon” Miller, who literally put over
100 men in their graves for the price on
their heads, and without more than a
handful of them even getting a glimpse
of their killer’s face.
To the true shootist, it was usually important to look their victims in the eye.
They seldom laid in ambush or ran
away after a scrape in order to avoid
being identified. In most cases, they
wanted to be seen, wanted the credit
and growing reputation in order to
more easily intimidate enemies in the
future. While they tried to anticipate
the time and place of a likely conflict,
more often than not situations arose
unexpectedly, escalating from nothing
to a showdown in seconds or minutes,
requiring both a decisive and deliberate
response.
To men accustomed to such explosions
of violence, the handgun was a vital
implement with which they trained
constantly. Bill Hickok is said to have
emptied his Colts at the end of every
day, both to get extra practice and to ensure that his percussion revolver loads
were fresh and could be counted on to
go off when fired. J. W. Hardin’s lightning draw and unerring marksmanship
were oft witnessed and even judicially
documented, with many of the additions to local graveyards having ol’
Wes to thank for that last bumpy wagon
ride. While he tried life as a lawyer
for a short time, the real mark he made
can be seen in the playing cards he often shot in street exhibitions, several
of which are available for viewing in
private and museum collections over a
century later.
Up until a few years after the War Between the States, known as the Ameri-
38
April/May
www.nfa.ca
www.nfa.ca can Civil War, the gun they practiced
with and employed was most often the
Colt black powder percussion revolvers, both the Army and Navy models,
and the many cheap copies of these
“hog-legs”. Arms sold as surplus after the war was over quickly flooded
the western market, and were only replaced in large numbers with the production of dependable revolvers shooting self contained cartridges, by far the
most popular being the so-called Colt
“Peacemaker” model of 1873, most
commonly in .45 Colt and .44-40 calibers. These famed arms found their
way into the hands and holsters of not
only gunfighters but homesteaders and
shopkeepers, and figure into the vast
majority of recorded Old West shootouts. It was, however, certainly not the
only sidearm used by lawmen, outlaws
and other described shootists. While
seldom or never seen in movies until
1990’s films like “The Quick and The
Dead,” another quite popular contender
was the Model 1875 revolver produced
by Remington Arms Co., a documented
favorite of the rebel bank robber Frank
James. So too could be found other revolvers like Merwin & Hulberts and the
break open (quicker to reload) Smith &
Wesson Model 3’s, as well as a plethora
April/May of S&W, Colt and other pocket pistols.
These and even smaller derringers in
relatively low power chamberings like
.32 short and .41 rimfire nonetheless
made good backups. While shootists
seldom carried two large revolvers on
their belt, they were often known to
have additional firepower stuffed into
pockets and boots. One flamboyant
exception was the feared outlaw Cullen Baker who met his end in January
of 1869, shot down while eating lunch
for having bullied a crippled school
teacher. He was found to be packing
not only a double barreled shotgun but
also 4 revolvers, 6 knives of various
sizes and 3 well concealed derringers!
The shootist was almost always well
armed, and in the most impressive
cases proved far more accurate with
his tools of the trade than 99% of his
fellow gun owners. While it was not
his style to stand at a measured distance
from an enemy, waiting for a signal to
draw, it was typical of his character
and temperament that he faced danger
bent forward rather than running backwards, his hands moving out of instinct
faster than thought to get his preferred
weapon unsheathed and leveled, firing
not to warn but to incapacitate, and not
stopping his firing until sure the fight
was through.
“Law-Dog,” outlaw, gambler or border-rider, the shootist answered not to
outside authority so much as to himself, acting unhesitatingly to meet his
needs, do his duty, or satisfy his principles. Without waiting for arbitration
or anyone else’s protection, he strove to
settle relevant matters by himself, and
in accordance with what he personally
believed was right. That’s one quality
that all of us could use a little more of
today.
“Is that true?” some kids ask a storytelling cook, in the 1972 movie “Cowboys.” The old guy turns to look them
in the eye, smiles and replies.
“Well if it ain’t... it oughta be.”
