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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Lemieux: Verboten for an opressed minority
Bruce Montague has been sentenced to 18 months in jail, the forfeiture of his firearms, one-year probation, and a lifetime firearms prohibition; his wife Donna has received six months probation. Their terrible crime? They didn’t rob a local convenience store or wound a bystander in a careless crossbow practice session, they weren’t found with a stolen shotgun or assault the judge with nasty soubriquets. They did, however, have some unlicensed firearms and some others which just weren’t permitted in Canada. In this edition of his weekly column "Verboten for an opressed minority," Pierre Lemieux reflects on the sentences handed down to the couple by a Kenora, Ontario judge yesterday. He says that Canadian gun owners are an ignored and aggrieved minority who don’t have the political clout to change the laws under which they live through the traditional avenues of our majoritarian democracy. If there is a higher law than mere government legislation, after a certain line is crossed isn’t peaceful civil disobedience justified?
An excerpt:
“The issue of civil disobedience was central to the case. A high point of the sentencing hearing came when Ed Hudson, the leader of the Canadian Unregistered Firearms Association (soon to be rechristened "Canadian Unlicenced Firearm Owners Association,") unexpectedly stood up in the courtroom, asking if he could make a statement. The self-righteous Crown prosecutor objected, but to no avail.
Dr. Hudson said he wished to take responsibility for Bruce Montague’s actions, and presented a short plea for civil disobedience and for the accused. The judge replied that Mr. Montague had been "seduced by precepts which are American," that we live under a regime of "peace, order and good government," and that the law should always be obeyed as long as the political system is accessible — even though he admitted that the new gun controls are "convoluted and dangerous for honest citizens."”
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Posted by westernstandard on March 26, 2008 in Western Standard | Permalink
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" The judge replied that Mr. Montague had been "seduced by precepts which are American," that we live under a regime of "peace, order and good government," and that the law should always be obeyed as long as the political system is accessible — even though he admitted that the new gun controls are "convoluted and dangerous for honest citizens."”
And Dean Steacy over at the CHRC says that Free Speech is an American concept and doesn't apply here also.
Does anyone in Canada know what their rights are?
I ask someone that everyday and usually get a blank stare...or just plain "no" as an answer.
I submit that if we had any rights at all, we'd know what they are. But we don't...so we don't!
Posted by: JC | 2008-03-26 6:20:23 AM
In Canada we have all of the rights that Americans or anyone else has.....until we get caught exercising them.
Citizens have guaranteed rights, Canadians are subjects of the Crown.
Posted by: Speller | 2008-03-26 6:56:09 AM
As an American (Arizona) all I can say is God Help our Canadian Cousins. Well that and I am thankful that my country was born of Revolution, War and Violence. Yes down here we do have our problems. But we know who we are, we are well aware of our Human and Civil Rights and we have no problem telling the government to back off.
"" The judge replied that Mr. Montague had been "seduced by precepts which are American,"
Actually many, if not most, Americans consider those precepts the Rights of Englishmen brought to this country by honest folk who told the King to butt out. When the Kings Officers set out to seize our weapons at Concord and Lexington we shot back. But now we see that the Canadian Government not only wants to put Mr. Montague in jail but take his home. The Judge in this case probably thinks he is a good person. He is not. God Help our Canadian Cousins and Gods Speed to the Canadian Unlicenced Firearm Owners Association. You have a great country, fight for it.
Posted by: RobertG | 2008-03-26 8:18:41 AM
"we have all of the rights that Americans or anyone else has..."
What rights Speller ?
Citizens are now being disarmed by the State and soon they will have a forced Federal ID card and will need a sample of fingerprints to board a plane. Add to this all the funny tricks from the Patriot Act and we will soon be able to say that Canada is more "free" than the US.
Like you said: You have the right to do everything, except to get caught.
Posted by: Marc | 2008-03-26 8:41:18 AM
The question and the answer is from where do you get your "rights?"
Canada seems to be an Atheist country (like the old USSR which was so much admired by Trudeaux) and consequently you look to other men to grant "rights" to you. Such rights obviously can be taken away or taken back by those who grant such "rights."
The "excessive" religiosity of Americans (the media just so hates "Religious Right" and such terminology) is the basis of our strength.
We actually believe that we are individual creations by God, and thus have Rights which transcend whomever happens to be "in power" (now there is a word the media loves..."power" as in somebody actually gives a damned what the media phonies say or think).
It is astonishing that a nation such as Canada, so vast and untamed with so few to tackle or subdue it, should become enamored of man and foresakers of God.
I suggest that you throw the homosexuals out of your Catholic Churches and get some actual men involved to renew your traditional religious life.
Posted by: Conrad-USA | 2008-03-26 8:50:20 AM
In what parallel universe do you live, Conrad ?
The US is #1 in porn and you have the most famous gay town in the world. You had your own sex scandals in your own churches and your politicians are getting caught in sex scandals each two weeks. In what country does the "summer of love" and "Woodstock" did happen ?
You have less rights and less money by each week and nobody seems to care or seems to act.
