A new riding summer is upon us, a year has passed and nothing has changed. I had hoped that we would have seen some dynamic change in our political scope. It would have been good to see more opposition seats for the Alberta conservatives to deal with, but alas, the good old provincial PC party has us in their grip. Don’t get me wrong, I have always swayed to the right but I would have like to see some balance.
They say there are two camps of thinking in politics. On one side there is the right, and the
other the wrong.
That’s not very fair, but the latest news regarding our oil sands situation makes one stand back and drop their heads.
Back in January (2008) the United States passed energy legislation that prohibits federal vehicles from using fuels derived from dirty oil. Dirty oil of course is not oil with lumps in it, its oil that is deemed dirty because of the CO2 emissions as a result of production.
The problem is that the US Federal government doesn’t have their own fuel pumps; they buy
their fuel from the regular pump jockeys. So, any fuel going into the US must be clean. Do
you see what I see?
The only oil source that has recently been slapped by our favorite pet dog KYOTO is crude oil produced in Alberta in the tar sands projects located at Fort McMurray, Alberta and actively produced by SunCore and SynCrude.
That very money pit that has driven our economy for the past 20 years to where we are
paying nhouse values have reached nearly half a million dollars for a bungalow in Edmonton, Alberta, and has made the Edmonton-Calgary corridor the fastest growing economic zone in the world.
KYOTO barks and everyone jumps. Bad dog! Is tar sand oil production spewing so much CO2 into the air to keep the liberal awake at night? Is Alberta the big bad polluter everyone wants to believe?
The truth is that Canada is one of the lowest polluters in the developed world. The US, India
and China are passing more gas into the atmosphere then a bunch of rednecks eating peanuts and beer at a Grey Cup Football party.
No, the real threat is not our dirty oil; the real threat to the US is that they need to convince the sheep that a war in Iraq, and maybe Iran is needed. Yes, the big bad terrorist is the official reason to be there, but many of the power elite in the US has oil interests in the kingdom and they all know that possibly the ‘new’ oil kingdom could be Alberta.
Better use the fervor on Global Warming to ensure that we don’t buy Alberta oil. ‘If we can’t invade Canada to take the resources, lets just use fear created by ‘Acorn Politics’ to boycott Canada.’ When Chicken Little and Henny Penny had that Acorn fall on their head, the sky must have been falling, and they have been running around screaming global warming ever since. Are we experiencing Global Warming or Economic Cooling? Some say both, but the fact remains that there are a lot more scientists who slap down the anthropogenic global warming theory. Problem is that they are immediately labeled as Big Oil supporters or deniers There IS NO CONSENSUS ON ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING! Nobody even says what the "consensus" is on. It is, at best, a THEORY and a poor one at that. In short the earth is warming ever since that last ice age and it will keep warming, but whether that warming is man-made is just the ‘Acorn Politician’ using fear to effect change that they could not accomplish when the masses are happy.
If you want to spoil the economic balance of any operation you have to panic the masses. It’s much like killing the profits of a hatchery, walk into the chicken coop, and yell, ‘Howdy Girls’ at the top of your lungs, after the feathers fly, most of the eggs produced are spoiled.
The truth is that temperature measurements in the ocean over the past five years have shown that the oceans are cooling slightly, and atmospheric global average temperatures for the past 10 years have slightly dropped .555C. This is data that has been tabulated, but pop culture would rather be told that the end is near rather than just sit back and enjoy the weather. This nonsense is what’s allowing powers like the U.S. to use the barking KYOTO to pass laws that are going to hurt you and I economically. The only way out of this is to slap sense into the masses and not spoil our eggs.
I was proud of the Harper government (Canadian) when they took a cool stance on KYOTO, but after pressure from the liberal media, it looks like they are beginning to look more weak minded on the subject. Then there is steady the Alberta Premier, Eddie Stelmach, he surprised us when just last week he stood up and announced that if the US don’t want our ‘dirty’ oil we will sell it elsewhere. You might think that’s a hollow threat, but the likes of China would love our oil, and we have been producing this oil at a rate of up to 1.1 million barrels a day. Is Alberta the new kingdom, mmm maybe!
