I thought that most on this board would like to know that there are those to our North who are risking everything for what they believe.

The gun in the labourer's house

Pierre Lemieux
National Post


http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id={B21CC8AE-B769-4D8F-9966-7BD29D12A48A}


Tuesday, December 31, 6-7BD29D12A48A

Underlying our apparently peaceful democracies is the idea that the ultimate rampart against tyranny lies in the resistance of the people.  This is not only an American and a French idea, but also a very English one.

In his classic Commentaries on the Laws of England, Sir William Blackstone, the famous 18th-century English jurist, stressed the danger of power for "English liberties." The constitution (for this is how Blackstone labeled the legal traditions of England) provided safeguards under the form of "certain auxiliary subordinate rights of the subject, which serve principally as barriers to protect and maintain inviolate the three great and primary rights, of personal security, personal liberty, and private property." The auxiliary rights "of every Englishman" included the right "of having arms for their defense ...  [which] is a public allowance, under due restrictions, of the natural right of resistance and self preservation, when the sanctions of society and laws are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression."

Many people like to think that they would start resisting before
tyranny is well entrenched, but few actually would.  It is risky to disobey laws: The state has the power to put resistors in jail, or give them criminal records.  State propaganda tries to isolate and discredit resistors, especially when they are part of a minority ("a dwindling minority," scorns the Canadian Firearms Centre).  Armchair resistors who imagine themselves as heroes adulated by the populace are usually wrong: They will be treated as marginals, cranks, outcasts, criminals.  Only later will early resistors be seen as heroes.

Starting tomorrow, we will have an opportunity to meet such heroes of
the early resistance.  On Jan.  1-3, in Ottawa, a few members and
supporters of the Canadian Unregistered Firearm Owners Association (CUFOA) will post their "Declaration of Non-compliance," and go to 24 Sussex Drive to present to the Prime Minister the ashes from their firearms licenses and gun registration certificates.  If they have not yet been arrested, they will visit the offices of the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General.  They are also planning to swap firearm parts which, since 1998, is a crime without a prior permission from the state.  They are considering a side trip to Montreal.

The feds have tried diversion tactics.  First, the Justice Department
announced that prosecutions would not start until six months after the
gun registration deadline of today, Dec.  31, so as to give time to the
bureaucrats to issue the certificates applied for.  Second, on Dec.  
27, the department announced that gun owners unable to use the overloaded registration system can, before Jan.  1, write, fax, or e-mail their intention to register when the bureaucrats have fixed the
one-billion-dollar system.  The Ottawa heroes are still not complying with this pre-registration, and they are also in violation of the personal licensing obligation which came into force one year ago.

As the infamous C-68 "law" (the third major piece of firearm control
legislation in 25 years) comes into full force, owning firearms without
a personal license and a registration certificate for each gun are crimes that carry penalties of up to 10 years in jail.  The CUFOA resistors quote Henry David Thoreau: "When a man's conscience and the laws clash, it is his conscience that he must follow." They could also quote the 18th-century English writer Junius: "The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures."

There are many reasons to resist C-68.  It forces any individual who
even only wants to keep his hunting gun at home to apply for a personal
license every five years, and tell the police about his depressions and his love life.  It forces 10% of the Canadian adult population to notify the police when they change addresses.  It grants the police arbitrary powers to seize guns and to deny or revoke licenses.  In certain circumstances, it allows searches (rechristened "inspections") without warrants.  C-68 also forces the registration of all individual guns, and prepares the sort of confiscation that the British and the Australians have recently suffered (like, before them, subjects of all totalitarian countries).  It is one of the last nails in the coffin of the right of individuals to defend their lives if the police cannot (or will not) intervene.

C-68 will have also created, from a few hundreds of thousands (according to government estimates) to a few millions, of instant, peaceful, paper
criminals.

George Orwell, the author of 1984, wrote: "That rifle hanging on the
wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of
democracy.  It is our job to see that it stays there."

At great personal risk, a few Canadian heroes have made it their job to
see that the gun stays in the labourer's house.  Besides CUFOA, other
groups like the Law-abiding Unregistered Firearms Association (LUFA) are
engaged in civil disobedience.  Individual resistors like Allister Muir, a Nova Scotia businessman, have publicly admitted having guns without the required permits, and challenged the state to prosecute them.

