Women need access to protection, anti-gun control advocate says
Tracey Klein is our WAGC Canadian director
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Women need access to protection, anti-gun control advocate says
PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
DATE: 2004.01.30
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Local
PAGE: A5
BYLINE: Shauna Rempel
SOURCE: The StarPhoenix
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Women need access to protection, anti-gun control advocate says
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Gun control is putting women at risk, says the head of an anti-gun control group. "Why can't we protect ourselves?" said Tracey Kleim, the Canadian director of the Women Against Gun Control.
Women in Saskatchewan and across Canada should be allowed to protect themselves by learning how to effectively and safely carry guns, Kleim said from her home in Moose Jaw. "If I'm choosing between being raped and fighting, I would choose fighting and carrying a gun would give me a chance," she said.
Stronger controls on firearms like the Firearms Act are not only ineffective against fighting crime, but they actually make it more difficult for law-abiding women to access weapons that might help them in case of a physical attack, Kleim argues.
Instead, Kleim says the money spent registering gun owners and their firearms should go towards educating women and children as well as men about gun safety.
Kleim said she understands the desire to cut down on crime, but says most citizens are using guns for protection. A Simon Fraser University study found that firearms are discharged more than 60,000 times a year in self-defence.
But a gun control lobbyist says there is no evidence suggesting stronger controls put women at risk. "I think it's remarkably irresponsible to suggest such a thing," says Wendy Cukier, president of the Toronto-based Coalition for Gun Control. Cukier says the number of women killed with guns has declined dramatically in tandem with gun control legislation.
Statistics Canada data for 2002 indicates that the rate of spousal homicide has generally declined since the 1970s, while cases of murders by strangers have remained relatively steady over the last decade. "So the notion that women are safer with less gun control is frankly just preposterous," Cukier said.
Kleim said she and the other 17 Canadian members in her group do not feel safe without a method of defence. She points to two sexual assaults that occurred at the University of Saskatchewan against women who were alone on campus. Jim Hinter, the president of Canada's National Firearms Association, said women should be able to defend themselves in any way possible against a stranger's attack.
Cukier said it's likely not the stranger in the dark alley that women should be worried about.
"The risks to women in Canada are intimate partners," she said. Saskatchewan has the second-highest rate of spousal homicide, according to a Statistics Canada study that looked at murders in every province between 1974 and 2000. "The notion of stranger, random violence is something that you see in the movies but isn't a major factor in Canada and certainly not in your province," said Cukier.
Women in abusive relationships may make the situation worse if they were to pull a gun, suggests Amy Stensrud of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses of Saskatchewan, an umbrella organization that represents most emergency shelters for women in the province. "If they had their own gun, it could just as easily be used against them," she said.
-----------------------------------------------------------
NEWS RELEASE - November 5, 2003
DOMESTIC HOMICIDES CONTINUE TO RISE DESPITE BILLION-DOLLAR GUN REGISTRY
"How many lives could have been saved if the Liberals had spent this money addressing
the root causes of domestic violence?" asked Breitkreuz
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns99.htm
NEWS RELEASE - October 16, 2003
STATS CAN HOMICIDE REPORT SHOWS RIGHT AND WRONG TARGET FOR SAVING LIVES
"The number of people murdered went up so their billion-dollar gun registry didn't save any lives."
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns95.htm
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME HAS MORE THAN QUADRUPLED SINCE 1962
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/PoliceReportedCrimeCanada962-2002.pdf
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: 2.2% of 209,472 CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS INVOLVED FIREARMS
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/ViolationsAgainsthePersonbyTypeofWeapon,2002.pdf
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: 69.9% OF CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS WITH FIREARMS INVOLVED HANDGUNS
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publ...ainsthePersonInvolvingFirearmsPresent2002.pdf
HOMICIDES INVOLVING FIREARMS, 1974-2002
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/HomicidesinvolvingFirearms,1974-2002.pdf
NOTE: Despite seven decades of mandatory handgun registration, the use of handguns in firearms homicides has been steadily increasing since 1974, from 26.9% to 65.8% in 2002. Conversely, firearms homicides with rifles and shotguns that weren't registered until very recently dropped steadily (63.6% to 24.8%) over the same 28-year period.
Lorne Gunter Column: "Net effect of intrusive, error-plagued, billion-dollar registry? Zero"
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/Article180.htm
"Moreover, handguns now are used to commit two-thirds of Canada's firearms homicides, up from one-third in the past decade or so. But handguns have had to be registered since 1934, proving conclusively that registering guns cannot and will not prevent murders or violence. If it could, handgun murders should be the rarest form, not the most common."
