High River- Police seizure of firearms

[Marc Montgomery]

Tony : dont know why you feel youve intruded, and less why youve removed your posts. This case is an example of what can happen if people dont speak out. And if you let it happen once without a whimper it will happen again, and again and possible get more aggravated with time.
When it happens in one place, we should all be aware. There have already been campaigns- fortunately nipped in the bud- by "do-gooders" who want to ban all old cars...equating them as dangerous with inferior brakes etc, and horrifically polluting.
Insurance companies in many cases, dislike "old" vehicles and insure them with restrictions. "Safety" regulations are becoming absurd and could easily one day force our old military vehicles completely off the roads. Many think that old army vehicles should not even be in private hands in any case.
Removing oneself from a conversation that directly or indirectly does affect our hobby, and our rights and civil liberties, is I think counterproductive



CHRIS- my understanding with the original law was that changes could be made at the discretion of the minister- or by order in council.. dangerous enough I would think as there need be no parliamentary or public discussion! I do not think the RCMP has this discretionary power at all...perhaps they can advise the minister but I doubt they can legally make this decision on their own.

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Marc Montgomery

Tony : dont know why you feel youve intruded, and less why youve removed your posts. This case is an example of what can happen if people dont speak out.

Marc, I felt perhaps it was inappropriate for me to comment on events in another country, not being familiar with the situation on the ground. Ill-informed comments from outsiders are generally unwelcome, and rightfully so. Particularly when it involves gun control, which is a highly emotive issue and the situation varies widely from country to country.

On the general question of speaking out, I couldn't agree with you more. Incidents like this only occur because we've failed to speak out sufficiently in the past. In this case however there'll be plenty of speaking out, because it occurred on such a scale that class action is possible, and there's no shortage of evidence available. That's rarely the case with individuals, who lack sufficient evidence and resources to seek redress in court.

I must say as an Australian I've been surprised to find the RCMP so out of favour in Canada - certainly a far cry from the romantic image of the Mounties we learned about as children in primary school! However it seems to me the local guys did a fine job, rescuing 300 people stranded in homes, and it was only afterwards when the SWAT teams came in that the gratuitous door bashing and gun search and seizure occurred. If so then it's to be hoped that credit is given where it's due, and the blame falls on the right shoulders. Or boots in this case!

What interests me most about this case though is how did the whole town come to be evacuated? As Guy said earlier he knows of no magic powers that can force people to leave their homes, even in a time of crisis. Also it's clear that some people were able to remain, with one of them being interviewed on the scene. That would lead me to think everybody evacuated voluntarily, which I find very surprising if true, because generally with this kind of flood in Australia the residents on higher ground will stay to defend their homes, maintaining levies and sandbagging etc. Sometimes of course they wind up having to be rescued off the roof, or even plucked out of trees, and there are always people who ignore warnings and try to drive across fast flowing streams, and have to be rescued after being swept away. Life would certainly be much easier for police and emergency services if everybody evacuated, and the issue of forced evacuation is forever on the agenda here. So far though I've not heard of it being done, except in Marysville after the Black Saturday bushfires, when the whole town was declared a crime scene and sealed off for six weeks. However in that case the town had been nuked, barely a handful of buildings left standing, and dozens of bodies to be searched for and identified. Media was allowed in to report, but evacuees were only taken back in buses a week later for a brief visit, not even allowed to get off the bus.

Hopefully commonsense will prevail and we'll never see forced evacuation here, because people have a right to defend their homes if they're well prepared. Even in Marysville it was done successfully by several residents. Likewise in Canada, and it seems to me that if High River had not been so thoroughly evacuated the gun search and seizure would never have occurred. I may be wrong, but I can't see them pulling a stunt like that with neighbours present. Certainly any perceived need to secure firearms would be greatly lessened with a residual population in place.