Gun amnesty for Hobbema in wake of shootings

[CHIMO]

A gun amnesty will take effect in Hobbema next month in an effort to rid the First Nations reserve of illegal firearms and the violent crime that culminated in April with the drive-by shooting of a toddler, the Alberta government and RCMP announced Wednesday.

Hobbema residents can hand over their illegal or unwanted firearms and ammunition to the Mounties from Aug. 1 to Nov. 30 without facing charges for possessing unregistered and unlicensed weapons.

The government and RCMP are working with Hobbema band officials to conduct the four-month gun amnesty.

"This amnesty is a great example of a community taking responsibility and taking action," Justice Minister Alison Redford said Wednesday in a news release.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/07/23/gun-amnesty.html

[jody]

1. "great example of a community taking responsibility and taking action"! What if few guns are turned

in?

[CHIMO]

2. Then

Few guns are turned in.
What about that?

[jody]

4. Beats me, apparently you are in Canada. What do you think that would mean? n/t

[CHIMO]

6. Seems Certain

That it didn't work.

[jody]

7. The OP linked article is dated July 23, 2008. How do you know the amnesty didn't work? n/t

[CHIMO]

8. Perhaps

You should learn about future, past and present tense in grammar. Your question was if ...

Seems like you have a problem in understanding grammar. And perhaps remembering your previous questions?

Always ready to help.

[jody]

9. Your statement "it didn't work" is past tense. Perhaps you should have said "Seems Certain That

it will not work."

Have a pleasant evening. :hi:

[CHIMO]

10. Again

Just need to speak in a language that is understood.

Keep on enjoying your world. It can last forever. It may last forever.

[virginia mountainman]

3. I wonder..

Will the criminals turn them in??

Or just people that normally follow the law??

[CHIMO]

5. Obviously

It is not an amnesty for the law abiding. It is an out.

[Tejas]

11. "Most"

"Most guns turned over will be destroyed. The RCMP and band representatives will deal appropriately with any firearms which have historical significance."



uh huh

;)

[spin]

12. Drug gangs in Canada...

Do we have issues? Absolutely. Do we have criminal gang activity? Absolutely. It’s there and because of that we’re doing everything we can, and we think this gun amnesty is one way to make our community safer."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/07/23/gun-amnesty.html

Some honest citizens will turn in their guns, but criminal gang members will not. And drug gangs do appear to be the problem.

The RCMP said the violence is rooted in rival gangs battling for control of the drug trade in the community, primarily in crack cocaine, leading to a cycle of attacks and retaliation.

One expert at Wednesday's meeting said Hobbema has the highest concentration of gang members per capita in the country, with 13 gangs.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/05/15/cgy-hobbema-gangs.html

Let's hope the Canadians have better luck solving the problem of gang related violence then we have had in the states.

[iverglas]

13. some history

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2006/07/06/bc-gun-amnesty.html


Gun amnesty nets nearly 4,000 weapons
Last Updated: Thursday, July 6, 2006 | 7:19 PM ET
CBC News

B.C.'s month-long gun amnesty has been declared a major success after 3,213 rifles and handguns plus 725 other "unwanted weapons" were turned over to police departments across the province.

... "These weapons, of course, now are not available to be used in the commission of crime, will be resulting in accidental harm to children and other potential victims."

Some of the more unusual weapons included a rocket launcher, a Sterling submachine gun and an M16 assault rifle.

The public also turned in more than 96,000 rounds of ammunition.


http://www.canada.com/cityguides/dawsoncreek/story.html?id=0409a1b3-5e47-4cf8-8f97-cad62eba5ffe

Gun Amnesty results
A successful prevention strategy
Toronto Police Services
Published: Thursday, December 01, 2005

TORONTO -- The Toronto Police Service Gun Amnesty has concluded, with many Torontonians doing the right thing and surrendering their unwanted firearms. As of November 30, 2005, the Toronto Police Service Gun Amnesty collected 261 guns and over 1,500 rounds of ammunition.

