P.O. Box 93052 Langley
British Columbia, V3A 8H2
Phone: (604) 532-8048
Fax: (604) 532-0380
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E-Mail = admin@rfocbc.com
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The Newsletter
RESPONSIBLE FIREARMS OWNERS COALITION of BC
Highlights
Presidents Message Reasons to Oppose C-68 Total Ban of Handguns
Inside
Editorials Are you Ready 4 Provinces Opting Out
THE NEWSLETTER OF INSPIRED RFOC DIRECTORS & MEMBERS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
are quickly approaching the most critical time in our battle against Bill C-68. The Liberals bullied it past their own members and got it through the House. They then made special deals with certain Conservative senators from the east and had it passed by the Senate. It is now "law". Next comes the FEDERAL ELECTION.
We must get active and work to get rid of the Liberal government. Both the Reform and the Conservatives have agreed to repeal C-68 if they are elected, but as we saw in the BC election, splitting the vote will have disastrous results.
The Liberals have cleverly pulled the regulations for Bill C-68 from the House. They do not want to make gun control an issue prior to the election! (Gun control was the most controversial piece of legislation to ever come in front of Canadians). These regulations, if the Liberals are re-elected, will likely be passed (by Order-in Council) within a month of the election.
Our organization must get the message to all gun owners in the province to defeat the Liberal government. This means placing ads in papers and on the radio (ideally TV) but this takes money and lots of it.
If you want to take part in what I feel may be the last fight, you must support us financially. We recently sent out over 11,000 renewal notices. To date the response has been slow. Too many gun owners are becoming apathetic. Now is the time for a wake up call.
You must continue to support our organization and others like it and perhaps we can change the course of history. If you don’t get on board now, it will soon be too late.
Harry Sullivan,
President RFOCBC
PS One further point to think on is talk about getting the doctors in BC to be one of the signatures on your FAC. $25.00 per signature times 200,000 gun owners equals fifty million. WHAT’S NEXT?.
Total Ban of Handguns
However, the UK government is shocked by the estimated cost of compensation rumored to be $220 million. That figure does not include ancillary equipment such as ammunition or holsters.
Reasons to Oppose C-68
Bill C-68 was drafted before
evaluating of the effectiveness of the current program (as per the Auditor General’s
1993 report). The justice minister can ban
anything he/she things is unreasonable for hunting or sporting purposes without judicial
or parliamentary review.
The justice minister can regulate where, when and how all firearms may be used.
The sweeping Order in Council
provisions, affecting everything from the operation of gun shows to license fees and
effective date, undermine our democratic system of government which normally requires the
separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers.
Various sections read "the
onus is on the accused (to prove no crime was committed)", which is contrary to basic
rights in law.
RFOC of BC Endorses Canada’s Recreational Firearms Community Position on Gun Control, June 1996
The Recreational Firearms Community believes that there are many legitimate firearm uses such as target shooting, hunting for sport and sustenance, competitive shooting sports, collecting, protection of human life,
and as a necessary tool for police, farmers and aboriginal peoples.
The Recreational Firearms Community
believes that firearms should not be in the hands of criminals, or those who pose a threat
to society. The Recreational Firearms Community
believes that efforts must be made by governments at all levels to control the smuggling
of all illegal weapons. The
Recreational Firearms Community believes that Bill C-68 is a badly conceived law that
unnecessarily targets legitimate owners and users of firearms. It is a failure as an
attempt to control the criminal use of firearms, and the law should be scrapped.
The Recreational Firearms
Community believes that the imposition of the requirements of Bill C-68 will only serve to
wrongfully criminalize otherwise law-abiding citizens who own firearms.
The Recreational Firearms
Community believes that the hundred of millions of dollars that will be spent to enforce
Bill C-68 and its regulations, by federal provincial and municipal governments, and
national and local police forces, would be better spent to improve family crisis units,
anti-suicide counseling, and add police on the street to fight the real criminal problems.
The Recreational Firearms
Community believes that the Government of Canada has a further agenda to increasingly
prohibit private firearms ownership, and that the Government of Canada will confiscate
even more privately owned personal property (firearms) without proper compensation to the
legitimate owner.
The Recreational Firearms
Community believes that common sense approach of the Reform Party of Canada, and it’s
promise to repeal Bill C-68, and replace it with legislation that properly addresses the
criminal use of firearms, while permitting legitimate firearms ownership without the
requirement of further restrictions, or universal registration, is worthy of the
wholehearted support of the Recreational Firearms Community, at the ballot box.
Guns Will Be Prohibited In Canada For all Recreational Purposes
Editorial
Is this possible? Are you going to do anything or just accept this infringement on your rights and freedom?
What Are You Really Going To Do?
A lot of people didn’t do anything about it in the last provincial election and we again have an NDP provincial government who, so far, is still anti-gun.
I feel we have one chance left to legally keep and use our firearms - it is this coming federal election. This election will probably be held in the spring of 1997. All gun owners and users must now unite and help in any way to remove Allan Rock from power and defeat the federal Liberal government.
The federal election will soon be here. Are you going to get out and do something this time to keep your guns, or are you prepared to give them up in the near future?
The time of decision is here for all gun owners: How Will You Vote?
As a gun owner you must accept the responsibility of talking to other gun owners, your neighbors or anyone else who will listen to you about the disadvantage and harassment of Bill C-68. Think! The next time you clean your guns, may be the last time you have them to clean.
BILL C-68 MUST BE DEFEATED
Editorial
Ever since Bill C-68 was first introduced, I have been trying to figure out what the government had in mind. Everyone, with any common sense at all, realizes that this noxious bill has virtually nothing to do with reducing crime but is merely a vicious attack on honest, law abiding gun owners. Why then is the government prepared to spend hundreds of millions of dollars of our money on useless legislation? What is their hidden agenda?