39
Member’s Soapbox:
Of Sheepdogs
& Vigilantes
By Jon McCormick
If you follow the news, the name
Brian Knight might be familiar to
you. He was the Alberta farmer who
found himself in hot water with the
“Law” after having the audacity to
protect his home and property from a
bunch of extremely bold thieves. As
it happens so often, police were more
interested in prosecuting Mr. Knight
for his “vigilantism” rather than those
who trespassed, invaded, stole and
terrorized. Even Canada’s National
Post newspaper argued that the Knight
case was anything but. To quote the
article:
“This is not vigilantism. A vigilante
would have fed the thief to the pigs
or dressed him in chains and cinder
blocks and taken him for a swim in
Buffalo Lake. No cops, no lawyers, no
problem.” So pay attention thieves,
only in Alberta are they not content
to sit quietly and wait for the police to
arrive and copy serial numbers.”
Only in Alberta? Not so!
British
Columbia
has
similar
communities which have done likewise
and others which are prepared to do the
same. The time for honest citizens to sit
back and allow thieves and bullies to
run rampant is over in my opinion.
To refresh memories, Brian Knight
found three men attempting to steal his
ATV on his own property. He confronted
them while his spouse telephoned for
help. One thief took off on the ATV
while the other two fled in a pick-up.
Neighbours were called and joined in
the pursuit. Brian chased the ATV thief
in his car, caught up to the thief and
forced the guy off the road. The thief
fled and Brian discharged his shotgun
into the air. The thief inadvertently
caught a few stray pellets, stopped,
and raised his hands and allowed Brian
and his friends to complete a citizen’s
arrest.
Like any good citizen, Brian then
called the police to inform them of their
location and to turn over the would-be
thief and law-breaker. This decision,
unfortunately, was to prove an error
on his part. Brian, never for a minute
anticipated that the police would
ultimately turn on him, an honest, lawabiding citizen; guilty only of choosing
to protect his property from criminals
rather than allow him and his family to
be victimized.
A fact of life for much of rural Canada
is that police response times are often
still measured in hours or even days, not
the minute’s suburbanites have come to
expect and demand. Rural Canadians
often have to go it alone, without
access to the resources and safeguards
of larger centers. That is why a sense
of community is so important and why
neighbours will go the extra mile to
help out their fellows. That is also why
Brian and his neighbours felt they had
to act in defense of hearth and home,
since in reality they were on their own.
For his trouble, Brian now faces seven
40
April/May
criminal charges, including assault,
criminal negligence causing bodily
harm and dangerous driving. The thief
was taken to Edmonton, bandaged up
and released by police without bail
after being charged.
A few nights later one of the same
thieves who had evaded apprehension
following the attempted robbery of
the Knight Farm, returned to the area
and attempted to steal from another of
Brian’s neighbours. He was caught redhanded. This time the farmers didn’t
call police. Hmmm, I wonder why?
Chances are this thief took some “good
advice” and immediately left the area,
taking with him his felonious skills for
parts where he won’t receive such swift
justice; but rather the wrist slap he’d
come to expect from a so-called justice
system that favours the criminal over
the victim.
Detractors of Brian Knight have argued
that he should’ve let the police handle
things and simply rolled over and let
himself and his family be victimized.
Proponents of such a politically correct
school of thought devoutly believe
that it is better to be a live coward
and victim, rather than run the risk
of potentially harming the criminal
preying upon you; or “forcing” said
criminal to deal with you more harshly
in retaliation.
Some have argued that the defining
characteristic of the Canadian male
in this day and age is PC-driven
www.nfa.ca
cowardice and unwillingness to get
involved. They point to examples such
as L’ecole Polytechnique, where male
engineering students meekly walked
out of classrooms taken over by crazed
gunman Gamil Gharbi 20 years ago;
leaving their fellow female classmates
behind. You may know Gharbi better
as Marc Lepine. He was the architect
of the so-called Montreal Massacre.
Products of the Trudeau Liberal’s plan
to socially re-engineer Canada, those
male students simply obeyed orders,
collected their things and left their
female classmates to die. Liberals
believe that this is the true and proper
representation of Canadian “maleness.”
The actions of Brian Knight and his
Each One
Of Us Is...
An ambassador, a teacher, and
a member. One of the most important functions of the National
Firearms Association is making firearms ownership and use
relevant to growing numbers of
Canadians.
To prosper, we must have a steady
flow of new shootersa and enthusiasts entering our proud firearms
heritage.
