Every now and then, we see things which will likely interest our regular readers and, as a bonus, engage and/or enrage our trolls. Here are three that speak of the community to which the Harper government is pandering in its incremental war on Canada’s gun laws. Reflecting on the Right-Wing
Continue readingTag: gun violence
Cowboys for Social Responsibility: Dear fellow Reformers
OTTAWA January 6, 2011 Dear fellow Reformers, It’s been a long slog but we’ve arrived. The opposition is crippled and the media is cowed. Heck, we’ve turned the appointment of the second place candidate in an election that took place more than six years ago into a victory for “democracy”.
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Ringing in the new year with a bang
A couple of days before the new year a letter appeared in the Calgary Herald outlining the writer’s concern about the deaths caused by another formerly law abiding gun owner. The writer likely wondered how a young man who treated his guns like “babies”could legally acquire and keep the weapon
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Not just for Arizona anymore
Look out! Santa has a gun! Reports say that neighbourhood Santas were not amused.
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Next stop, tiger blood
Today we learned that the stable Harper majority government has launched yet another round of ads trumpeting the Conservative Party’s unfulfilled commitment to repeal the life saving long gun registry. But why now, right before Christmas? They have a majority in the House of Commons. They could have passed their
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: When is OK to compare Canadian police to the SS?
In April 2011, a handpicked member of the Harper government’s radical anti-gun control advisory committee, compared Canadian cops to Hitler’s notorious SS. In the midst of an election campaign, such comments had the potential to be explosive and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews former Director of Parliamentary Affairs lept bravely
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Also worth reading
Long time crime victims’ advocate Steve Sullivan writes about the long gun registry. I believe the DNA Databank has saved lives and prevented abuses. I believe the long gun registry has done the same. If I am wrong about the later, duck hunters and farmer will have to fill out
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: More worthwhile #gunregistry reading
The “just another duck gun” myth is exploded.
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: So what exactly is a sniper rifle?
When bloggers write about the wrong headed Harper Tory plan to repeal the life saving long gun, self annointed gun language cops leap on any perceived diversion from their world view. For whatever reason, they seem especially put out by the use of the term sniper rifle. There must be
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: The Mulroneyesque Thomas Mulcair
There are many things that we could say about Brian Mulroney. Many of them are bad. But he did have the gift of blarney. At his best, Mulroney could charm a snake charmer out of his cobras and then go on to convince his opponents that cobras were a thoughtful
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Another good #gunregistry read
Posted without further comment.
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: When unicorns are as real as Tory spin lines
In June 2006, Stockwell Day tabled the Harper government’s first bill to repeal the long gun registry. As this blog pointed out a couple of days ago, Day’s bill required gun sellers to actually check whether the buyer was licensed before selling a long gun. At the time, the Canadian
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Thomas Mulcair, wanker
Regular readers of this blog will know that NDP MP and leadership candidate Thomas Mulcair is the Member of Parliament for the riding that includes École polytechnique. Mulcair, through his silence, has already demonstrated that he’s an able practitioner of the game of playing both sides of an issue but
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: That was then. This is now. We liked then better.
In June 2006, Stockwell Day introduced the Harper Tory government’s first bill to repeal the long gun registry. At the time, the government emphasized how the bill would help keep guns out of the hands of “individuals who should not have them, such as convicted criminals,” and how making businesses keep
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: A gun registry case for mandatory minimum penalties
The Toronto Star is reporting that the Harper government has reinforced its efforts to strip Canada’s national police service of its independence. Removing the RCMP’s communications independence is the just another indication yet that Conservatives want a police force that serves the party and not the people. We were immediately
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: When you don’t know what your talking about, you should just stop talking
On Thursday, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security heard from Canadian Shooting Sports Association spokesman Tony Bernardo. Just before 36 minutes into the committee meeting, Bernardo starts to list all of the things he believes governs the import of firearms by licensed Canadian firearms
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: It is like giving a machine gun to a monkey *
Watching gun registry opponents on twitter over the past few days has been nothing short of amusing. One guy thinks we work for George Soros. Another posted a photo of his small daughter hugging a sniper rifle. And another decided that homophobia would strengthen his argument. * We can’t take
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: One of these things is much like another. And that might be inconvenient.
Big news from south of the border. Alleged White House shooter Oscar Ortega Hernandez was arrested today in Pennsylvania. DC media reports that Ortega Hernandez used a cheap but powerful Chinese-made assault rifle in the shooting. What makes this shooting interesting, other than the fact that it hit a White
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: The factualy flawed and incorrect Vic Toews
If I was the Minister of Public Safety, I would want to make sure that my answers to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security were well rooted in fact. Others, it seems may not share that passion. Responding to a question from Liberal MP
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: How can you tell when Vic Toews is making shit up?
This morning, Canadian Press reported that repeal of the gun registry would increase the risk of illegal gun smuggling and trafficking. At the Parliamentary Committee this morning, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews downplayed the risk. He maintained the bill will not result in any changes to the way border officials
Continue reading