List of the gun control plans Here’s a summary of the proposed changes contained in Bill C-68, Liberal justice minister Allan Rock’s pro- posed gun control legista- tion: m Four-year mandatory prison terms plus a lifetime ban on restricted weapon possession for anyone who commits a violent offence with a flrearm. Those offences are at- tempted murder, mans- laughter, criminal negligence causing death, robbery, kidnapping, hostage-taking, sexual as- sault with a weapon, ag- gravated sexual assault, extortion and discharge of a firearm with Intent to cause harm. ig Amandatory minimum Jail sentence for poses- sion of a stolen flrearm and possession of a loaded, restricted weapon without a permit, ‘mB Amandatory minimum one-year Jail sentence for the use of imitation or replica flrearms in the commission of an of- fence, m Up to 10 years In prison for posession of smuggled firearms. @ Seizure by the govern- ment of vehicles, boats or airplanes used for traffick- Ing of firearms. This Is similar to selzure of as- sets for those caught smuggiling drugs. m Snubnosed pistols and revolvers will be banned. Any handgun with a barrel length of less than 4.14 Inches will be added to the: Ist of prohibited weapons under the act. Ottawa’s action plan describes them as belng easily concealable, often cheaply made and hot of sultable quailty for competitive target shoot- ing. Sometimes called “Pocket pistols" or “Saturday Night Spe- clals", Ottawa says these handguns have no fegltl- mate purpose. m Also added to the banned list are any .25- or 32-callbre handguns, and some newly = identifled models of “assault plstols’’ that cperate Ilke submachine guns. The changes mean nearly half of the 1.15 million hand- guns in Canada now fall Into the prohibited cate- gorles. Current registered owners may keep thelr flrearms until they dle but _ May not transfer owner- ship of them. | 21 types of paramilitary and assault rifles are banned. Regls- tered owners may keep the flrearms for life, but not sell or transfer them. m Crossbows will be defined as firearms and amall, single-hand crossbows will be banned outright. That change is relevant for Terrace resi- dents because the fast murder committed In this area was the killing last September of 25-year-old Yvon Gosselin with a crossbow, m@ The sale, Import and manufacture of replica flreanms will be banned. @ Owners of handguns will have to Justify every five years thelr ownership of a pistol or revolver by belng a collector or for target shooting. Owners unable to meet new re- quirements wil forfelt thelr handguns. m@ A new computerized national registration sys- tem will be created for all flrearme and = firearms owners In Canada. Mandatory registration of alt flrearm owners will be- gin Jan, 1, 1996. ; i The legal age to pur- chase ammunition will In- crease from 16 years to 18 years of age. ff eS ee Le " TRAPSHOOTER Bil Eynon of Kitimat takes a a break between ‘sets at a trap shooting competiicn iast fall at the Terrace Rod and Gun Club. GUN CONTROL Opponents say it’s the slippery slope towards confiscation THERE IS simply no other issue {hat angers and unitcs northerners as much as gun control, says Skeena MP Mike Scott. Scolt and other Reform MPs are battling Liberal justice minister Allan Rock’s proposed gun con- trol legislation on Parliament Hill. And local gun owners have called a rally for Saturday, April 22 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Lower Little Park band shell in Terrace. Scott says that’s typical of the reaction Bill C-68 is stirring up across the country, and particular- ly in more rural areas. ‘T’ye received more phone calls, letters and complaints on this issue than anything else in my time in Parliament,’ Scott said. ‘*The people who are upset are very motivated people. They are not going to take this lying down.”’ And toa substantial extent it’s a north-versus-south issue. “There is a real misconception on the part of people who live in urban areas that guns are in- herently bad,’ Scott said. Guns are used for competition, hunting, they’re collectors items and they’re often pieces of his- tory or heritage, artifacts that are passed down through a family from generation to generation. “People in the big cities in Canada don’t understand what it’s like to live in northem and rural communities,’! Scott said. “They don’t understand the life- styles, And they don’t understand the difference between a law- abiding gun owner = and criminals.”’ That’s the fundamental argu- ment of opponeits to Rock’s measures. The legislation’s most con- troversial element —- mandatory registration of all guns —~ raises fears of a Big Brother society in which police know what's in your house. © “With this legislation they are going to be able to pinpoint vir- tually any house in town and they’ll be able to teil you if that household has firearms, what type, and how many,’’ Scott said.’ “T really question why does the government need that. informa- tion?” Registration is viewed by mauy gun owners as the first step Mike Scott towards eventual confiscation. Rock’s legislation would also move large categories of hand- guns and assault rifles into prohibited status, Gunowners wouldn’t have to band over the banned guns im- mediately, but they could not be sold in Canada or passed down as part of an estate. Some owners have large and valuable collections of such weapons, and their ability to tecoup their investment will be hampered. It’s essentially confiscation over lime instead of immediate- ly,” Scott said. ‘‘There’s no in- dication the government plans to pay compensation for the con- iscation,”’ “There is a real misconception on the part of people who live in urban areas that guns are inherently bad,” Scoit says the whole notion is silly, “Criminals who -intend to use firearms are not going to repister’ their guns. They ate not going to obtain their guns legally. They ate not going to go to ‘Sporting - goods stores,’’ They are buying their fircarms on the black market’? “Getting seven million law abiding gun owners to register their rifles and shotguns — with a great deal of bureaucracy and at great expense to taxpayers and gunowners — and without any demonstration that this initiative will result in the reduction of violent criminal offences in Cana- da just docsn’t make sense.”’ Another problem is the dif ficulty of enforcing the rules, Police simply do not have the resources to check every home for unregistered guns. Many gun owners don’t want to register their guns and are out- raged at the idea that they might become criminals overnight at the stroke of a pen if they don’t Gun registration was attempted in New Zealand and Austria, says Scott “The legislation has been re- scinded because it has been very expensive, has created. huge bureacracies, and has had no ef- fect on crime statistics in those countries.”* | oo, Scott says Canada's pun control Jaws now are among the toughest in the world, adding this country bears now resemblante to the much more open policies of the United States, “Some parts.of legislation pro- vide for much stiffer penalties for criminal misuse of firearms,’ Scott added. “We believe the goverment is on the right track there. Punish the criminals and make them pay for their use of firearms in the commission of a crime, “But for heavens sake why is (he government intent on. punish- ing law abiding gun owners."’ Scott suggests that registration of firearms could even turn to the advantage of criminals if they ever broke into the database, Such criminals could use lists of registered gun owners to target those homes for break-ins to steal the fircarms, he said. . “Even the possibility that that could happen is bad news for our communitics,’” he snid. ; “It's ‘amazing to:me that you could pick up a two year sentence for using a firearm in the com- mission of 4 crime, but if you do ‘hot properly register your .22 you are Hable for up to 10 years im- prisonment under this Iegisla- | lion,”? he ch ; The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 19, 1995 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD SPRING JS not only the time for new flowers. It is anni | The Mail Bag Buses worth taxes Dear Sir: [ was alarmed, to say the least when J read the article headed “City To Look At Bus Service’’ in a December 1994 Issue of The Terrace Standard. And now another article in the April 5 issue says city council is considering trashing the system and replacing it with taxis. That’s all well and good for those who can afford it, What about those who are on fixed income, such as seniors, and students. ° Recently, The Terrace Standard ran an article boasting how much Terrace has been growing in recent years, AS our community con- tinues to grow, it will spawn a number of service industries. These industries tend to pay lower wages than the forest industry and thus you will have a. greater number of peaple who will-not be able to afford vehicles of their own. This has to feed the public transportation industry, I find it interesting that literally all the anti-transit press that J have secn and heard has had Mr. David Holl’s name attached to it, When is the last time you rode the bus, Mr, Hull? I find it distressing that our elected city council wants to cut an in- tegral service to the community at a time when growth is greater than it has been in 30 years, 1 am appalled that the service being targeted is not only a neces- Sary service ina growing community, but one which is relied upon