Tracey Klein is our WAGC Canadian director
------------------------------------------------------------------
Women need access to protection, anti-gun control advocate says
PUBLICATION: The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon)
DATE: 2004.01.30
EDITION: Final
SECTION: Local
PAGE: A5
BYLINE: Shauna Rempel
SOURCE: The StarPhoenix
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Women need access to protection, anti-gun control advocate says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun control is putting women at risk, says the head of an anti-gun control group. "Why can't we protect ourselves?" said Tracey Kleim, the Canadian director of the Women Against Gun Control.
Women in Saskatchewan and across Canada should be allowed to protect themselves by learning how to effectively and safely carry guns, Kleim said from her home in Moose Jaw. "If I'm choosing between being raped and fighting, I would choose fighting and carrying a gun would give me a chance," she said.
Stronger controls on firearms like the Firearms Act are not only ineffective against fighting crime, but they actually make it more difficult for law-abiding women to access weapons that might help them in case of a physical attack, Kleim argues.
Instead, Kleim says the money spent registering gun owners and their firearms should go towards educating women and children as well as men about gun safety.
Kleim said she understands the desire to cut down on crime, but says most citizens are using guns for protection. A Simon Fraser University study found that firearms are discharged more than 60,000 times a year in self-defence.
But a gun control lobbyist says there is no evidence suggesting stronger controls put women at risk. "I think it's remarkably irresponsible to suggest such a thing," says Wendy Cukier, president of the Toronto-based Coalition for Gun Control. Cukier says the number of women killed with guns has declined dramatically in tandem with gun control legislation.
Statistics Canada data for 2002 indicates that the rate of spousal homicide has generally declined since the 1970s, while cases of murders by strangers have remained relatively steady over the last decade. "So the notion that women are safer with less gun control is frankly just preposterous," Cukier said.
Kleim said she and the other 17 Canadian members in her group do not feel safe without a method of defence. She points to two sexual assaults that occurred at the University of Saskatchewan against women who were alone on campus. Jim Hinter, the president of Canada's National Firearms Association, said women should be able to defend themselves in any way possible against a stranger's attack.
Cukier said it's likely not the stranger in the dark alley that women should be worried about.
"The risks to women in Canada are intimate partners," she said. Saskatchewan has the second-highest rate of spousal homicide, according to a Statistics Canada study that looked at murders in every province between 1974 and 2000. "The notion of stranger, random violence is something that you see in the movies but isn't a major factor in Canada and certainly not in your province," said Cukier.
Women in abusive relationships may make the situation worse if they were to pull a gun, suggests Amy Stensrud of the Provincial Association of Transition Houses of Saskatchewan, an umbrella organization that represents most emergency shelters for women in the province. "If they had their own gun, it could just as easily be used against them," she said.
-----------------------------------------------------------
NEWS RELEASE - November 5, 2003
DOMESTIC HOMICIDES CONTINUE TO RISE DESPITE BILLION-DOLLAR GUN REGISTRY
"How many lives could have been saved if the Liberals had spent this money addressing
the root causes of domestic violence?" asked Breitkreuz
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns99.htm
NEWS RELEASE - October 16, 2003
STATS CAN HOMICIDE REPORT SHOWS RIGHT AND WRONG TARGET FOR SAVING LIVES
"The number of people murdered went up so their billion-dollar gun registry didn't save any lives."
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/breitkreuzgpress/guns95.htm
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: RATE OF VIOLENT CRIME HAS MORE THAN QUADRUPLED SINCE 1962
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/PoliceReportedCrimeCanada962-2002.pdf
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: 2.2% of 209,472 CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS INVOLVED FIREARMS
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/ViolationsAgainsthePersonbyTypeofWeapon,2002.pdf
October 23, 2003 - STATISTICS CANADA: 69.9% OF CRIMINAL VIOLATIONS WITH FIREARMS INVOLVED HANDGUNS
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publ...ainsthePersonInvolvingFirearmsPresent2002.pdf
HOMICIDES INVOLVING FIREARMS, 1974-2002
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/HomicidesinvolvingFirearms,1974-2002.pdf
NOTE: Despite seven decades of mandatory handgun registration, the use of handguns in firearms homicides has been steadily increasing since 1974, from 26.9% to 65.8% in 2002. Conversely, firearms homicides with rifles and shotguns that weren't registered until very recently dropped steadily (63.6% to 24.8%) over the same 28-year period.
Lorne Gunter Column: "Net effect of intrusive, error-plagued, billion-dollar registry? Zero"
http://www.garrybreitkreuz.com/publications/Article180.htm
"Moreover, handguns now are used to commit two-thirds of Canada's firearms homicides, up from one-third in the past decade or so. But handguns have had to be registered since 1934, proving conclusively that registering guns cannot and will not prevent murders or violence. If it could, handgun murders should be the rarest form, not the most common."
that 
:banghead: 