In any light, it’s a new year, we are dealing with the same crap, the more things change the more they remain the same.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
The Taser: An offensive weapon
The Taser death of Robert Dziekanski, 40, from Poland, at the trigger finger of four RCMP officers in Vancouver International Airport on October 14th, was an event that lowered Canada’s international image below the ‘Bush’ and at the same time snuffed out a son, father and friend. The cries from the public, although quick, were fleeting, with calls for RCMP reviewing their policy on Taser use. Colin Kenny, the Chair of the Senate Committee on National Security and Defense, is calling for a moratorium of the Taser use. Nonsense! I simply don’t agree. I call for an abolition of the Taser! Period!
Nearly 30 years ago when I patrolled the streets in uniform, all I had for public defense was my wits, handcuffs, flashlight and a Smith and Wesson revolver. Some 28 years earlier my father, who retired as a Deputy Chief for the Edmonton Police Service, was issued handcuffs, revolver, flashlight… the wits he pitched in. Between my father and I, we saw social problems, violence, and the evolution of law enforcement that covered half a century. I am happy to say both of us are here today to tell stories. Do you think for one minute that we did not deal with a personal life-threatening situation?
The use of deadly force is always the last resort and only used when a life is threatened, whether it be the life of the officer or a citizen. In the case of Dziekanski, he was not threatening anyone, it was obvious to me and I assume all that witnessed the event, and that includes millions by now thanks to YouTube, that he was undergoing a form of anxiety attack. From the time the officers arrived and let loose the electrodes, it was no more then 20 seconds after initial contact.
Where was the wit? Where was the dialog? Why did not these big burly officers grab Dziekanski? He was not brandishing a weapon, nor was he swinging at the officers. And if so, a punch in the face is always a risk when choosing law enforcement as a career.
The bottom line, police killed a man, a man that was here to visit our beautiful and peaceful country. If this was the only case of deaths as a result of Taser happy police you could shake an accusing finger at me and say, nay, nay.
However, last month on November 19th, Jerrel Gray, 20, died as a result of being tasered by a police deputy at Fredrick City, Maryland, and in Chicago, IL in 2005, Ronald Hasse, 54, died due to electrocution as a result of being tasered by the Chicago Police.
Misuse of the Taser is also being reported with Allen Helms, 52, of Waxahachie, TX. While suffering from a seizure he was tasered by officers after his girlfriend called paramedics for medical assistance for him.
When police officers arrived before the ambulance, they burst into his bedroom and ‘subdued’ him with 50,000 volts, apparently in an attempt to make him more pliable for paramedics.
In Miami a six-year-old child in an elementary classroom, was tasered by police when the child threatened to cut his leg with a piece a glass. I guess the officer was afraid to approach the brawny sixty pounder.
Another incident in Miami saw a 12 year-old girl tasered after she was caught smoking and drinking by police.
When she tried to run across the street to get away from the officer, she was tasered with 50,000 volts. In this case, Miami Police’s only policy preventing the girl from getting electrocuted at the hands of police would be pregnancy. What ever happened to the footchase?
Back here in Canada, Howard Hyde, 45, died in police custody after he was tasered by Halifax Regional Police which prompted Nova Scotia’s Justice Minister’ call for a review on police use of
the Taser.
In all, unofficial numbers of deaths as a result of Taser electrocution runs at 140 between Canada and the United States (source: The Arizona Republic) since their introduction to law enforcement in 1998.
So who is to benefit from the use of Tasers in law enforcement? Certainly not the victims or their families. Nor the public, as we can see by these few examples that imminent threat to life was not the case. Certainly not the police, because since these Tasers were so easily accessible, by members of what is a noble profession, they have probably destroyed their careers not to mention their state of mind.
