Canadian Police question man hoping to be arrested under gun control law

[TheeBadOne]

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/01/14/gun_registry030114

EDMONTON - It looks like Oscar Lacombe can't even get arrested in Edmonton, at least not under the new firearms registry laws.
The bodyguard for former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed walked up to the provincial legislature with an unregistered rifle on New Year's Day, after the new legislation came into effect.

On Monday, Lacombe went to police headquarters in Edmonton hoping to be the first person charged with owning an unregistered firearm. Lacombe wants to challenge the gun registry in court.

Police had said they would charge him, but when they asked him to come into the station, they only questioned him.

Police spokesperson Wes Bellmore said investigators are struggling to understand the new legislation.

"It is confusing, and police agencies across the country will find out that laying these charges is difficult," said Bellmore.

Lacombe's supporters, including members of the Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association, gathered in the police station lobby, but left disappointed that he hadn't been arrested.

The group says they've raised about $100,000 to support court challenges to the gun registry all the way to the Supreme Court.

Crown prosecutors will have to decide if Lacombe will become a test case for the law.

 

[Drizzt]

Edmonton Journal

June 6, 2003 Friday Final Edition

SECTION: CityPlus; Pg. B1

LENGTH: 569 words

HEADLINE: Ex-official to face gun law charges: But he'll fight to overturn law

SOURCE: The Edmonton Journal

BYLINE: Rick Pedersen

DATELINE: EDMONTON

BODY:
EDMONTON - The former sergeant-at-arms at the Alberta legislature will face criminal charges for carrying an unregistered rifle at a New Year's Day gun-control rally outside the building where he once worked.

Oscar Lacombe promised Thursday to fight the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, in hopes of overturning a law he considers unjust.

"It is a bad law," said the military veteran, who once guarded former premiers Peter Lougheed and Don Getty at the legislature.

All Canadians were required to register their firearms or declare their intent to do so by Jan. 1. That day, protesters marched on Parliament Hill and outside the Alberta legislature, taunting police to arrest them for defying the new federal gun registry.

Lacombe, 74, took his plastic-wrapped and unloaded .22-calibre rifle to the rally, hoping to be arrested.

"I wanted to be the first," he said Thursday. "I'd like to take it to the Supreme Court and let them make a decision."

The two charges against Lacombe were sworn before a judge Wednesday. He will be formally charged, possibly next week, when a meeting can be arranged at police headquarters with Lacombe and his lawyer, said police spokesman Wes Bellmore.

LACOMBE WILL FACE TWO CRIMINAL CODE CHARGES:

n Carrying a weapon at a public meeting. Bellmore said this is a summary conviction offence carrying a maximum penalty of a $2,000 fine and/or six months in jail, and;

n Being in possession of an unregistered weapon without a licence to possess a firearm. Bellmore said the prosecutor could treat this as another summary charge or proceed by indictment, a more serious option with a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

Though provincial prosecutors normally handle Criminal Code charges, the Lacombe prosecution has been turned over to a federal prosecutor, said Alberta Justice spokesman Bart Johnson.

"It was clear from the outset, this is going to be a Charter case," he said, so it is appropriate for the federal government to defend a constitutional challenge to its own firearms legislation.

"It is the first time there has been a charge under the new legislation," Johnson said.

The new legislation includes the federal Firearms Act. Other changes were made to the Criminal Code.

Alberta and four other provinces have decided not to prosecute charges under the Firearms Act. Johnson said the united stand against the Firearms Act played no role in Alberta's decision not to prosecute charges against Lacombe.

Janet Henchey, federal director of prosecutions, denied the two Criminal Code sections Lacombe was charged under have anything to do with the Firearms Act.

She said Lacombe's prosecution is not a first, insisting the two sections of the criminal code have been used before.

Alberta asked for a federal prosecutor only because Lacombe once worked for the Alberta government, she said. "There were conflict issues."

More prosecutions are possible soon, with an estimated 500,000 licensed gun owners still to register before the end of the month. Canadians have until June 30 to obtain their firearm registrations certificates. Registration was required by Jan. 1, but gun owners complained the electronic registration Web site was jammed by a rush of callers late in 2002.

Ottawa allowed gun owners to file letters of intent, giving them a six-month grace period to comply by June 30.

 

[.45Ruger]

I do admire this man for his actions because he actually did something about it instead of just complaining.

 

[benewton]

Might have been a better idea if he, and his friends, had carried fully loaded weapons...

Where do you draw the line?

 

[rick_reno]

Registration law in serious trouble

This law is in serious trouble - an excellent example of what civil disobedience can do.

Ontario joins chorus against gun law
Last Updated Wed, 04 Jun 2003 15:28:42
TORONTO - The federal government isn't getting much help from the provinces in enforcing the gun registry, now that five provinces say they won't prosecute people who don't register their rifles and shotguns.


INDEPTH: Implementing the Firearms Act - the rising cost

Ontario joined the pack on Tuesday when Attorney General Norm Sterling called the Firearms Act a "misdirected" law and said it would be up to federal prosecutors to enforce it.
"They should take the responsibility for a badly flawed piece of legislation which really persecutes the wrong people – innocent people, good people who want to use long firearms for hunting and recreational use."


FROM JUNE 3, 2003: Nova Scotia won't enforce gun registry

Hours earlier, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Jamie Muir told a press conference that his province's lawyers wouldn't take anyone to court under the legislation.

Three western provinces had already announced their intention not to spend their prosecutors' time enforcing a gun registry that has cost $1 billion to put in place.

Federal Solicitor General Wayne Easter defends the law, saying Ottawa doesn't want to go after legitimate gun owners and he says the provinces are responsible for prosecuting people charged under the gun registry law.

Under the law, gun owners are supposed to register their rifles and shotguns by July 1.

and this one from B.C.

Victoria won't enforce firearms act: A-G

Matthew Ramsey
Vancouver Sun

Friday, June 06, 2003

B.C. has joined five other Canadian provinces that will not prosecute firearm owners for failing to register their guns as required under the contentious federal Firearms Act.

Attorney-General Geoff Plant said Thursday the firearms registry is an "unmitigated disaster" and the province has made its views clear to the federal government.

"There are some offences in the Criminal Code that relate to failure to register -- we will examine those on a case-by-case basis -- but if they are related only to the fact of non-registration then our view is that those are a matter for the federal government to pursue under the Firearms Act," Plant said.

B.C. joins Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Ontario in refusing to prosecute Firearms Act registration offences.

"I think it's a disaster, an unmitigated disaster. It's a vast public expenditure for no apparent public return," Plant said of the $1-billion registry that was initially estimated to cost $2 million.

"It is astonishing to me that over a billion dollars could be spent for the primary purpose, apparently, of essentially criminalizing people who are otherwise the lawful owners of rifles, shotguns and those sorts of things."

Nova Scotia and Ontario announced their positions on the registry June 3.

"This is not a useful piece of legislation. Our prosecutors have lots of work to do, and we would sooner see them doing things which we think are more important to public safety," said Nova Scotia Justice Minister Jamie Muir.

"They should take the responsibility for a badly flawed piece of legislation, which really persecutes the wrong people, innocent people, good people who want to use long firearms for hunting and recreational use," said Ontario Attorney-General Norm Sterling.

The gun registration law, Bill C-68, was implemented eight years ago. According to the most recent estimates released by the Canadian Firearms Centre, approximately 500,000 people across the country have not yet registered their long guns.

Bill C-68 requires registration of all firearms including shotguns and rifles. Licences are also required to own and buy firearms and ammunition.

 

[Norm357]

That is a brave and honorable man there. In Canada even !
Norm