Monday, December 16, 2013

Has The NRA (Northern Branch Plant Division) Come To Victoria?


AllTheSharpshooters
ThatFitVille

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Looking, instead, for the Advent Jukebox and nothing but (i.e. no politics and/or other distractions)?....You can find all the tunes below...Or you can go...Here.
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That's some image/word salading, from the Twittmachine, above, eh?

Apparently, it was 'triggered' by a story in the VT-C by Bill Cleverly whose lede (and a little bit more) goes like this:

Victoria is looking at ways to regulate the sale of firearms and ammunition in the city.

After hearing that a pawnshop was buying and selling guns, Mayor Dean Fortin wanted a staff report on possibly “restricting” the sale of firearms in the downtown core. But councillors Thursday broadened the scope to include “regulating” the purchase and sale of firearms within city limits...


{snippety doodle-dandy}

...Victoria police said while firearms sales out of a downtown pawnshop concerns them, there’s nothing they can do. “Do we like the fact that it’s there? No,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Mike Russell.


Apparently it was that list bit, from the Victoria police spokesperson that really got the fine folks from CSSA_CILA upset given the following rejoinder attached to their 'E-News' round-up for Dec 16, 2013:

Editor's note: This is yet another blatant example of police propoganda. Const. Russell, a mere public servant, is pushing an ill-informed and prejudicial agenda to harm a perfectly legal small business.

(Bolding all theirs - why not ALL CAPS!?... Not entirely sure)


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Now.

What's the header to this post all about, anyway?

Well...

It turns out that the 'Canadian Shooting Sports Association' (CSSA) has a bit of a history with the fine folks from the American NRA as we noted last year (with an assist from a CBC story from 2010) in the wake of the dismantling of the long gun registry:

In 2005, NRA strategist Glen Caroline came to Canada to provide logistical support in the form of "political action" training for an upcoming federal election.
"Who better to show us how to protect our rights," said the CSSA's promotional material for the event, "than the most powerful lobby group in the world, the National Rifle Association?"
In 2006, former NRA president Sandra Froman was the featured keynote speaker at the CSSA annual meeting in Toronto. Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz co-hosted the town hall meeting for the event.
Earlier this year (2010), Breitkreuz also found himself in hot water when a news release from his office called the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police a "cult" and "politically motivated" for supporting the long-gun registry. He later apologized and forced the aide who sent it to resign.
That aide, Brant Scott, now works for CSSA as its communications director....


Hmmmm....

I guess if you can call the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police a 'cult', why not call the City of Victoria 'paranoid' for trying to keep guns off its streets.

And as for Canadian Institute for Legislative Action (CILA) side of the 'alliance'? Well, there's this:

...The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful lobbying group in the United States that advocates fewer gun controls, has been actively involved in trying to abolish Canada's long-gun registry for more than a decade, CBC News has learned.

Documents and correspondence obtained by the CBC show the NRA has provided logistical and tactical support to organizations such as the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action (CILA), established in 1998 to lobby Ottawa to shut down the registry.
The NRA provides the Canadian gun lobby group with "tremendous amounts of logistical support," and while the NRA's constitution prevents them from providing money, "they freely give us anything else," Tony Bernardo, an Ontario gun advocate and CILA's executive director, said in Canadian Firearms Digest in July 2001...


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Gosh.

Whose Canada is this, anyway?


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If you want a peek at the abject craziness and willful ignorance (and projection) that Mr. Harper's 'conservatization' of our body politic has wrought, hold your nose and have a look at the comment thread/conspiracy theories at the bottom of Mr. Cleverly's VT-C story...


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3 comments:

kootcoot said...

I was opposed to the Long Gun registry myself, considering its abolition the ONLY decent thing Harper has done, EVER! What made me object to it was the idea of signing a post dated usable any time search warrant, allowing the cops to come into your home anytime and if they happened to see anything else they didn't like, even if your gun was safely stored too effing bad.

Having to take a course, pass some test of sanity and arms handling, or even have a permit so they know you are a legal gun owner, no problem. But an open ended 24/7 executable anytime search warrant to come in and see if your carbine and ammo is stored correctly.....nope, doesn't make it for me. And the idea that the registry helped any police know where the bad guys automatic war weapons and mega huge pistols are, you're dreaming in technicolor if you think those guys register their guns....hell half the time their plates on their vehicle ain't even real if they are engaged in criminal activity (if the vehicle is even theirs legally).

Anyhoo, as to:
"than the most powerful lobby group in the world, the National Rifle Association?"

Yeah, I know they are powerful (and armed, even), but more powerful than the lobbies for Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Pharma and the Military Indstrial Complex? I doubt it!!!

RossK said...

Thanks koot and points all taken.

Now, aside from the yahooing of pretty much everything...

The thing that I find really interesting/disturbing here is the branch plant subsidiary tactic which, of course, what the fine folks running all the 'democracy/accountability' clubs 'round here these days (most often wrongly) decry regarding environmental initiatives that actually had a true grass roots aspect to them when they began.

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kootcoot said...

Hey Ross, if the Canadian version of the NRA does it, or the Fraser Stink Tank does it, it's okay.......just not dem enemy tree huggers or Injuns and such!

Even in Central Dystopia itself (MERCA) the "don't tread on me" Tea Baggers are astro turfers run by the Cock brothers and such. Speaking of the Koch Brothers, I've read here and there that their favorite "nephew" may have preznitial asperations........Scott Walker!