This story out of New Brunswick, Eastern Canada is just too bizarre to let lie and explains why it is important to resist efforts to create ever broader "buffer zones" where firing a gun is prohibited.

The whole issue is that the guy is accused of firing a gun closer than the minimum 400 meters away from a residence.  Look at the details of this story.  The owner of the residence was out hunting himself and heard a shot that sounded like it was "close to his house."  He took a day off from work to investigate the shot and found where a deer had been dressed 150 yards behind his house.  He called the forest rangers who investigated and found blood near the house, measured the distance, found a spent shell a few yards away, and a crease in an Alder tree.  They also found four wheeler tracks.  They called in the dogs and tracked down a guy in his home.  They also had an aerial photograph taken of the area.  They confiscated the guy's rifle and his deer and put him in jail.  All for firing a gun 150+ meters away from a residence where no one was home.  The whole thing went to trial where the crew from Miami CSI presented forensic evidence from the deer autopsy and the judge decided that the guy was being less than truthfull about the whole thing so he found him guilty – of firing a gun closer than 400 meters away from a residence.

He was fined a couple of hundred bucks, probably lost his hunting license for a year – though I wasn't clear about that – and faced a month in jail if he didn't pay up.  He also lost his rifle.  No word on what happened to the deer carcass.

How on earth does this warrant so much attention?  The aerial photography cost more than the fine and the value of the gun put together!  And they probably have laws in Canada requiring that the gun be destroyed rather than sold to another hunter who might go out and abuse it like this guy did.  The whole thing is just mind boggling.  –JAK

Hunter guilty of discharging firearm too close to residence

 Published Wednesday October 15th, 2008

Judge finds accused's testimony not credible

By Madeleine Leclerc

A hunter's version of events did not ring true for Grand Falls provincial court judge Jacques Dejsardins who found Gerald H. Sisson guilty on Sept. 30 of unlawfully discharging a firearm within 400 metres of a Burntland Brook residence on Oct. 22, 2007.

Judge Desjardins gave his decision in the case a day after Sisson's trial was completed on Sept. 29.

The issue was whether Sisson had shot a deer within 400 metres behind Erin Jenkins' residence or outside its perimetre. According to the Crown's case, the deer had been shot approximately 153 metres from the back of the residence, while Sisson offered evidence to the contrary during his trial.

Continue reading Unbelievable Canadians →

    It is absolutely outrageous that the media is giving any credence at all to the Democrat/Brady shill group American Hunters and Shooters Association.  The Brady's and the media were "shocked, shocked I say" when they discovered that one of their volunteers was apparently working for pro-gun interests – even though all of the reports indicate that the woman was an active and effective worker who was very successful in her anti-gun activities.  Contrast that to the media fawning over AHSA and treating them as a bona fide gun rights organization even though the founders and leaders of the group have long records of support for gun control groups and are closely linked to anti-gun Democrat politicians.  Reading AHSA president Ray Schoenke's blog is like reading Brady Campaign director Paul Helmke's; they use the same talking points and phraseology and could easily be interchanged.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were both written by the same Brady staffers.

    Even so, the media insists on treating this bogus organization – which has virtually no members – as a credible voice for gunowners and "a competing gun rights organization" to NRA (Glen Johnson – AP).

   This is not a case of the media being bamboozled by slick political operators.  This is collusion in the worst degree.  Any "journalist" that treats AHSA with any credibility at all is doing so because that "journalist" personally supports the views expressed by AHSA – especially as they oppose the NRA.

    Such yellow journalism is outrageous and inexcusable.  Media watchdog organizations and journalism societies should be calling foul and the "journalists" participating in and perpetuating this charade should face disciplinary action.

    I usually don't stray from topics involving guns, but if things on this whole bailout mess continue as they've been going, I'm afraid guns will be involved sooner or later.

    Everyone is upset about the Bailout plan, but I've heard few alternatives suggested – the most common being send everyone to jail and let Wall Street melt down and the one where the government should give us all a million dollars so our dollar would really be worthless…  

    Here is an alternative I got from my old friend Dave Ramsey (www.DaveRamsey.com) that actually makes sense and doesn't cost 700 Billion dollars.  I don't know if this is Dave's idea or one he picked up from someone else, but it's a good plan and needs to be read by every elected representative in the country.  Remember that little politicians and party activists often have unlisted numbers for the big politicians so don't be shy about spreading this around.

———

The Common Sense Fix

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic
nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the
answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support
any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I
submit the following three-step, Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE
   a. Insure the sub-prime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type
insurance.  Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant
market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.
   b. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance,
they must do two things:
     1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent
to a 6% fixed-rate mortgage.
        a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into
the balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a
chance to keep their homes.
        b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or
the sale of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of
foreclosure or short sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any
deficit balance. FHA does this now, and that encourages mortgage
companies to go the extra mile while working with the borrower—again
limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.
     2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and
executive team members as long as the company holds these
government-insured bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming
executives from being paid when they don’t do their jobs.
   c. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion—a small fraction of
the current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET
   a. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only
subprime Tier III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being
forced to artificially mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the
underlying mortgages and real estate.
   b. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate
stabilizing effect on failing and ailing banks—and it costs the taxpayer
nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX
   a. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the
real estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating
tremendous—and immediate—liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the
taxpayer nothing.
   b. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many
will say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but
it will be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all
Americans to have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up
instead of down.

This is not a time for envy, and it’s not a time for politics. It’s time
for all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.