Once again mon ami, before suggesting to others, start with your own backyard.
Posted by: Marc | 2008-03-26 9:09:06 AM
Marc -
Parallel universe is a good description.
Europe is/has been chasing Communism down the sewer for fifty years and pretending to be a (most reluctant) ally of those who wish to have and hold freedom (i.e. Western Civilization).
Canada has been chasing European (Communist) "values" since Trudeaux.
America is the alternative philosophy to Europe.
Your affinity for Communism (and anything else anti-American, e.g. "media") is perplexing to a constant reliable neighbor. And the Atheist homosexual thing makes it seem like an infection.
Posted by: Conrad-USA | 2008-03-26 9:38:00 AM
I know!
Have you seen this movie: Canada, from freedom to fascism ?
It's have it good sides Conrad...
At least here, we don't have a 24/7 headlines coverage each times an actress or singer show its cunt in public and our Prime Ministers would never say such thing as: "God speaks directly to me". For the moment, your country is the one loosing its rights and freedom each week so...maybe our local "homosexuals" are not the biggest treath after all. What do you think ?
Posted by: Marc | 2008-03-26 9:55:17 AM
Now now my American Brothers let us not start a flame war with our Canadian Cousins and let us NOT give in to despair such as "What rights Speller ?" Our Rights are still our Rights Marc. Yes there is a really ugly Coalition of Fools and Traitors who would take them from us. So we push back. We have a nasty election coming up this November with no good choices on the National level. But there are Senate and House seats we must fight for. Despair drains the fight Marc. Don't let it happen. And in the mean time we make provisions if worse comes to worse. Remeber Valley Forge?
And Conrad-USA let us not be too quick to judge the Faith of our Canadian Cousins. They have all the problems we do. Canada has many fine Christians under attack by the Secular Left as do we. But if a man be a Jew or even a non-believer he still has God Given Rights and that is what our Canadian Cousins are fighting for in this case.
"Add to this all the funny tricks from the Patriot Act and we will soon be able to say that Canada is more "free" than the US." Both countries are on the slippery slope. We always have been. There are always the tyrants who would enslave free men. So let us not quibble and stand for what we know is our Heritage.
In so many ways Canada and the United States are more alike than any other two great nations. So let Honest Men stand together. Some fine people are going to jail and may lose their home. That must be the issue at hand.
My pistols are like American Express. Don't leave home without them. And may God be with the Montagues. God be with you all.
Posted by: RobertG | 2008-03-26 9:58:32 AM
It's stunning that a judge, of all people, had the nerve to play the anti-American card. "Seduced by American precepts," indeed! Depressingly, however, such attitudes far from unique in the halls of Canadian power. One CHRC councilor, an institution currently under the microscope for agenda-driven and overzealous prosecuting, went so far as to declare that freedom of speech "is an American idea...I'm not here to defend American ideas."
How many more decades, I ask you, before Trudeau's poison is fully expunged from this land?
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-03-26 10:38:50 AM
Talk about an arrogant Judiciary! Appointed Judges, totally unaccountable to the public and as safe to wield power and opinion as any tenured Prof. For Canadians with guns, this is just the beginning.
So where is the latest amnesty extension on this? I thought that there was to be no enforcement of Allan Rock's fascist law while the moratorium was in effect. Where are the PMSH apologists to proclaim that once he gets a majority, he'll "scrap the Registry" as promised?
If Canadian gun owners are too soft from generations of the ever-increasing Nanny-State mollycoddling to revolt, then at least refuse to continue supporting PMSH, allowing the Liberals to continue the same consistent destruction without the deception / distraction of faux conservatives. If Harper knew there were people willing to sacrifice his power for their rights, he could make it an election issue if defeated, and bundle it with other election issues for the urban (pro-fascist gun legislation) pols.
Posted by: John Chittick | 2008-03-26 11:55:47 AM
John, Montague would have been charged in any case, because he owned a bunch of automatic weapons for which he was not properly grandfathered. (It IS possible to legally own an automatic weapon in Canada, provided you owned it legally while it was still legal to do so.) His open defiance was unwise; picking fights has the common result of getting you into them.
I disagree with the Judge in his statement that laws ought to be followed provided the political process remains accessible--laws ought to be followed only if they do not produce acts of injustice--but justice is not the Judge's purview and ensuring compliance with the law is his job, so he could not really have said otherwise and remained credible. Of course, he tossed in a gratuitous lecture on the evils of America, so perhaps he was not so interested in remaining credible as in affirming "Canadian values" as defined by the Toronto-Montreal corporate.
As for scrapping the Registry--I have no doubt Harper would do it if he had enough seats. But the fact is, he doesn't. His party looked into the issue soon after assuming power and found that the legislation went too deep to simply wipe away with an order-in-council. The only way for Harper to press the issue now would be to make it a vote of confidence, and since the registry is hugely popular in precisely the places where he needs to pick up seats to form a majority, bringing down the government on that issue alone would be unwise.
Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-03-26 2:22:40 PM
The Canadian Judiciary is not as whacked out as their English counterparts, but may be trying to catch up.
