In the best of circumstances, measured, critical thinking is hard work. And as the antics of the gun lobby group the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights amply demonstrate, thinking while foaming at the mouth is well-nigh impossible. A Toronto trauma surgeon arguing for stricter gun control is being targeted by
Continue readingTag: gun lobby
Montreal Simon: Save the USA Mock the NRA
It's now been more than a week since the massacre in Las Vegas, and as you can imagine the NRA and their friends in Congress are feeling slightly beleaguered. And have been keeping a very low profile.It's just not that easy to explain how a guy with 42 guns could kill
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appalling gun lobby press release begs Canadians not to blame the gun used in massacre
PHOTOS: Retired Quebec Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette (Alchetron.com), whose Senate bill would make a sensible model for government gun-control legislation. Below: Conservative British Columbia MP Bob Zimmer, an advocate of lifting all Canadi…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: A federal by-election in Cowboy Country
TweetEarlier this week, I wrote about the interesting by-election in Fort McMurray-Athabasca, today I look at the other federal by-election in Alberta that will take place on June 30, 2014. Situated on the eastern slopes of of the Rocky Mountains, the Conservative machine appears strong in southern Alberta’s Macleod riding. Although growth
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Depraved Indifference – UPDATED
The term ‘cultural divide’ does not begin to explain this. Depraved indifference, on the part of both the company and the parents, perhaps does. UPDATE: This piece on Slate, which includes a ‘charming’ video on ‘My First Rifle,’ is well worth a look. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And Now, A Word From America’s Most Powerful Lobby
Such unctuous and pious hypocrisy I have rarely seen or heard: BTW, what law were the protesters breaking that got them ejected? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Law and Order Government That Loves Guns
Anyone still harbouring doubts about whose interests the Harper regime is governing on behalf of would be well-advised to read this story in today’s Star. Entitled RCMP concerned as Conservatives consider loosening firearms restrictions, it reveals the latest legislative considerations of a government that claims to be tough on crime,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Another Thing Americans Have To Worry About
Think how much worse things could be if guns killed people. But as we all know, thanks to the reassurance offered by the NRA, guns don’t kill people; people kill people. Recommend this Post
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: What Vic Toews doesn’t know might hurt you
As the Conservative caucus wanders off tonight to celebrate their modest victory against the continuation of the life saving long gun registry by drinking the blood of gun violence victims with the gun lobby, we would be remiss if we did not point out how little Public Safety Minister Vic
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: We’re surprised that anybody is surprised by Larry Miller’s comparison of gun control supporters to Hitler
Following gun control issues as we do, we’re not really surprised that Conservative MP Larry Miller chose to compare gun registry supporters to Hitler. After all, Miller is just reflecting a common point view among gun control opponents. And he isn’t even the first person associated with Harper Tories to
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Giving credit where credit is due
Yesterday, the Harper Tory government was finally forced to announce the membership of its radical anti-gun control committee (Question 364). It’s only five or six years after the committee was established that a written Parliamentary question shone some light on the rocks under which the committee lives. Review of the
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Harper Tories release suppressed gun control report: Report leaves more questions than answers
Five days after the Minister of Public Safety tabled the overdue 2010 report of the Commissioner of Firearms, the government finally got around to providing it to the rest of the country. Sensible Canadians should be concerned that the report took so long to be made available. Judging from it’s
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Harper Tories still suppressing critical firearms reports
Two months ago, we wrote about the Harper Tory government’s penchant for suppressing RCMP reports on the life saving long gun registry. At the time, the House of Commons Public Safety committee was studying the most recent long gun registry repeal bill and another favourable report would have again undermined
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Alberta supports Quebec long gun registry
Last week while we were busy doing other things, Alberta Premier Alison Redford visited Quebec. Over the course of the visit, the Premier was asked about her views on the life saving long gun registry. Redford told reporters that she respects Quebec’s decision to establish its own long gun registry
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Tories lying about gun registry bill
According to Western Canada’s gun lobby. Maybe that’s why the NFA didn’t get invited to the House of Commons Committee review of the radical bill to repeal the life saving long gun registry. Let’s hope the Tory majority lets the NFA appear when the Senate considers the Bill.
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: Three posts on guns worth reading
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 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: 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: 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
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