... The public awareness campaign was created by Hoc Roc Media and Compass 360 in partnership with the Toronto Police Service. The breakdown of the 261 weapons surrendered during the amnesty is as follows:

TYPE OF WEAPON NUMBER SURRENDERED
Pistol 17
Revolver 16
Shotgun 66
Rifle 132
Pellet 16
Replica 7
Other (Air-soft etc.) 7
Ammunition 1,554

[gorfle]

14. And of course...

... "These weapons, of course, now are not available to be used in the commission of crime, will be resulting in accidental harm to children and other potential victims."

And of course these weapons are also not available to secure life and liberty.

Hopefully they will never be needed.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

15. Maybe they will sell them to US citizens cheap.

Any chance of that iverglas?

[enfield collector]

16. A Sterling, WOW! Those are the Rolls-Royce of sub-guns. I remember

shooting one as an Army cadet growing up in the UK. I'd love to have one now, they currently are going for around $7K. Hopefully in a couple of years they'l be back down to $700 if we play our cards right.

[iverglas]

17. just curious

Would that have come into the posession of a Cdn resident as a war memento, or how would you think?

I assume a lot of the turned-in guns are things that people have acquired on a death and just don't want to deal with. A submachine gun would fall into that category for most people. ;)

[enfield collector]

18. it's hard to say, I know that it is legal for Canadian citizens

to own machine guns with the correct license. machine guns can only be transfered between licensed collectors and no more licenses are being issued, so the last one left alive is going to have a hell of a collection.

[iverglas]

19. machine gun tong ;)

True, prohibited weapons licences. I don't have any idea who even has those.


http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/factsheets/prohibited_e.asp

Prohibited Firearms

... Who can have prohibited firearms?

You are allowed to possess certain prohibited firearms if you had one registered in your name when it became prohibited and you continuously hold a valid registration certificate for that type of prohibited firearm from December 1, 1998 onward. The Firearms Act refers to this as being “grandfathered”.

http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/factsheets/r&p_e.asp

List of Restricted and Prohibited Firearms

... Definition of a Prohibited Firearm

The Criminal Code states that a prohibited firearm is:

* a handgun with a barrel length of 105 mm (4.1 inches) or less;
* a handgun designed or adapted to discharge 25 or 32 calibre ammunition;
* a rifle or shotgun that has been altered to make it less than 660 mm (26 inches) in overall length;
* a rifle or shotgun that has been altered to make the barrel length less than 457 mm (18 inches) where the overall firearm length is 660 mm (26 inches) or more;
* an automatic firearm and a converted automatic firearm;
* any firearm prescribed as prohibited.

[tburnsten]

21. What's wrong with .25 and .32 cal?

Aside from their obvious anemia, why ban those two calibers?

[iverglas]

22. aargh, this comes up constantly

It has to do with what types of handguns are recognized as being used in Olympic-style shooting competitions, as I recall. Those aren't?

[ManiacJoe]

23. Those calibers are not.

All Olympic type competitions are either air rifles, or rifles and pistols using .22-long.

[tburnsten]

25. Whoops 24 was supposed to be here N/T

[tburnsten]

24. So Canadian pistols are limited to Olympic style only?

That seems pretty harsh, why are all other forms of competitive sport shooting ignored like that? Olympic style shooting really only comes in .22 rimfire flavor, which is neat I suppose, but that is certainly a huge restriction on diversity of sports.

[iverglas]

26. aaaaargh

I just accidentally closed the window I'd been compiling info in a post in.

Here:

http://www.canlii.org/ca/regu/sor98-462/whole.html

Regulations Prescribing Certain Firearms and other Weapons, Components and Parts of Weapons, Accessories, Cartridge Magazines, Ammunition and Projectiles as Prohibited or Restricted
SOR/98-462


You'll have to read through:

SCHEDULE
(Sections 2 to 6)
PART 1
PROHIBITED FIREARMS

to see what's up. I'm afraid the details of it all are just too tedious for my own taste. ;)

[tburnsten]

27. Thanks for the lead,

I'll have to see if I can stay awake long enough to read it.

Update- I couldn't read it, too boring.

Thakns anyway though, I will bookmark it and check it out later

[iverglas]

28. whaddid I tellya?

;)

[tburnsten]

29. I know!

:boring:

Where's the strict yawn smiley?

[Endangered Specie]

20. Or you could look at it as 4 months to figure out how to hide your stash.