Exploding Houses

That's the title.  It's the only reason I can posit for Natural Resources Canada to change the explosives act regulations regarding the storage of firearm ammunition.  After all, changing the regulations in such a drastic way could only be justified by serious problems in need of a fix, right?  So it must be all those exploding houses . . .

Gun owners decry 'monstrous' changes to ammunition rules

Hunters and shooters are up in arms about the federal government's proposed new explosives regulations, which they say will interfere with everything from big-game  hunting and ammunition storage, to re-enacting historic battles.

The changes require — for the first time in Canada — gun owners to lock away all ammunition.
......
The proposed regulations also seriously restrict the use of big-game rifles, since the regulations define "small-arms ammunition" as bullets no larger than .50 calibre. But in Canada, calibres larger than .50 — such as the .577 Snider and the .505 Gibbs rounds — are frequently used to hunt bears and other large or dangerous game.
Since these large bullets are not defined as small-arms ammunition in the proposed regulations, Arpin said, they will fall into a more general category of blasting explosives. As a result, shooters who use large calibres will have to acquire explosives licences — such as those needed for dynamite — to continue hunting with large-bore rifles.

It gets worse.  From CanadianGunNutz.com (account needed):

Shot Guns:

• 12 gauge is bigger than .50 calibre.  Do I need a blasting license now for a shotgun?
• Has anyone heard back about the shotgun slug issue? (Larger than 50 cal). Unless there's a special exception that might be a real issue. 

Ambiguous anti-theft regulation:

• Even better - if you DO add one more lock, some cop could say 'not good enough, you should have a BETTER lock' and send you to jail. It does not give any clear indication as to what's required to comply with the law. What's "good enough" to prevent theft? Only a judge can say for sure and you'll pay good money to hear his thoughts on the matter if a cop charges you.
• I remember someone saying that padlocks weren't good enough for firearms cabinet locks. I don't recall anything official on this topic.
• The regs require you PREVENT theft. Good luck with that, as long as it is still POSSIBLE to steal your ammo, you are a criminal.

It encourages dangerous storage:

• Lock your ammo in a sealed steel box? Can you say "pipe bomb" when the ammo cooks off inside if there is a fire?

What about transport, or use?

• How will the new regulations impact a person going from home to the shooting range or out hunting? Will a special transportation system be required? The way the proposed regulations are drafted, I could be charged when going out turkey hunting with 10 shells in my pocket.
• Wait 'til you get stopped in your truck and have a couple shotgun shells in the console or a loose .22 rolling around in the back seat somewhere....or have a few rounds from an earlier range/hunting outing in a jacket pocket.

Even the guy who wrote the rules isn't sure what constitutes safe storage:

• But Arpin said the safe storage requirements will not be as complicated as Bernardo suspects. He said any locking container — even those which can be easily removed from a house — likely will satisfy the incoming safe storage requirements.  

These new regs are ambiguous, onerous, dangerous and deceitful.  It's time for our government to stop this constant harassment of gun owners.  Write your MP today and tell them to stop making paper criminals of law abiding gun owners. 

update:  It looks like shotgun shells are specifically designated small arms and not affected by this.  Thank god for small mercies...

 

Mortality

Coyne nails it today.  Not that his subject matter is compelling.  A lifelong loser just arrested for drunk driving (note:  DRUNK driving, not MADD's new crime of drinking and driving) bursts into song, Bohemian Rhapsody, and he becomes an Internet sensation.  Who cares, really?  But this small passage is the nugget in the poop pile:

We're born, we work, we struggle, we suffer, and just when we are starting to figure it all out, we snuff it. In the Tragic View of the Universe, this is deeply unfair, fuel for a lifetime of resentment. In the Comic View of the Universe, it is sublimely funny, a great cosmic joke God plays on us all.

And that's life for you.  There is no great meaning to life except to live it.  That's the test we must pass every day and we all fail it at some point.

A New Era for Alberta

I was a little concerned a few months ago with the election of Allison Redford as PC leader and premiere in Alberta. My concern mainly came from the fawning coverage the eastern media was giving the "human rights lawyer" and "UN employee" Redford.  They fully expected that Redford was going to bring Alberta more into line with, you know, "Canada", or at least the Canada that Easterners believe in.  There was even talk about Alberta moderating the federal Conservatives as their base shifted to the the more moderate Redford-style.

Since then, Alberta has been led by more insular-minded leaders, happy to pit the province’s interests against those of the rest of the country.

That could well change after this election.

Since assuming the reins of the Conservatives last October, Ms. Redford has hinted at a more activist role in the national political agenda. She wasn’t in office a month before she was touring Central Canada talking up a national energy strategy – one that integrates the power dynamics of the entire country.

That is a decidedly different approach than the one taken by recent Alberta premiers Ed Stelmach and Ralph Klein who possessed more us-versus-them mindsets. And it is certainly a contrary vision to the one being offered up by Danielle Smith, leader of the Wildrose Party.

Oh well, I guess those rednecks will never learn...

A Reminder of Why I stopped Being a "Good" Cathoilc

 I went to mass last night for the first time in twenty years.  I have my reasons and I'll keep them to myself, but this is going to be hard.

The service reminded me, over and over again, why I stopped going.  It is the week before Easter, a long service, and one where the readings really drove home what the Church is trying to teach me:  I'm a worthless sinner and I need the priest to save me.  The reading of the passion was the perfect example of that.  The reader began but any line that was the crowd was spoken by the congregation in response.  We were the evil bastards that killed Christ.  The priest spoke all the lines that were Jesus', underlying that he was our eathly representative of Jesus.  Subtle.

I have met this man, this priest, and he strikes me as being no smarter, no better than me but somehow I have to go through him to receive the blessings of God.  Yup, this is going to be very hard.