Your membership and your donations to the National
Firearms Association are helping us develop the
programs Canada
needs to make sure
our firearms heritage continues to
grow.
www.nfa.ca neighbours categorically dispute this
assumption. As Sir Edmund Burke
once said, “The only thing necessary
for evil to triumph is for good men to
do nothing.” Well, Brian Knight was a
“good man” as were his neighbours and
they stepped up to protect themselves
and their families from evil men who
had chosen to prey on them simply
because they thought that they were
weak and alone - just as the wolf preys
upon an unprotected flock. However,
as any farmer can tell you, while
wolves may start a fight, a sheepdog
will finish it. Ultimately, the sheepdog
protects his flock from all predators,
big or small, not just because it is his
job, but because it is his duty. That
is not vigilantism that is a sheepdog
being a sheepdog; especially when the
shepherd is nowhere to be found.
As for Brian, his court appearance was
postponed to sometime this summer.
No reason has been provided by the
prosecution, however, the community
believes it’s because the bad guys have
broken their bond and disappeared.
Others believe that this is a stalling
tactic by the prosecution in hopes that
community support for Brian will
wane or public interest in the case will
disappear. Not likely! Unlike mongrels,
sheepdogs stick together and when
Brian has his day in court we’ll be there
to support him.
I want to help Make It Happen!
Here is my contribution to the
to help protect my rights to own and use firearms.
􀁔 $100 􀁔 $50 􀁔 $25 􀁔 $________
􀁔 My Cheque or Money Order enclosed
􀁔 Charge my Visa/MasterCard/AMEX
Card #:______________________________ Expiry: ______________
Signature: ________________________________________________
Name: ___________________________________________________
Address: __________________________________________________
City/Town: ________________ Prov:_________ Postal Code: _______
Ph.:__________________________ Fx.: ________________________
E-mail: ___________________________________________________
Mail this form to:
National Firearms Association, Box 52183, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2T5
April/May 41
Bill C-391 Continued from Page 27
There were 546 homicide victims in 2000, before the longgun registry began, and 611 in 2008.
The key question is whether stricter gun laws, e.g., long-gun
registration, are effective in reducing criminal violence. No
properly designed empirical study has found that gun laws
have been responsible for reducing criminal violence rates
(or suicide rates) in any country in the world. See Baker
and McPhedran (2007), Hahn et al (2003), Kates and Mauser (2007), Kleck (1991, 1997), Mauser (2007, 2008), Thorp
(1997), Wellford et al (2004).
Claim #7: The registry is an essential tool for police
when taking preventative action and when enforcing prohibition orders to remove firearms from dangerous individuals. “Before a police officer knocks on a door, they
want and need to know whether the person behind that
door owns a gun,” (Ontario Attorney General, 2009).
False: The long-gun registry does not contain information on a gun’s location. There is no requirement to store a
long-gun where the owner resides. The registry only contains descriptive information about the registered guns.
The police need information they can trust. The most dangerous criminals have not registered their firearms. When
police approach a dangerous person or situation, they must
assume there could be an illegal weapon. Many serving police officers say the registry is not useful to them.
The Auditor General found that the RCMP could not
rely upon the registry in court on account of the large
number of errors and omissions (Office of the Auditor
General, 2002). It is and has always been the nature of gun
registries to have such errors and omissions, on a staggering
scale. This is why New Zealand abandoned their long-gun
registry (Thorp, 1997).
The RCMP has reported error rates between 43% and 90%
in firearms applications and registry information. A manual
search, prompted by an MP’s ATI request, discovered that
4,438 stolen firearms had been successfully re-registered
without alerting authorities. Apparently, the thieves had resold the firearms to new owners who (unsuspectingly) had
subsequently registered them (Breitkreuz, 2003; Paraskevas,
2003).
The Auditor General reported that, “(T)he (Canadian Firearms Program) did not establish targets for data accuracy or
methods of measuring the accuracy of data in the CFIS,”
and that only 27% of firearms had been verified (Office of
42
the Auditor General, 2006). It should be understood that the
irregularities in gun registration stem from multiple causes
which will always be with us. Guns carry a lot of stampings,
and officials who handle guns to register them often know
little about firearms. Despite the best efforts of the Canadian
Firearms Program, it is prohibitively expensive to address
these problems adequately. Hence it follows that gun registries are always inaccurate.
single crime and can say without a doubt that I have never
witnessed the long-gun registry prevent a crime.”
SOURCE: Email to Candice Hoeppner, M.P. - October 2009
In sum, Ms Cukier’s claims are wrong again. The long-gun
registry does not contain information on a gun’s location.