So why the Taser, over wits, bravery and balanced enforcement? The answer lies in the shareholders of Taser International, the sole manufacturer and patent holder of the Taser. Rick and Thomas P. Smith, the founders, directly out of university, started the business in 1993 after inventor Jack Cover showed them the light. From the Smiths’ own website, their profile shows no law enforcement experience or military training. They are businessmen, plain and simple, and they had a great idea, a great invention, that could earn them millions. They also had the business education to back them up. In 2001, the success of Taser International took the company public on NASDAQ.
So who is to benefit from the Taser? The success of any sales campaign is to create a need where one did not exist and then fill that need with what your peddling.
There is an old sales maxim. “He’s such a good salesman be could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.” The irony here is very evident. The police are those same eskimos. The ice cubes just happen to be the traditional defense issues of the past. Handcuffs, Flashlight, Revolver, and of course their wits.
Nearly 30 years ago when I patrolled the streets in uniform, all I had for public defense was my wits, handcuffs, flashlight and a Smith and Wesson revolver. Some 28 years earlier my father, who retired as a Deputy Chief for the Edmonton Police Service, was issued handcuffs, revolver, flashlight… the wits he pitched in. Between my father and I, we saw social problems, violence, and the evolution of law enforcement that covered half a century. I am happy to say both of us are here today to tell stories. Do you think for one minute that we did not deal with a personal life-threatening situation?
The use of deadly force is always the last resort and only used when a life is threatened, whether it be the life of the officer or a citizen. In the case of Dziekanski, he was not threatening anyone, it was obvious to me and I assume all that witnessed the event, and that includes millions by now thanks to YouTube, that he was undergoing a form of anxiety attack. From the time the officers arrived and let loose the electrodes, it was no more then 20 seconds after initial contact.
Where was the wit? Where was the dialog? Why did not these big burly officers grab Dziekanski? He was not brandishing a weapon, nor was he swinging at the officers. And if so, a punch in the face is always a risk when choosing law enforcement as a career.
The bottom line, police killed a man, a man that was here to visit our beautiful and peaceful country. If this was the only case of deaths as a result of Taser happy police you could shake an accusing finger at me and say, nay, nay.
However, last month on November 19th, Jerrel Gray, 20, died as a result of being tasered by a police deputy at Fredrick City, Maryland, and in Chicago, IL in 2005, Ronald Hasse, 54, died due to electrocution as a result of being tasered by the Chicago Police.
Misuse of the Taser is also being reported with Allen Helms, 52, of Waxahachie, TX. While suffering from a seizure he was tasered by officers after his girlfriend called paramedics for medical assistance for him.
When police officers arrived before the ambulance, they burst into his bedroom and ‘subdued’ him with 50,000 volts, apparently in an attempt to make him more pliable for paramedics.
In Miami a six-year-old child in an elementary classroom, was tasered by police when the child threatened to cut his leg with a piece a glass. I guess the officer was afraid to approach the brawny sixty pounder.
Another incident in Miami saw a 12 year-old girl tasered after she was caught smoking and drinking by police.
When she tried to run across the street to get away from the officer, she was tasered with 50,000 volts. In this case, Miami Police’s only policy preventing the girl from getting electrocuted at the hands of police would be pregnancy. What ever happened to the footchase?
Back here in Canada, Howard Hyde, 45, died in police custody after he was tasered by Halifax Regional Police which prompted Nova Scotia’s Justice Minister’ call for a review on police use of
the Taser.
In all, unofficial numbers of deaths as a result of Taser electrocution runs at 140 between Canada and the United States (source: The Arizona Republic) since their introduction to law enforcement in 1998.
So who is to benefit from the use of Tasers in law enforcement? Certainly not the victims or their families. Nor the public, as we can see by these few examples that imminent threat to life was not the case. Certainly not the police, because since these Tasers were so easily accessible, by members of what is a noble profession, they have probably destroyed their careers not to mention their state of mind.