Canadians as a lot have had less violent crime than Americans or the English. There is a cultural difference at work. That said, there are some human rights which disarming the law-abiding violate.
For those few who find themselves facing an armed criminal, or any group more powerful and determined to show it, that person has no rights they cannot defend. If someone can take your property, liberty or life from you by force which you cannot meet, you have only the rights your assailant(s) will let you have.
In this area, the judge has lost sight of a basic human right in preference to elegant words and conepts that mean nothing when tested by criminals. That Canada may have fewer criminals has nothing to do with this observation.
If this jurist is so fond of the law and feels its power, its righteousness, in his veins, let him go find someone who wants to stomp him into the ground for his wallet, and cite the law to the assailant. He is unlikely to retain his wallet, but likely to get an extra kick or two for being a pompous twit.
Posted by: Harry Schell | 2008-03-26 2:31:57 PM
>"If this jurist is so fond of the law and feels its power, its righteousness, in his veins, let him go find someone who wants to stomp him into the ground for his wallet, and cite the law to the assailant. He is unlikely to retain his wallet, but likely to get an extra kick or two for being a pompous twit."
Harry Schell | 26-Mar-08 2:31:57 PM
Better yet let all Judges have their home addresses and phones numbers posted on the doors of their court rooms and remove all body guards from the duty of protecting MPs and Judges with the caveat that these "public servants" have no firearms, grandfathered or otherwise.
We'll see how they like to live with the same risk level as the rest of us.
Posted by: Speller | 2008-03-26 2:45:24 PM
Speller
To that, I would add that Judges aspiring to the SCC must live on an Indian Reserve at least two years so they could become educated on FN issues and the Nanny State climax condition for future rulings. C a n a d i a n V a l u e s eh!
Posted by: John Chittick | 2008-03-26 7:16:16 PM
"He says that Canadian gun owners are an ignored and aggrieved minority who don’t have the political clout to change the laws under which they live through the traditional avenues of our majoritarian democracy."
That is why gun owners should join the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. All on their own gun owners are ineffective. There is strength in numbers. If Gun Owners do not come together under a single pro-gun lobby they will become extinct.
Posted by: JNGardiner | 2008-03-27 7:50:52 AM
A right that cannot be protected is no right at all. The police can only live in hindsight or go after the fact of the crime. As well, our judicial system does not provide deterrence. You can only rely on your own devices and the gun registry has taken those away from you.
Posted by: DML | 2008-03-27 10:48:17 PM
JNGardiner wrote:
"That is why gun owners should join the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. All on their own gun owners are ineffective"
That is most certainly true. The gun-grabbers are certainly organized and have most of the big Media behind them. In both Australia and New Zealand gun owners finally started to unite and stopped or modified at least some of the more draconian laws. Get your organizaion big and synced enough to knock off some seats in Parliment and put the fear of God in some others.
In the UK the hunting and shooting groups thought they could work with the government and lost every fight. It is a never ending fight, but once you guns are gone everything else will be too.
Here in Arizona we have the Arizona Civil Defense League to argue our case on the state level. You might try that that concept too.
Stay Brave, Stay Free
http://www.azcdl.org/
Posted by: RobertG | 2008-03-30 1:44:12 PM
Bruce Montague had automatic weapons, a silenced pistol, and had removed the serial numbers from several firearms, all properly illegal IMO.
This idiot is not a responsible gunowner and got everything he was literally begging for.
I've signed petitions to get rid of this law but I followed the law and registered my long guns. The handguns have all been properly registered for nigh on 20 years.
I was amused to discover Doug Christie is this losers lawyer. Figures.
Posted by: Boko999 | 2008-03-31 10:40:55 PM
Sorry, I forgot to add: What kind of pussy needs a gun to protect himself? Are you Americans?
Posted by: Boko999 | 2008-03-31 10:44:10 PM
I hope this guy had sense enough to stockpile some pieces. A lifetime ban is pretty harsh.
I've had occasion in the past to skirt the law. Maybe not to the point of filing serial numbers, but enough to be charged. Jumping out of a helicopter with a chainsaw and a sandwich 20 miles from the nearest logging road in poor weather is not exactly a hike in the park. A lot of guys like me travelled with a little friend. Sort of a don't ask, don't tell thing.
I've been away from the bush for a few years. I've heard that a lot of folks in northern Alberta have put some hardware in secure locations in case the country goes down the road we started down a few years ago. Law abiding citizens (for the most part) who are being told not only is it illegal to defend yourself, it's illegal to be capable of defending yourself.
My ancestors came to this country in the 18th century. Feudalism was not a distant memory. One of my family's original immigrants was a soldier, so he had certain privileges concerning firearms. As a settler he became one of the only people in the community that could hunt. It's been a family tradition for over 2 centuries. I no longer hunt, but make no mistake. Nobody is going to tell me I have no right to arm myself. They can lock me up if they want, but where I come from the police still have the good sense to observe the don't ask, don't tell thing.
Posted by: dp | 2008-04-01 12:21:48 AM
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