The Auditor General found that the RCMP could not rely
upon the registry in court on account of the large number of
errors and omissions. Less than one-half of all firearms in
Canada are estimated to be listed in the registry, and a large
number of records in the registry have errors or are missing
important information (Breitkreuz, 2001; Mauser, 2007). Police officers on the front lines do not find the registry helpful.
The registry is a shopping list for criminals. The RCMP has
admitted to more than 300 breaches so far. Early in 2009, the
RCMP handed over sensitive information to the polling firm
Ekos Research Associates for a customer-satisfaction survey.
Gun owners believe this is a serious breach of privacy. No
registry means no shopping list for computer-hacking criminals (Hoeppner, 2009).
In summary, almost all of the inquiries are routinely generated by traffic stops or firearm sales and are not specifically
requested by police. More than 97% of these inquiries involve licensing, not the long-gun registry. Inquiries specific
to the gun registry amount to only 2.4% of the approximately
3.5 million inquiries into the database in 2008. Once again,
Ms Cukier’s claim is wrong.
Claim #8: The gun registry is consulted by police 10,000
times a day and provides important information.
Claim #9: Polls show Canadians believe the gun registry
should not be dismantled.
False: Almost all of the “inquiries” are routinely generated by traffic stops or firearm sales and are not specifically requested; nor do police often find them useful.
False: Two recent polls show that the public does not support the long-gun registry. This is consistent with at least
11 earlier polls, all of which have clearly demonstrated that
the Canadian public has no faith in the long-gun registry or
its ability to increase public safety.
Almost all of these inquiries involve licensing, not the
long-gun registry. Inquiries specific to the gun registry
amount to only 2.4% of the approximately 3.5 million inquiries into the database in 2008, which has declined each
year from 8.3% in 2003 as awareness has grown that actually
looking for this data has limited usefulness.
Bill C-391 will not change the licensing system so 97.6% of
these inquiries will continue as before.
Note: the firearms registry only contains gun-specific data,
e.g., the serial number and certificate number.
Despite its reported irrelevance, some police associations
have endorsed it. These endorsements may reflect where
they receive funding and are currently under scrutiny. The
majority of MPs who voted for Bill C-391 were right to ignore the disingenuous claims of these police associations.
Here is what one serving RCMP corporal (who requested
anonymity) had to say:
“I certainly do not understand how the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police can claim that the registry is a useful
tool. I think their doing so is more a statement of how long it
has been since any of them has been in touch with front line
policing. I supervise 10 RCMP members on a daily basis
and have done so for quite some time. I have never once in
my career found the registry to be a useful tool in solving a
April/May
www.nfa.ca
A recent survey by Angus Reid (Nov 2009) asked the following question:
“The Canadian Firearms Registry, also known as the longgun registry, requires the registration of all non-restricted
firearms in Canada. From what you have seen, read or heard,
do you think this registry has been successful or unsuccessful
in preventing crime in Canada?”
Successful Unsuccessful It has had no effect on crime Not sure 11%
46%
32%
11%
This was corroborated in an Ekos poll, also conducted in
November, 2009, that found 38% supported abolishing the
registry, while 31% wanted to keep it; 31% were undecided
or did not respond.
The Ontario Attorney General has made the same mistake that is repeated
by the Coalition and others. The licensing system, which is not affected
by C-391, is only able to identify that someone in the residence may own a
gun, not where it is stored
2
www.nfa.ca Claim #10: Stronger gun laws have helped reduce gunrelated death, injury, violence and suicide.
False. No properly designed study has been able to
show that gun laws have been responsible for reducing
criminal violence rates or suicide rates in any country in
the world.
There is no evidence that Bill C-68 has reduced the homicide rate or the suicide rate in Canada. Gun deaths have been
declining since the 1970s, long before Bill C-68 and the creation of the long-gun registry.
Gang-related homicides have increased dramatically since
the mid 1990s. The long-gun registry has had no obvious effect on gang-related violence. (See attached Chart 3).
Homicide rates have fallen impressively in both the United
States and in Canada since the early 1990s. Homicide rates
have plummeted 45% in the US, compared to just 32% in
Canada over the same time period (See attached Chart 4).
The US did this without the benefit of Canadian gun laws.
In fact, the trend in the US over the past twenty years has
been to make gun ownership easier for licensed citizens, not
harder.