So why the Taser, over wits, bravery and balanced enforcement? The answer lies in the shareholders of Taser International, the sole manufacturer and patent holder of the Taser. Rick and Thomas P. Smith, the founders, directly out of university, started the business in 1993 after inventor Jack Cover showed them the light. From the Smiths’ own website, their profile shows no law enforcement experience or military training. They are businessmen, plain and simple, and they had a great idea, a great invention, that could earn them millions. They also had the business education to back them up. In 2001, the success of Taser International took the company public on NASDAQ.
So who is to benefit from the Taser? The success of any sales campaign is to create a need where one did not exist and then fill that need with what your peddling.
There is an old sales maxim. “He’s such a good salesman be could sell ice cubes to Eskimos.” The irony here is very evident. The police are those same eskimos. The ice cubes just happen to be the traditional defense issues of the past. Handcuffs, Flashlight, Revolver, and of course their wits.
Monday, August 20, 2007
A Show About Nothing
It sounds like a scene out of Seinfeld. A show about nothing! Three guys sitting in a board room trying to convince would-be supporters that a “show about nothing” will fly. Is Ed Stelmach a show about nothing!
A new poll suggests support for Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservative government has dropped significantly in August to 32 per cent from 54 per cent in January.
In a Cameron Strategy poll provided to The Globe and Mail showed during that same time period the
number of undecided or unsure voters has risen to 36 per cent from 18 per cent. What this spells out is a minority government after the next election. The only question is, will that minority government be Conservative or Liberal?
For a fleeting moment I though of running half naked to my garage and grab a spade. I needed to dig fast and see if ‘hell had really froze over’. This is Alberta, the heart of redneck country. We are salt of the earth folks that bury firearms in cans, flirt with all the bad words, and spit on the ground just before walking into a Walmart. (Man that drives me nuts.) A liberal government!? No amount of greenhouse gas could make Alberta vote in a Liberal Government. The sky is falling!
Stelmach in true, duh, fashion is reported as blaming the influx of Eastern Canadians as the reason for the drop. A 22% drop in popularity in Alberta is like losing over 360,000 possible voters confidence in less than a year.
Good Job Ed! The sad thing really, is that as a ‘card carrying conservative’ I am looking at other pastures for leadership.
What ever happened to the Alberta Alliance? How about the Rhinos? The problem really is that Ed Stelmach is living up to his name ‘Steady Eddie’. Like a lumbering 1940’s Cockshutt tractor, pulling 8 foot machinery, the job is getting done but you could time the second hand or your watch by it. It’s like watching snails mate. Unlike his predecessor Klein, there really are no surprises. We don’t hear anything interesting about Ed in the press. He’s not insulting homeless people, or spilling a drink or two. Ed is just not giving Albertans something to gossip about.
People like to talk about our leaders and celebrity types. If folks aren’t wagging tongues about poor table manners, or disorderly family members in a desperate need for stimulation we will actually point to the only thing we see Ed doing. NOTHING!
Get the lead out Ed. As a conservative member we voted a farmer into office, and one we know to be very smart. Stop being so smart and spill a drink or two. Get our attention with the left hand, while you manipulate the right hand. As Canadians we have come accustomed to being manipulated.
So for the sake of all Albertans, Ed, please do something interesting and at the same time do the
job. I personally don’t want to be forced into seeing a Kevin Taft type looking out the big office window.
All our Premier really needs to do is let the press in just a bit. Because as the old saying goes; Everyone is normal until you get to know them.
A new poll suggests support for Ed Stelmach's Progressive Conservative government has dropped significantly in August to 32 per cent from 54 per cent in January.
In a Cameron Strategy poll provided to The Globe and Mail showed during that same time period the
number of undecided or unsure voters has risen to 36 per cent from 18 per cent. What this spells out is a minority government after the next election. The only question is, will that minority government be Conservative or Liberal?
