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Making our gun
owners outlaws

Dear Editor:

A chart ina recent issue of the
booklet from the Responsible
Firearm Owner Coalition of
British Columbia shows that in
Washington, D.C., the capital of
the United States, possession and
sale of handguns has been itlegal
since 1977, In 1991 there were
80 homicides per £00,000 people
compared with 44100,000 for
Seattle sad 3.9/100,000 for
Vancouver, B.C.

I believe that one will find that
the common kitchen carving
knife is the present weapon of
choice in domestic violence.

[ recently spoke with the
Swiss consul in Vancouver, He
confirmed that all able-bodied
males between 20 and 45 years
must serve an initial 17 weeks in
the military and do “a few"
weeks service each year. Each of
these men retains his military
weapon at his residence. He did
not have a breakdown for the
number of homicides committed
with firearms. The total for 199]
for all homicides was 185. One
hundred and seventy-seven sus-
pects were apprehended. of
which 22 were women. This is in
a population of 6.5 million.

Canada already has laws
requiring the safe storage of
firearms, strict controls on the
possession and transportation of
handguns ‘and. other restricted
weapons. These are the rules that
law-abiding gun owners are now
living with.

We also have laws that are
supposed to be mandatorily
enforced by the courts for use of
firearms in the commission of a
criminal. offence. This law
requires a mandatory two years
‘to be added to the sentence meted

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out for the original offence.
Many times this sentence is
applied but is given concurrent to
the substantive sentence rather
than applied consecutively as
was the original intent of the lep-
islation.

Much has been said about the
Young Offenders Act. Certainly
this is a great concern in our soci-
ety, but fet us took at the overall
view Of the justice system.

One of the biggest jokes cur-
rently perpetrated on our citizen-
ry is how the courts are treating
break and enter. Certainly | the
juvenile segment is a large factor
in this problem, The criminal
code of Canada states thata per-
son found guilty of break and
enter is liable to life in prison.
Under our current judicial poli-
cies penalties range from proba-
tion to (wo years. The two years
usually comes on the second or
third offence. This of course is
segmented into three parts, One-
third of the sentence by law must
be served outside the institution
on parole. One-third may be
commuted for good behavior so
that a two-year sentence often
only means incarceration of eight
months. If a person of criminal
bent times it right he can go in in

mid-September and come out in —

mid-May before having to see
any of the reruns on TV.

We are not dealing with the
criminal element that is causing

the problem with more gun con- '

trol but are now on the brink of
making a large segment of the
population outlaws simply
because they have a firearm safe-
ly stored in their home.

Brian Porter
North Vancouver

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Dear Editor:

I have lived in West Vancouver
for the past seven years and more
specifically have been a restdent of
Cedardale for that period.

Seis a quiet and beautiful area for
those like to be surrounded by trees
and live ina section of West
Vancouver that most folks don’t
know enists,

The issue of development has
sparked great controversy as we fear
change to the area, E walk my dog
by the area concerned. Of course |
realize that development of this
property is going to occur, Our
question really is in what form”

As part of my ministry [co. .eu-
ally visit our seniors’ care centres.
For those with resources we have
two excellent facilities.

Kiwanis Lodge has always been
a remarkable example of care and
lifestyle. West) Vancouver has
seniors who actually helped to
shape this place. [ suspect their

Well done, WV

Dear Editor:

Congratulations to the West Van
secondary students who did so very
well obtaining top place again in
the B.C. exam results.

Just shows what that extra cram-
ming can do with dedicated teach-
ers to back them up.

Keep up the good work — the
future needs you.

E.I. Kennedy
West Vancouver

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luxes, ete, helped to build it

My observations on life show me
that we have a vulnerable group of
people in our midst. They seen to
have no protection, As they lose
their health they lose their power
over their lives. They may even fose
their sense of plhice in a community
they have Joved and built, We must
protect them — in fact we must
honor them. The Cedardale devel-

Seniors

opment gives us the opportunity to
reach out in care and concern. It
gives us the opportunity to be a
complete community.

My hope and prayer is that we
are supportive of our seniors and
sufficiently concerned about them
to allow them in our community and
in our lives.

Lou Rivers
West Vancouver

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