CUFOA's strategy of civil disobedience is especially daring.  The
Ottawa demonstrators will either be arrested, showing the real nature of the law, or else they will prove that the state does not dare enforce its so-called "law" against peaceful citizens.  This small group of resistors includes respectable citizens such as CUFOA president Jim Turnbull, Dr. Edward Hudson, a veterinarian, Dr. Joe Gingrich, a dentist, Claire Joly, a Montreal writer, and Yvon Dionne, a retired civil servant and the Quebec spokesman for the demonstration.

From those of us who are less brave, from those of us who believe in
individual liberty, from our future descendants, these heroes deserve
gratitude and praise.

© Copyright 2002 National Post

I am watching the news today to see how this turns out.

I have the greatest respect for these brave souls.

Myself I feel ashamed for not being there to be arrested with them.......but concern for my wife and little ones has precidence.

Its a shame that some of these men who are vets need to come to the fore again to defend Canada.

Excellent article and I fully support our fellow gun owners to the North.

Its sad how many Americans are lost in their own apathy and who continue to compromise out of fear for their seemingly perfect little lives. Freedom comes with a price, but it seems many in America would rather give up those rights then risk anything to themselves. There is little concern for the rights of future generations - or the potential tyranny of a government which completely disarms its citizenry.

Its true that "armchair commandos" who expect to be instant heroes for resisting are dillusional at best. But doing nothing - or simply crying to one's Congressman over injust laws - is truly pathetic. Here in New England one can still find the graves of those who gave up everything for what we enjoy today. Rich or poor, they gave up their jobs, homes, and way of life to fight for what is right. Today if one considers disobeying an illegal and unjust law - they are deemed a radical - even by fellow gun owners - or should I say cowards who don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand on what is right. Its not the inherent nature of law abiding gun owners to disobey unjust laws - but consider what our forefathers went through -they were labelled criminals and shot or hanged
for what you and I enjoy today.

Knowing what I know of how my ancestors fought and died for this great nation - I will not compromise my rights - rights which are granted by God - rights which no man has the authority to strip from us. Some will say "That was then, this is now". Go ahead and spit on all those who shed their blood for you and I at Lexington and Concord. May your chains rest lightly upon you - since some will inherently choose the path of a subject or a slave. There is no legal or just way to strip us of our God given right to keep and bear arms. Such laws are null and void - for they infringe upon everything this nation stands for.

Anyone who registers or gives up their firearms is a coward - they have chosen the path of least resistance - I just hope they are willing to tell their grandchildren someday how they sold them out. I'm not suggesting that one get into a firefight per say - but at least resist in some fashion. Bury your guns if thats all the intestinal fortitude one can find.

 

I too am looking to see how this turns out.  

I am willing to bet nothing is done to these people today.  But one they return home, they will be picked off one by one.




Yes, I understand that feeling, I think alot of people took this path.  But...

The question is are your trading your grandchildren for your children?  Are you trading away tomorrow to keep today?

links to stories in CANOE -

[url]http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2002/12/31/8602-cp.html[/url]

[url]http://www.canoe.ca[/url]

I didn't see any updates to the protest story.

Many of us keep saying we need to do something about gun-control. That we need to resist in some way, shape, or fashion.

Many of us also say we admire or respect what some others may be doing on behalf of God-given rights we cherish. That those brave souls have our prayers.

Many of us conclude by saying we would love to do something about the injustice of gun-control, even engage in civil disobedience. However, we won't because of our jobs, families, and children. We like them and want to keep them.

Let me tell you something. Anyone who is over 35 right now will be too old to fight when wide-scale registration/confiscation occurs in America. [b]It will be your children who will face that foe.[/b] What would you want your children to do at that time?

I am younger than 35. I fully expect to see that fateful crossroads (obviously, if I am still alive).

As much as I want to be around to see my children grow up, to be able to provide for them, and [i]not[/i] put them in a position where they may view their father as a crazy lunatic who was killed or imprisoned for opposing gun-control/registration/confiscation, [b] I believe that choosing to comply is, in all likelihood, the same as choosing a life of slavery and servitude for my children rather than freedom.

If we lose this fight, we may not see the ramifications ourselves, but we can know that our posterity will be doomed to the same fate as every other defenseless people.

[size=4][b]They will have to forfeit every other right eventually because their fathers chose not to make a stand with the first and most important liberty of all.[/size=4][/b]