For a fleeting moment I though of running half naked to my garage and grab a spade. I needed to dig fast and see if ‘hell had really froze over’. This is Alberta, the heart of redneck country. We are salt of the earth folks that bury firearms in cans, flirt with all the bad words, and spit on the ground just before walking into a Walmart. (Man that drives me nuts.) A liberal government!? No amount of greenhouse gas could make Alberta vote in a Liberal Government. The sky is falling!
Stelmach in true, duh, fashion is reported as blaming the influx of Eastern Canadians as the reason for the drop. A 22% drop in popularity in Alberta is like losing over 360,000 possible voters confidence in less than a year.
Good Job Ed! The sad thing really, is that as a ‘card carrying conservative’ I am looking at other pastures for leadership.
What ever happened to the Alberta Alliance? How about the Rhinos? The problem really is that Ed Stelmach is living up to his name ‘Steady Eddie’. Like a lumbering 1940’s Cockshutt tractor, pulling 8 foot machinery, the job is getting done but you could time the second hand or your watch by it. It’s like watching snails mate. Unlike his predecessor Klein, there really are no surprises. We don’t hear anything interesting about Ed in the press. He’s not insulting homeless people, or spilling a drink or two. Ed is just not giving Albertans something to gossip about.
People like to talk about our leaders and celebrity types. If folks aren’t wagging tongues about poor table manners, or disorderly family members in a desperate need for stimulation we will actually point to the only thing we see Ed doing. NOTHING!
Get the lead out Ed. As a conservative member we voted a farmer into office, and one we know to be very smart. Stop being so smart and spill a drink or two. Get our attention with the left hand, while you manipulate the right hand. As Canadians we have come accustomed to being manipulated.
So for the sake of all Albertans, Ed, please do something interesting and at the same time do the
job. I personally don’t want to be forced into seeing a Kevin Taft type looking out the big office window.
All our Premier really needs to do is let the press in just a bit. Because as the old saying goes; Everyone is normal until you get to know them.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Take China for Example
Last month the Chinese government announced that it was going to purge it’s government of corruption by first removing any and all public officials who have in the past committed adultery or is currently keeping a mistress.
This move was motivated by recent media pressure showing corruption on many levels of the public service. "As anti-corruption pressure of the central government is increasing, the number of direct corruption of the executives is reducing, but the indirect corruption (by the family or the mistresses) increases", says Hu Xingdou, specialist in the Chinese questions and professor of the Institute of technology of Peijing. (rough translation)
Interesting how sexual immorality is seen as a root cause of corruption in the Chinese government. This effort by the chinese is an attempt to remove the curse of corruption and restore the faith of the people.
It’s easy for us to peer across the pond and point fingers to our global neighbours, whilst lounging in front of a TV with a false sense of security at the state of our political processes. It was not too long ago that our press core were hammering the past Liberal government over “Adscam”. Interesting after a few trails how we Canadians tend to allow our memories to fade.
Maybe we trust the conservatives, but we should always hold our government officials to higher standards.
But is sexual immorality connected to other forms of corruption, or should we be ‘god-like’ and treat all sin as equally offensive? Maybe we can learn of our communist neighbours.
Former US President Bill Clinton would not have fared well at the hands of the Chinese if he held a post as a National Postmaster, would he? There would not have been millions of dollars spent on public hearings, and a huge amount of airtime examining a stained dress. Clinton would have been purged from the process as he should have been. Did Clinton's sexual romping damage the US government? I say it did.
Clinton’s romp resulted in “Filegate”, a misuse of FBI files to compile a list of democratic enemies. Of course, unlike the Chinese, that was swept under the carpet. The same year Clinton was on his knees, the United States campaign finance controversy arose where twenty-two people were eventually convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the United States elections.
A number of the convictions came against longtime Clinton-Gore friends and political appointees. It was “TeamsterGate” that exposed Clinton’s 1996 campaign money funneling between his campaign fund and the campaign to reelect the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
In all, the Clinton administration had sixteen scandals to deal with, all that were eventually quelled in an effort to ‘save the american image’. Maybe the US of A should instigate the ‘Chinese Corruption Purge Policy’. By the looks of things it may have saved the Americans some grief. But what of Canada? In our case, where there is fire do we have smoke?
