Sunday, March 20, 2005
Firearms Act and Gun Registry: Absolute Folly
I was really ticked off when I heard about the "cowardly assassination" of 4 RCMP officers, because that is what it was, an assassination, perpetrated by a filthy coward. I have always held the RCMP in high regard and share their sorrow along with all Canadians.
The inequities in the justice system really perturb me. We put officers in the line of fire to arrest criminals, and then panty-waisted judges let them go. More than a decade before he gunned down four Alberta Mounties, James Roszko tried to convince another man to kill for him. Recently released court documents reveal Roszko offered a young acquaintance $10,000 in 1993 to kill a man in Mayerthorpe with an automatic assault rifle that may have been the same weapon used in the March 3, 2005, slayings.
Roszko was charged with counseling another person to commit murder, but the charge was dropped after a preliminary hearing when the judge ruled that casually talking about killing someone isn't the same thing as plotting to kill someone. Well, don't you talk when you are plotting?
One of the conditions attached to Roszko's initial release after he was arrested on the charge and six other firearms-related charges was that he stay away from the RCMP.
He had numerous other offences to his "credit", including unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm and impersonating an officer. In 1999, he was charged with firing on two trespassers with a 12-gauge shotgun, but those charges were dismissed. He was due in court next month facing charges of mischief for damaging vehicles by the use of spike belts on his property. This guy was a menace.
Now, let us get to the title of my story. This incident with James Roszko proves what a farce the gun registry is. If a criminal needs a gun, he will get it no matter what, and our law-enforcement people should be on the street policing, not in an office smothered by gun registry paperwork, and law-abiding citizens shouldn't live in fear of a fascist "search and seizure" of their firearms.
Funding, obviously, is a problem for law enforcement, and in Manitoba the government has coughed up an extra $9.5 million for extra police officers; 23 of them in Winnipeg, 28 with the RCMP, 2 in Brandon and 1 with the Dakota Ojibway Police Service. Good move. The RCMP have called for an increase in the number of cadets in training, and the number of officers graduating each year.
Here is the absolute folly of Chapter 39, Bill C-68; Yearly cost to maintain the Gun Registry: $100 Million/yr
Costs to implement 30% of the Gun Registry: $2 Billion
Now, here is my math. If a police officer makes $70,000/yr., and you add about 30% more for employer CPP, EI, health and dental plan, pension plan, etc., contributions, and then factor in the cost of their training and equipment into our yearly figure, we will go with $150,000. This figure may not be exact, but with the amount of money being wasted, no matter what the figure is for an officer yearly, you will see how huge this waste is. $2,000,000,000(already) divided by $150,000 = 13,334 more officers that could be at work already. This is unbelievable. $100,000,000 divided by $150,000 = 667 new officers that could be added EVERY year and it wouldn't change the revenue being spent (our tax dollars), as it is already being spent on the Gun Registry!
Anyway, if money is spent on anything, it should be spent wisely. Would the money spent on the registry have made a difference in Alberta if it had been spent on police officers instead? Possibly, maybe Roszko would have been off the streets already, or maybe the RCMP intelligence would have been better, or maybe a more experienced, senior officer would have been present and realized the danger, we could debate all day. The Gun Registry is not money well-spent, and targets everyday, law-abiding citizens, and not the criminals.
My condolences to the RCMP and the families of the 4 fallen, brave, young officers. You will not be forgotten.
TAPS
LAST POST
RCMP-GRC HEROES
Cst. Brock Warren MYROL
Reg. 51874
Cst. Anthony Fitzgerald Orion GORDON
Reg. 49673
Cst. Lionide Nicholas JOHNSTON
Reg. 48568
Cst. Peter Christopher SCHIEMANN
Reg. 48064
REST IN PEACE
The inequities in the justice system really perturb me. We put officers in the line of fire to arrest criminals, and then panty-waisted judges let them go. More than a decade before he gunned down four Alberta Mounties, James Roszko tried to convince another man to kill for him. Recently released court documents reveal Roszko offered a young acquaintance $10,000 in 1993 to kill a man in Mayerthorpe with an automatic assault rifle that may have been the same weapon used in the March 3, 2005, slayings.
Roszko was charged with counseling another person to commit murder, but the charge was dropped after a preliminary hearing when the judge ruled that casually talking about killing someone isn't the same thing as plotting to kill someone. Well, don't you talk when you are plotting?
One of the conditions attached to Roszko's initial release after he was arrested on the charge and six other firearms-related charges was that he stay away from the RCMP.
He had numerous other offences to his "credit", including unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, pointing a firearm and impersonating an officer. In 1999, he was charged with firing on two trespassers with a 12-gauge shotgun, but those charges were dismissed. He was due in court next month facing charges of mischief for damaging vehicles by the use of spike belts on his property. This guy was a menace.
Now, let us get to the title of my story. This incident with James Roszko proves what a farce the gun registry is. If a criminal needs a gun, he will get it no matter what, and our law-enforcement people should be on the street policing, not in an office smothered by gun registry paperwork, and law-abiding citizens shouldn't live in fear of a fascist "search and seizure" of their firearms.
Funding, obviously, is a problem for law enforcement, and in Manitoba the government has coughed up an extra $9.5 million for extra police officers; 23 of them in Winnipeg, 28 with the RCMP, 2 in Brandon and 1 with the Dakota Ojibway Police Service. Good move. The RCMP have called for an increase in the number of cadets in training, and the number of officers graduating each year.
Here is the absolute folly of Chapter 39, Bill C-68; Yearly cost to maintain the Gun Registry: $100 Million/yr
Costs to implement 30% of the Gun Registry: $2 Billion
Now, here is my math. If a police officer makes $70,000/yr., and you add about 30% more for employer CPP, EI, health and dental plan, pension plan, etc., contributions, and then factor in the cost of their training and equipment into our yearly figure, we will go with $150,000. This figure may not be exact, but with the amount of money being wasted, no matter what the figure is for an officer yearly, you will see how huge this waste is. $2,000,000,000(already) divided by $150,000 = 13,334 more officers that could be at work already. This is unbelievable. $100,000,000 divided by $150,000 = 667 new officers that could be added EVERY year and it wouldn't change the revenue being spent (our tax dollars), as it is already being spent on the Gun Registry!
Anyway, if money is spent on anything, it should be spent wisely. Would the money spent on the registry have made a difference in Alberta if it had been spent on police officers instead? Possibly, maybe Roszko would have been off the streets already, or maybe the RCMP intelligence would have been better, or maybe a more experienced, senior officer would have been present and realized the danger, we could debate all day. The Gun Registry is not money well-spent, and targets everyday, law-abiding citizens, and not the criminals.
My condolences to the RCMP and the families of the 4 fallen, brave, young officers. You will not be forgotten.
RCMP-GRC HEROES
Cst. Brock Warren MYROL
Reg. 51874
Cst. Anthony Fitzgerald Orion GORDON
Reg. 49673
Cst. Lionide Nicholas JOHNSTON
Reg. 48568
Cst. Peter Christopher SCHIEMANN
Reg. 48064
REST IN PEACE