No properly designed empirical study has found that gun
laws have been responsible for reducing criminal violence
rates (or suicide rates) in any country in the world. See Baker
and McPhedran (2007), Hahn et al (2003), Kates and Mauser
(2007), Kleck (1991, 1997), Mauser (2007, 2008), Thorp
(1997), Wellford et al (2004).
Conclusions
To sum up, every one of the claims made by Ms Cukier to
oppose bill C-391 is false or misleading.
1.The problem is not access to guns. Canadian gun owners
are less likely than other Canadians to commit homicide.
2.In domestic homicides, the problem is the murder of family members, not the means of killing. Rifles and shotguns
are not the weapons most likely to be used in domestic homicides. Knives are.
3.There is no empirical support for the claim that the longgun registry has reduced spousal murders. Spousal murders
(with and without guns) have slowly been declining since the
mid-1970s.
4.There is no empirical support for the claim that stronger
gun laws have helped reduce gun violence. In fact, the use of
firearms in homicide has increased by 24% since the beginning of the long-gun registry.
5.Firearms stolen from legal owners are not a significant
source of crime guns. All studies of crime guns, or guns used
in murders, agree that stolen registered firearms are infre-
April/May 43
quently involved. It is licensing, not registration, that is essential to prevent dangerous people from getting guns.
6.Firearms do not pose more problems in smaller cities. Homicide is a particularly acute problem in large cities where
ironically there are fewer legal gun owners.
7.Rank and file police members do not find the registry useful. In approaching dangerous situations, the police must
assume there is a weapon. The long-gun registry does not
contain information on a gun’s location, but only descriptive information about the guns that have been registered.
When enforcing prohibition orders to remove firearms from
dangerous people, the police cannot rely upon the registry
because of the large number of errors and omissions.
8.Almost all inquiries to the gun registry are routinely generated by traffic stops or firearm sales. Almost all of these
inquiries involve licensing, not the long-gun registry. Rank
and file police say that this information is not useful to them.
9.Polls show that the Canadian public does not support the
long-gun registry.
10. No properly designed study has been able to show that
gun laws have been responsible for reducing criminal violence rates or suicide rates in any country in the world.
In closing, it is important to note that MPs listen to their constituents. Ours is a diverse country and this is reflected in our
parliament. Parliamentary democracy means that party leaders should respect the opinions of all MPs. Bill C-391 passed
second reading because constituents have told their MPs they
want their tax money invested in programs that actually fight
crime. More police officers and better technologies are
more effective routes to improving public safety.
Bill C-391 is a simple and straightforward bill that proposes
to dismantle the long-gun registry for non-restricted long
guns, nothing more. Bill C-391 leaves in place the rest of
Canada’s gun control regime, including the requirement
to obtain a licence, the screening of applicants, the requirement to register restricted and prohibited long guns,
the need to take and pass the firearms safety course, and
the rules on safe storage and transportation of firearms.
In sum, the test of any governmental program should be
whether it meets its goals. In this case, the long-gun registry
has failed. It has failed to save lives. It has failed to reduce
murder, suicide or aggravated assault rates. The long-gun
registry continues to cost Canadian taxpayers millions of
dollars each year. This money could be better spent on other
more useful law enforcement measures, or be directed towards a number of other key priorities for Canadians such
as health care.
Editor’s Note: Please check out www.nfa.ca for the Professor
Mauser’s full paper and complete list of references:
Crime Control Continued from Page 31
from the background mass of general enquires about individuals. When we do
this we immediately see that the vast majority of enquires have nothing to do with
guns and the paperwork system is providing information that the officer hasn’t
asked for. An interesting thing about the numbers is the steady increase in inquires as more automated systems link up to the firearms program and the steady
decrease in the percentage of times firearms data is actually being sought.
Average Daily Queries to the CFRO (2009 report)
Type People 2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Individual
Name
1,561
1,820
2,397
4,001
4,262
6,440
7,059
Address
27
42
1,434
2,268
2,364
2,574
2,758
Telephone#
7
9
12
11
14
15
16
Other
21
16
17
21
21
22
0
sub total
Firearms
1,616 1,887 3,860 6,301 6,661 9,051 9,833
Serial#
128
130
143
187
176
202
258
Licence#
47
57
74
89
121
141
176
Certificate#
20
13
14
15
16
19
20
sub total
195
200
231
291
313
522
454
% firearms
related 10.77% 9.58% 5.65% 4.42% 4.49% 5.55% 4.41%
Total
1,811 2,087 4,091 6,591 6,973 9,413 10,287
One rather suspects that the police have already figured out that the regulated, law
-abiding gun owner is not where the danger comes from and that the system is
providing a dangerously false sense of security. One might also suspect that most
of the small percentage of enquires that are actually about guns are tied to police
involvement in paperwork issues created by the system itself.