I truly hope not, but in light of the fact that PM Harper’s weak Anti-Corruption Bill the Federal Accountability Act (Bill C-2) has done nothing to make us feel protected from the hands of our leaders, I would suggest that the Chinese solution be at least considered.
Cigar anyone?
This move was motivated by recent media pressure showing corruption on many levels of the public service. "As anti-corruption pressure of the central government is increasing, the number of direct corruption of the executives is reducing, but the indirect corruption (by the family or the mistresses) increases", says Hu Xingdou, specialist in the Chinese questions and professor of the Institute of technology of Peijing. (rough translation)
Interesting how sexual immorality is seen as a root cause of corruption in the Chinese government. This effort by the chinese is an attempt to remove the curse of corruption and restore the faith of the people.
It’s easy for us to peer across the pond and point fingers to our global neighbours, whilst lounging in front of a TV with a false sense of security at the state of our political processes. It was not too long ago that our press core were hammering the past Liberal government over “Adscam”. Interesting after a few trails how we Canadians tend to allow our memories to fade.
Maybe we trust the conservatives, but we should always hold our government officials to higher standards.
But is sexual immorality connected to other forms of corruption, or should we be ‘god-like’ and treat all sin as equally offensive? Maybe we can learn of our communist neighbours.
Former US President Bill Clinton would not have fared well at the hands of the Chinese if he held a post as a National Postmaster, would he? There would not have been millions of dollars spent on public hearings, and a huge amount of airtime examining a stained dress. Clinton would have been purged from the process as he should have been. Did Clinton's sexual romping damage the US government? I say it did.
Clinton’s romp resulted in “Filegate”, a misuse of FBI files to compile a list of democratic enemies. Of course, unlike the Chinese, that was swept under the carpet. The same year Clinton was on his knees, the United States campaign finance controversy arose where twenty-two people were eventually convicted for fraud or for funneling Asian funds into the United States elections.
A number of the convictions came against longtime Clinton-Gore friends and political appointees. It was “TeamsterGate” that exposed Clinton’s 1996 campaign money funneling between his campaign fund and the campaign to reelect the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
In all, the Clinton administration had sixteen scandals to deal with, all that were eventually quelled in an effort to ‘save the american image’. Maybe the US of A should instigate the ‘Chinese Corruption Purge Policy’. By the looks of things it may have saved the Americans some grief. But what of Canada? In our case, where there is fire do we have smoke?
I truly hope not, but in light of the fact that PM Harper’s weak Anti-Corruption Bill the Federal Accountability Act (Bill C-2) has done nothing to make us feel protected from the hands of our leaders, I would suggest that the Chinese solution be at least considered.
Cigar anyone?
You'll Put Your Eye Out with that Kid!
Well hunting season will be upon us this fall and the lake areas will be run-amok with mad hunters armed to the teeth with shotguns, and high powered rifles. NOT!
When was the last fall that you heard the sound of gun fire in the air, or the days when you could drive down any country road and come across fathers and sons patrolling the countryside for geese or ducks. Or even the backroads of Alder Flats with vehicles pulled into the ditches while hunters hiked into crown land looking to bag a moose. It just does not happen anymore. It certainly happens less.
The disarming of common folk at the hands of federal liberals at the turn of the century has reduced hunters and gun owners at a rapid pace, and at the same time gun crimes is up in the country while federal spending to disarm the public has run-amok.
I was one of those ‘gun nuts’ who years ago had a Browning 30.06 Semi-Automatic rifle, a Cooey 20 gauge shotgun, a Winchester 12 Gauge shotgun, a Remington 3030, and a Cooey 22 single shot.
