SINCE OURS is one of the 77% of households in this country. that has no: weapons of any kind in the closet — not even a peashooter, Grey Eyes would never stand for it — 1 can’t be accused of firing a shot in my own interests when I oppose the idiocies -- of Ottawa’s new gun legis- lation. ; Like most such grand plans they will be dangerous without having the intended effect, which ‘in this case is the control of vio- “lent crime. it has been said before, and » cannot be said too often, that criminals will laugh at the new laws. What bank robber is going . to dance up to the local cop shop to register his gun?, i -Your home, on the other hand will be subject to search by the police without a warrant, whether or not you own a gun. i All that is needed is for some- one in authority to have the / ; BELIEF that you have one. = The National Firearms ; : Association points out that once inside your house, the police thay “open any container, examine any -. firearm, conduct any tests or! analysis, and require any person to produce any records.” “Everyone | on the premises,” it goes on, “will be required to offer “-any‘and every assistance to the “officers which is requested. ‘ Failure to give such assistanc will be punishable with up to two ; years in jail.” “They (the police) will be” ~ given the power to use any equip- -.ment on the. premises (like your . computer, if you have one) to read “data (your private letters, etc) and make copies of documents (per- haps relating.to your business).” - . --” Allan Rock says he will take a _second look at that. We shall see. “If the polls indicating majority ~ support for this nonsense. are cor- on the other hand rect, it means that we are being bamboozled once again. It happened with Trudeau's War Measures Act, when the FLQ was supposed to have vast stores of arms and explosives ready to blow us all up. Remember that? It happened when the Human Rights Act was passed. In the name of which, of course, human wrongs have become the fashion. It happened when the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaran- teed frecdom of speech — except when it is decided that freedom of speech is undesirable. It happened when that Tory Finance Minister, Michael Wilson, said he was guing to simplify the tax returns. They promptly became 10 times more complicated. It happened when the Mulroney government “cracked down” on phoney refugees: The numbers soon increased fivefold. I could fill this page’ with examples of similar tricks, But what it boils down to is that Ottawa is very good at misleading “the misgoverned.- The universal gun control laws will be no different. Professor Gary Mauser of Simon Fraser University has pro- duced a useful paper on the sub-~ ject for the Fraser Institute. it has been ridiculed by the ' _- Vancouver Sun, but that in itself. - makes it a recommendation. ' Heisa gun owner but that does - “+ Cut Polish * Uphoistery * Paint Sealant - * Fabric Protection * Leather Care * ICBC. Claims “Home of Old- fashioned Service” Westmount Chevron © West Van. 922-6211. “Lonsdale Chevron North Van. - 986-0288 | “Call not invalidate his facts. He points out that handguns have had to be registered since 1934. Has that stopped criminals making use of then? Very restrictive gun controls were introduced in Britain in 1988. But they have had “no visi- ble impact upon violent crime or upon robberies cominitted with firearms.” On the contrary; violent crime is increasing there, even though the number of legal gun owners has declined. Firearms have been banned in Jamaica, Hong Kong, New York City, and Washington, D.C., with- out any decreases in the homicide rates, Murder and violent crime are largely a matter of culture. As Mauser states, Canada, Israel. Norway and Switzerland have relatively large numbers of firearms per capita, but also some of the lowest homicide rates in the world, 1 reeall that until recently, every Swiss male was required to serve in the armed forces, and at the end of their stint they took their rifles home with them so as to be ready for instant call-up. But they didn’t murder one another with them. There are between six million and LO million firearms in Canada and the cost of registration and control will be enormous. Mauser says it will be at least half a billion dollars. Just for starters. Gun control is not crime con- trol. But it will make criminals of a lot of good citizens who plan to tell Ottawa to get stuffed. Camping teen dies A NORTH Vancouver teenag- er died on Friday from head injuries after apparently falling and striking a large rock near: the Baden Powell Trail in West Vancouver. Reid Alexander Affleck, 17, of North Vancouver died in Lions Gate Hospital. . West Vancouver Police said. the teenager had been camp- - ing with rine other local” youths near the trail at the top of the British Properties. The campers were tossing small ‘sticks and rocks in the dark before Affleck: fell, said police. 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