CANADA’S GUN CONTROL DEBATE IS STILL TAINTED BY BAD INFORMATION
COMMENTARY: Despite a correction, Canada’s gun control debate is still tainted by bad information
EXCERPT #1: Policing and reporting are both supposed to be about the truth. The police and the CP had combined to put out inaccurate information, and that inaccurate information was driving public debate. At minimum, a correction, or some comparable acknowledgement, was absolutely required. Canadians have spent four months having a debate, including public consultations, based in part on bad information. Information that was known to be bad months ago, but that went uncorrected until two days after Christmas, when news readership is typically way, way below usual levels.
EXCERPT #2: But there is simply no evidence that there is a worsening problem among lawful Canadian handgun owners, the people targeted by the proposed ban — in effect, held up as partially responsible for tragic deaths and senseless crimes. The Toronto police numbers don’t show it. Nationally, the Public Safety Ministry has conceded that it has no data to support claims by Minister Ralph Goodale that domestic owners now provide the majority of crime guns. That entire narrative, embraced wholeheartedly by the mayor and somewhat more cautiously by federal Liberals, is based on bad information that should not have been reported. To call all this disappointing would be an understatement. In an era when news organizations all over the world are being accused of peddling fake news, and when every police force recognizes the challenge of retaining public trust, this is absolutely appalling.
By Matt Gurney, Radio Host 640 Toronto, Global News January 5, 2019 https://globalnews.ca/news/4815321/despite-a-correction-canadas-gun-control-debate-is-still-tainted-by-bad-information/
ALBERTA REQUEST FOR INQUIRY: HIGH RIVER FORCED ENTRIES LEGAL AUTHORITIES PAPER
RE: Withholding of 4-pages of Records entitled: ‘’The Local State of Emergency-Mandatory Evacuation Order Police Officer Authorities’’ written by Peter Mackenzie citing solicitor-client privilege and other responsive records identified in OPIC Review File: 006614 – Alberta Justice & Solicitor General File: 2017-G-0570 – My File: 018. This Request for Inquiry respectfully submitted to the Alberta Information Commissioner by Dennis R. Young – December 31, 2018
ACCESS REQUEST ON PROPOSALS TO BAN GUNS TO TAKE UNTIL JUNE 26, 2020
“An extension of 545 days beyond the statutory time limit is required to process this request. . .” Excerpt from Public Safety Canada Acknowledgment Letter dated Dec 18, 2018 Received Dec 27, 2017 by Dennis R. Young
Requested studies and proposals for gun control measures considered by the government including the following: Banning handguns, Banning semi-automatic firearms, Banning all firearms, and Central Storage/Repositories for firearms in urban centres.
ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO GET HIGH RIVER FORCED ENTRIES LEGAL AUTHORITIES PAPER MADE PUBLIC
What information in this document is of such primary importance that it must remain a state secret after five and a half years? Is it really more important than rebuilding trust in the RCMP among High River residents? Yet another Freedom of Information Request to Alberta Justice and Solicitor General – December 26, 2018
DND REPORTS: THEFTS AND LOSSES OF WEAPONS & ACCESSORIES 2015 TO 2017
National Defence 17-page response to Access to Information Act request dated Dec 12, 2018 Received Dec 20, 2018 by Dennis R. Young
OCT 24, 2018 – NATIONAL DEFENCE REPORTS 559 LOST WEAPONS & 14 STOLEN WEAPONS https://dennisryoung.ca/2018/11/04/national-defence-reports-559-lost-weapons-14-stolen-weapons/
CTV – NO ‘MAGIC LEVER’ TO SOLVE GUN CRIME: EXPERT
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/no-magic-lever-to-solve-gun-crime-expert-1.4222841
CTV – NO ‘MAGIC LEVER’ TO SOLVE GUN CRIME: EXPERT – How to get handguns off the streets promises to be a divisive issue in the upcoming election year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government plans to limit access to handguns and assault weapons and has not ruled out an all-out ban. But independent firearms researcher Dennis Young says no statistics bear out the idea that lawful gun owners or their guns are the reason for increased shootings or guns on the streets. In fact, Young says he has yet to find anyone who tracks how many gun crimes are committed by licensed gun owners or how many handguns have been stolen from licensed owners. “If politicians want a handgun ban, they have to fabricate the stats to justify that,” Young told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview from his home in Airdrie, Alta. According to Statistics Canada, violent crime accounted for 20 per cent of all police-reported crime in Canada in 2016. And of all violent crimes, just 3 per cent involved a firearm. By Meredith MacLeod, CTVNews.ca – Published Friday, December 21, 2018 https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/no-magic-lever-to-solve-gun-crime-expert-1.4222841
RCMP DON’T COLLECT STATISTICS ON HIGH PRIORITY GUN CONTROL TARGETS
RCMP STATISTICS ON VIOLATIONS OF 443,043 FIREARM PROHIBITION ORDERS – NO STATISTICS ON: the number who have violated their firearms prohibition order. NO STATISTICS ON: how many of those violations involved a firearms crime. NO INFORMATION ON: the measures the government has in place to monitor these 422,887 convicted criminals who have been prohibited from owning firearms. RCMP Response to Access to Information Act request dated December 11, 2018 – Received December 18, 2018 by Dennis R. Young
SIGN THIS PETITION TO JUSTIN TRUDEAU: SHOULDN’T POLICE KNOW WHERE THESE BAD GUYS WITH GUNS LIVE?https://www.change.org/p/justin-trudeau-shouldn-t-police-know-where-these-bad-guys-with-guns-live
OFFICE OF THE ALBERTA INFORMATION COMMISSIONER RULES HIGH RIVER ‘LEGAL AUTHORITIES PAPER’ TO REMAIN SECRET
EXCERPT: “I find the Public Body properly applied section 27(1)(a) of the Act to the records at issue. The Public Body has met the test in this case for solicitor client privilege.” FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS – Office of the Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner dated December 5, 2018 – Received December 10, 2018. Results of Request for Review dated August 29, 2017 by Dennis R. Young of a Decision to Withhold High River Records by the Alberta Justice and Solicitor General FOIP File: 2017-G-0570
FEDERAL CFO APPROVED SHOOTING RANGES & CLUBS IN OPT-OUT PROVINCES
“There were an estimated 1,400 shooting ranges in Canada in 2017.” 2017 Firearms Commissioner’s Report – RCMP Access to Information Act Response dated Nov 22, 2018 Received December 7, 2018 By Dennis R. Young
GOVERNMENT RULES 65% OF BILL C-68 CABINET DOCUMENTS TO REMAIN ‘SECRET’
PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE RELEASES BILL C-68 CABINET DOCUMENTS FROM 1994/95 (SORT OF) 272 pages out of 415 withheld citing Solicitor-Client Privilege – 65% of Bill C-68 Cabinet documents to remain ‘SECRET’ – Privy Council Office ATIP response dated November 22, 2018 – Requested April 3, 2017 Received by Dennis R. Young December 7, 2018