I was raised by a father who taught me gun safety and gave me an appreciation of weaponry. My father was a career policeman who also instilled in me a respect for the law. A respect that saw me enter service in 1980. I last worked in uniform in 2001 on a First Nations Reserve near Hobbema, Alberta.
When the new gun law regulations came in effect, I like many, were perplexed because I knew as a police officer that it would not make any difference in reducing gun related crime and it was only a liberal money grab. The bad guy, who wanted to procure a firearm for the purpose robbing a convenience store would not be the type to fill out a application form, not to mention registering it.
Refusing to ‘go through the ropes’, I did the next best thing. I sold all my weapons to a qualified couple on the Indian Reserve. Those folks have the ability to hunt when they want and I am sure they are in the hands of very responsible people.
So there I was, a man without any of his rifles that were handed down by my father. The government had in essence told me that unless I came under scrutiny I was not trustworthy enough to possess weapons used for hunting.
Yep, I was a man in uniform that conformed to the regulation is spades. Did you catch that? The government did not trust me, an average citizen, like all other Canadians, so my guns were no more. But on my hip in the course of my employment I carried a Semi-Automatic GLOCK hand gun, which I was fully qualified for, and scored a perfect 300. The irony of it all.
Today, I am reduced to hunting with a Daisy Red Rider BB gun with a muzzle velocity of 273 fps. Yess- siree, I don my red cap with a bow tied on the top and plaid jacket, while slinging my Daisy over my shoulder and head out at fall. With a Daisy I can raise welts in the backsides of them there critters.
“Oh Wabbit, come out a Pway!” is a call of the sportsman in Alberta. You’ll put your eye out with that kid!
When was the last fall that you heard the sound of gun fire in the air, or the days when you could drive down any country road and come across fathers and sons patrolling the countryside for geese or ducks. Or even the backroads of Alder Flats with vehicles pulled into the ditches while hunters hiked into crown land looking to bag a moose. It just does not happen anymore. It certainly happens less.
The disarming of common folk at the hands of federal liberals at the turn of the century has reduced hunters and gun owners at a rapid pace, and at the same time gun crimes is up in the country while federal spending to disarm the public has run-amok.
I was one of those ‘gun nuts’ who years ago had a Browning 30.06 Semi-Automatic rifle, a Cooey 20 gauge shotgun, a Winchester 12 Gauge shotgun, a Remington 3030, and a Cooey 22 single shot.
I was raised by a father who taught me gun safety and gave me an appreciation of weaponry. My father was a career policeman who also instilled in me a respect for the law. A respect that saw me enter service in 1980. I last worked in uniform in 2001 on a First Nations Reserve near Hobbema, Alberta.
When the new gun law regulations came in effect, I like many, were perplexed because I knew as a police officer that it would not make any difference in reducing gun related crime and it was only a liberal money grab. The bad guy, who wanted to procure a firearm for the purpose robbing a convenience store would not be the type to fill out a application form, not to mention registering it.
Refusing to ‘go through the ropes’, I did the next best thing. I sold all my weapons to a qualified couple on the Indian Reserve. Those folks have the ability to hunt when they want and I am sure they are in the hands of very responsible people.
So there I was, a man without any of his rifles that were handed down by my father. The government had in essence told me that unless I came under scrutiny I was not trustworthy enough to possess weapons used for hunting.
Yep, I was a man in uniform that conformed to the regulation is spades. Did you catch that? The government did not trust me, an average citizen, like all other Canadians, so my guns were no more. But on my hip in the course of my employment I carried a Semi-Automatic GLOCK hand gun, which I was fully qualified for, and scored a perfect 300. The irony of it all.
Today, I am reduced to hunting with a Daisy Red Rider BB gun with a muzzle velocity of 273 fps. Yess- siree, I don my red cap with a bow tied on the top and plaid jacket, while slinging my Daisy over my shoulder and head out at fall. With a Daisy I can raise welts in the backsides of them there critters.
“Oh Wabbit, come out a Pway!” is a call of the sportsman in Alberta. You’ll put your eye out with that kid!
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