Last January, a Liberal senator was accused of making a statement to the effect that "Bill C-68 has little to do with firearms control, or crime control, but was a necessary tool to begin socially re-engineering Canada." I wrote to the senator involved and she has denied ever making this statement. I don’t know who made this statement, or where it came from, but it certainly started me thinking.
I believe that the federal government is afraid of a rebellion when the Canadian people realize what the federal government has done to them over the past 20 or 30 years. Bill C-68 is just a tool to enable the government to confiscate all the firearms in Canada before the Canadian people wake up! We all hope and pray that this would never happen in Canada. However, it has happened many times in other countries where they have had incompetent governments. I personally don’t believe that Canadians would ever resort to violence against the government, but, when a man loses everything, and his family is destitute, it’s hard to say what he would do, and I believe the Liberal government is running scared.
Our only hope is to defeat the Liberals soundly in the next election. I don’t think Canada could survive another 5 years of Liberal government incompetence. If the Liberals do win the next election, I for one, will join any party that promotes the West separating from the rest of Canada!
Jack McCollum RFOC Director
PS. I note that Rock is trying to bribe us into registering our guns early. He now proposes that it will only cost $10.00 to register any number of guns provided that we do it as soon as the system is in place, probably this fall. We know that it currently costs the government about $75.00 to register a handgun. I wonder what the anti-gun people such as Wendy Cukier would say if they knew that the government was using hundreds of millions of their tax dollars to bribe gun owners into registering?
Are You Ready to Fight?
The to our success will be our organization and support at the grassroots level. As an RFOC member, you are on the front lines of the battle for our right to own and use firearms. What you do locally, whether it be contacting your legislators, writing "letters to the editor", or volunteering to work on behalf of pro-gun candidates, could very well mean the difference between victory and defeat in this critical fight.
The RFOC’s Grassroots Division is here to assist you and your fellow pro-gun volunteers province wide. We urge you to participate in our many programs designed specifically for activists such as yourself, and to take full advantage of our resources of pro-gun materials. With your help, we will be successful in defending our rights today, and for generations to come.
If you're ready to fight for your freedom, the first step is becoming a part of the RFOC and its Grassroots Network. Our base of volunteers will be working at the local, provincial and federal levels to defend your right to own and use firearms. All RFOC volunteers receive: legislative alerts and analyses; crime and safety studies and statistics; phone Fan-outs, and direct access to RFOC staff and resources. Call the RFOC Hotline at 1-604-532-8048 to join our Grassroots Network.
We all know that gun control affects all gun owners. Yet some in the gun-owning community still do not believe it. We have all heard one of our fellow gun-owners say, "hey, my gun's not on the their list, it's not my problem." But it is their problem. It's all of our problem.
That's where you come in. You can help educate, inform, and activate gun owners in your community by building your own grassroots network. All you need is the desire to preserve our firearms heritage for generations to come.
Remember, there is no one better than you - an RFOC member, parent, co-worker, community leader - to let gun owners in your community know that gun bans, registration schemes, and other "gun control" measures affect all of us. Anti-gunners depend on a strategy of "divide and conquer," we've got to make sure we stand united - and that their efforts fail. Build your grassroots network today to help protect your freedoms for tomorrow. The more members we have, the stronger we are.
The battle we put up was the biggest in the legislative history of Canada. It far exceeded the battle over the GST. The next campaign is to defeat the Liberals at the polls when the federal election is called. We need to rearm financially, therefore we are asking YOU for a donation to our Political Action Fund (PAF) All of our membership fees and donations go directly towards the cause. All RFOC directors are volunteers. Your immediate financial assistance is vital.
Jake Greshuk
Director Operations RFOC BC
NEWSFLASH!!!
WE ARE NOW ON-LINE
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E-Mail - admin@rfocbc.com
WEB SITE - www.rfocbc.com
The Campbell River Gun Club received good news to pass on to its members. The long awaited application for the new range is now approved. Plans include a 600m range, a 200m range, an IPSC venue, trap range, and new clubhouse. Relocating farther out of town was an expensive and unforeseen occurrence for the club membership. A raffle is in progress to raise capital to finance the building phase. For details contact:
Cliff Riddoch at 286-6759, or
Valerie Stirling at 923-4720
4 PROVINCES OPTING OUT...WHY NOT BC?
Alberta is challenging the federal government in the Alberta Court of Appeal on the constitutional validity of C-68. The issue is "whether the federal government can impose universal firearms licensing and registration on the provinces and territories"--licensing is a provincial not a federal jurisdiction normally.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Yukon are requesting intervenor status in the case [one who intervenes as a third party in a legal proceeding begun by others for the protection of an alleged interest].
To date BC has not agreed to take part. AG Ujjal Dosanjh says the NDP government wants to "protect public safety through responsible control of guns", apparently concedes that registration could prove "cumbersome", and yet more recently is considering the possibility of annual renewal of the FAC and/or having your doctor certify the application.
Should the court challenge fail, Alberta maintains they will not take part in administering the licensing and registration system - they will not help Ottawa impose it. Alberta intends to opt out "lock, stock , and barrel".
Contact Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh. Insist BC join with the other western provinces to seek intervenor status on behalf of British Columbians.
| Ujial Dosajh Phone - 250-387-1866 Fax - 250-387-6411 |
Glen Clark Phone - 250-387-1715 Fax - 250-387-0087 |
| Gordon Campbell Phone - 250 356 3090 Fax - 250 356 6176 |
Jack Weisgerber Phone -250 356 6707 Fax - 250 356 6705 |
| Gordon Wilson Phone - 250 356 3058 Fax - 250 387 4088 |
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