Once we have eliminated official spin and wishful thinking we find that the crime
control payoff, in terms of homicides, for our 2005- 2006 CFC budget of $68.5
million was 12 leads on individuals and 13 leads on guns. (Averages are used
due to the multi-year nature of many homicide investigations.) How many of
these leads solved a case and how many where merely paperwork afterthoughts
is unknown.
Given the system’s costs and its miniscule impact on crime, one is left questioning whether the paperwork system is a misguided delusion or simply a politically
motivated feel-good fraud.
Bruce Gold is a freelance researcher and writer interested in a number of public
policy issues. He has a website at http://www.FactFallacyFirearms.org and can
be reached for comment at goldb@telus.net
44
April/May
www.nfa.ca
In Memoriam
www.nfa.ca April/May It is with profound sadness that
the National Firearms Association
announces the passing of our dear
friend, Mr. Bob Chapman of Orillia, Ontario on Monday, March 22,
2010. Bob fought a very courageous
and dignified battle with Cancer before his passing on March 22nd. He
leaves his beloved wife Rita, devoted children and grandchildren,
not to mention his ever faithful dog
Sam, to mourn his passing. All of
his friends, here at the National
Firearms Association, would like to
extend our heartfelt condolences to
Rita and family for their loss. Our
thoughts and prayers are with them
at this difficult time.
Bob worked tirelessly for many
years supporting the rights of firearm owners as a provincial executive with the NFA, various gun
clubs and political parties. Last
spring Bob and Rita were presented
with the first David A. Tomlinson
Memorial Award in recognition of
his outstanding contribution to the
recreational firearms community
and for the vast number of projects
they had completed for the NFA and
Mr. Tomlinson. He will be missed.
45
By Grayson Penney
VP Message ...Continued from Page 11
Teacher... Continued from Page 21
The waters of this particular issue are muddied further by the
fact that there are several dozen private owners of restricted
(by barrel length) Norinco Type-97 rifles that just received
revocation letters from the RCMP. These owners have been
informed that their registration certificates, which were duly
issued by the Canadian Firearms Center several years ago,
have been revoked and they are ordered to surrender their
firearms for confiscation and destruction. This is the scenario
the gun control advocates promised would never happen
– the Canadian Firearms Registry being used to confiscate
legally purchased firearms!
This is a slippery slope we face, because once the T-97s are
gone, what is to stop the gun grabbers from trying it with
other similar looking “evil” rifles? How long until Remington
semi-auto hunting rifles and Beretta or Benelli semi-auto
duck guns are on the chopping block? It is not just the black
gun owners who need to be worried here. We cannot permit
this particular camel to get its nose under the tent. We must
pull out all the stops to quash this policy cold. To do that we
will need your help in the days and weeks to come as this
issue develops. For now, we are urging all current owners
of T-97 and High Standard Model 10 shotguns to take their
revocation letters to their nearest provincial court house and
see the Clerk of the Court to file for a reference hearing on
the revocation. This buys us all time and will allow current
owners to keep their firearms until the legal process comes
to a resolution or until we can effect a positive political
resolution in Ottawa.
While, this seemingly obscure issue affects “only” a handful
of T-97 and High Standard shotgun owners, at least from
the perspective of RCMP and gun control bureaucrats, it
also highlight the veracity of National Firearms Association
arguments against the registration of legal firearms in
Canada. The next time you’re debating a Liberal or gun
control advocate about Bill C-391, remind them about
the now broken promises of the Chretien and Martin
governments which promised Canadian gun owners that
registration would never equal confiscation. Obviously prior
NFA warnings have proven well founded. For now, spread
the word and start writing those letters people!
46
My concentration was total and in that moment my focus
was on stance, properly shouldering my gun, the swing and
follow-through and the breaking of the trigger. The round was
over almost before I knew it. It was then I realized that my
brain must have gone into over-drive producing endorphins
as I hadn’t even thought about either the chronic pain with
which I lived every day or my broken body. On the firing line
I was whole again and the “shooter’s spell” had me firmly in
its grasp. Thinking back at that moment, I wondered how I
could’ve forgotten the sheer joy and euphoria I had always
experienced when shooting.