by many of Terrace’s senior and younger residents, I venture to say that there is not a transit system in this country that operates at a profit, In fact, quite the opposite. Isn’t that the whole point of public services ... the community pitching in for a service that anyone can use at minimal individual cost? If the City of Terrace finds it necessary to increase my taxes to maintain our transit system, Tam willing to miss one movie with the family. Public transit is extremely valuable to those who use it. To suggest otherwise is both short sighted and demonstrates a lack of consideration for those who truly require such a service. ae Dan Hawke, Terrace, RC. Inn staff supported Dear Sir: As a former supplier to The Tertace Inn, I wish to express my support to the staff in their on-going struggle with the owner, Mr. Sidhu, . Mr. Sidhu has blamed everyone from the restaurant staff, ‘to the bookkeeper to the banks for his troubles, But he has no one to blame but himself As a restaurant supplier to the Inn for five years, I always found the staff to be professional, friendly and a pleasure to deal with. Collecting a cheque was riever a problem before, either, , It was with regret that I had to withdraw any services because of thousands of dollars in still unpaid i invoices. Best wishes and good luck to you all. . Dan Wiley, ‘Seott National Food Service, Terrace, B.C. Mining strengthened Dear Sir: +: Shige ivercas es Vege ry I am writing i in Tesponse. to the March 29 article, “Ming finds. fem founded by gov’trules and regs.”” a The article quoted Cominco financial analysis manager,’ “Greg * - Waller, saying that ‘‘Canada was pushing investors away with high te ee Pyare ye | taxes, non-profit charges, the complexity and delays in the permit- : ting system and reducing access to land.” In British Columbia, effective resolution of land and resource use . issues is creating certainty for industry. Without specific guidelines about using land and resources to obtain maximum benefits while safeguarding the environment, the same stakeholder battles are fought over and over from the beginning each time. Such a merry-go-round creates uncertainty for industry, But care- ful and thorough work done by my ministry is intended to produce resolutions with which we can all live. Our permitting processes are now more streamlined. For example, Avino Resources Ltd.’s Bralorne Mine took only seven months to : receive its mine development certificate. This mine will create 150 jobs in an area that is in need of Job opportunities, My government supports mining in British Columbia. Last year's _ provincial budget provided tax relief and other incentives valued at $100 million over five years to assist the industry, This includes the ’ three-year explore B.C. and Prospector’s Assistance programs, -. In this year’s budget, the current 50 per cent refund of provincial sales tax for certain equipment used for mineral exploratlon will be increasedto 100 percent. Although the mining industry has long. demanded a provincial land use plan, for the certainty it will provide, there are many other factors which bear on the economics of the mining industry, notably . the state of the world market. It is only now recovering from a several-yenr decline, and the Tesults are obvious. Prices for all major B.C, metals (gold, copper, lead, zinc and molybdenum) were higher in 1994 than in the previous year. Molybdenum prices increased to $20 American per pound, and British Columbia is in the enviable position of being the number one molybdenum producer in Canada, Exploration expenditures are up by 36 percent over 1993 levels; an estimated $90 million was spent last year. , British Columbia has the first new mine to open in Wester Caua- da in five years, The Eskay Creck mine will become the world’s fourth lazgest silver producer, though its primary commodity is gold. Mining is facing a strong challenge from overseas competilors and we will have to work hard to ensure that we can attract the in- vestment we need to sustain and.enhance the industry as existing mines are depleted. Land use plans are part of the, solution, ot part of the Problem. a © Anne Edwards, “Mines Minister, ~ Victoria, B.C. THE START IS FOR PEOPLE LEARNING TO READ The Start Fire season the new fire season starts. : - The season began April 15, People now need permits if they ‘ want to have fires outside. The permits are free. Péople in town can get permits at city hall or at the fire hall. If they. live out of town, they can get permits at the forest service office. -._ All of this means it will.soon be time to be careful in the . | woods, Each year some people are not. careful, They, start forest fires. aa These fires cost a lot of money to Fight. ve