Too soon, we headed back to the clubhouse, but not before
Bert gave me an impromptu tour of the indoor handgun range
and took the time to provide some additional hands-on safety
and marksmanship instruction on pistol shooting. Suddenly,
it became apparent to me that I could conceivably make a
return to handgun shooting as well, with Bert’s help and
patience as my teacher and friend.
On the drive home, I became aware of the scent of gunpowder
on my person and the feeling of satisfaction I felt after
returning to a sport I loved and one I had thought I’d never
be able to participate in again. While I couldn’t have done
it without Bert, I also realized that the rest was up to me.
He couldn’t spoon-feed me forever, and he’d given much of
his own personal time for his own shooting pursuits that I
did not want to impose further; even though I knew Bert did
not see it as an imposition. Against the odds, I successfully
made a return to skeet shooting and was to enjoy many
further friendly outings with my teacher and friend Bert
Cronkwright.
Zero Tolerance Cont. from Page 17
“Zero Tolerance” policies take that discretion, trust and responsibility away from the principal and force them to take
punitive action against the student, whether they want to or
not. No matter if we’re talking about a “finger gun,” “breaded chicken finger pistol,” “Lego rifle,” or “stick figure gun,”
these policies mandate disciplinary actions that the average
citizen would view as being way out of proportion to the
actual breach of school policy or rules. These mandated reactions to knee-jerk, non-events put otherwise good kids in the
position of being treated like criminals, socially isolate them
from friends and classmates, and often terrify them for no
good reason. The kids come to a realization that they allegedly did something “bad,” but they really have no conception
of what exactly they did that was so terrible.
No distinction is made between toy guns, “adapted gun-like
shapes” and the real thing. Where is the justice in that? How
exactly is our children’s safety improved by it? What happened to actually educating these kids? What exactly are
we teaching them and their classmates by victimizing them
through uncompromising fiat drafted by some nameless bureaucrat who was more interested in protecting the school
board against legal action than the welfare of the students
involved?
Every one of the cases referenced could have been dealt with
by a stern talk in the principal’s office, perhaps a friendly,
non-confrontational telephone call to the parents, or perhaps
a parent conference in the more “extreme” cases. No expulsion, no suspension, no police and no press. If today’s parents or school boards actually feel a need to expel kids over
chicken fingers and Legos there can’t be too many pressing
problems actually facing our schools and, indeed, our society today. I guess we can forget childhood obesity, illiteracy,
drugs, gang violence and underage pregnancy?
Unfortunately, I no longer shoot skeet much, as I’m a senior
citizen and now suffering from Osteoporosis. Therefore, the
better part of valour was to scale back on the big boomers.
However, that hasn’t ended my shooting career for the second
time. Remember that tour of the handgun ranges that Bert
gave me? I now enjoy an active recreational handgun career
instead. I know my limitations and have no need to overcompensate for my disabilities, I just don’t let them control
my life anymore and if I have to work that extra bit harder to
overcome and adapt to my changed circumstances, so be it.
Rather than addressing real problems, zero tolerance consistently punishes kids for having committed the “crime” of
being kids. Suspending or expelling good kids is beyond ludicrous when no actionable threat existed. I’m not trying to
minimize the tragedy of past school shootings, but I am questioning what lessons have been taken from them. Certainly,
reasonable safety precautions should be taken, however, zero
tolerance is not reasonable. What we need is a reinjection
of basic common sense into our parenting, our teaching and
throughout our society. That is the only solution to the question of kids & guns. Opting to maintain the status quo or continuing to perpetuate official polices of zero tolerance is the
truly criminal act here, not a child pointing a chicken finger
and pretending it is a gun.
I still owe an outstanding debt of gratitude to Bert. Reeducating me must have been the real life equivalent to
“Mission Impossible,” but he did it! Surely his devotion to
helping others enjoy the sport of shooting allowed him to
tolerate my inadequacies. It is a reflection of his personal worth
as an individual that never at anytime was he condescending
to me as a woman, much less one with disabilities. In the
midst of my re-entry to the sport I gave Bert a bookmark as
a token of my appreciation. The notation on the bookmark
sums up his advocacy as a Firearms Instructor. “Time Spent
Teaching Is Never Wasted.” Thanks Bert.
April/May
www.nfa.ca

- National Firearms Association

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