[Omni]

There are plenty of great things about Canada, but our gun laws are junk. There is no doubt our American neighbours have a far superior attitude and laws on guns and self-defense. While we haven't gone as far down the road to firearms oblivion as Britain and Australia, we have come close. In the last federal election the Liberal Party, which was in power at the time, campaigned on an outright handgun ban. This finally woke up the Canadian firearms community, and, thank God, the Liberals were booted from power. :banana:

While we still have our handguns, we have ridiculous rules such as: the barrel must be over 4 3/16" or the handgun is prohibited -- this means no compact or sub-compact handguns for us. Also, all guns up here are registered, which makes us easy targets for future confiscation attempts. Furthermore, if you are thinking of defending yourself against a home invasion with your handgun, think again. Even in your home it has to be stored unloaded, with a trigger lock and in a locked case. :aargh4: Don't even think about carrying an unlocked, loaded handgun for defense up here or the :sheep: will all claim you are insane.

In a symbolic attempt to stand up for my rights, I have joined the NRA and now have my concealed carry permit for Utah. I find it highly ironic that a foreign government trusts me enough to let me carry a handgun for defense when I visit, but my own government doesn't.

Anyway, this is a good forum and I look forward to learning a thing or three from y'all.

 

[P95Carry]

Omni - welcome to CC :smile:

I am ex Brit and recently wrote up how things went down for me while still there years ago - http://www.combatcarry.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=8275

Your present situation is about as mine used to be in UK - highly restrictive - and you are still only one short step away from potentially having it all go sour - guard what you have left jealously!!

 

[BCurry1]

Welcome, good to have you with us ehh!

 

[srfl]

Welcome aboard Omni....I love Canada...especially your Newfie gals.

 

[erh]

Welcome from Savannah, GA. ; eh..!

 

[Rock and Glock]

Welcome from North Texas. Glad ya found CC!

 

[dr_cmg]

Welcome from way down South in Alabama.

 

[Bud White]

Welcome

 

[Nick]

Welcome - :smilez:

 

[PatrioticRick]

Welcome Omni from Idaho

 

[enigmaone]

Greetings from the sunny state of Florida

 

[rstickle]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Omni]

Thanks for the many kind greetings. I must say that I'm a little jealous of all you folks that actually get to exercise your rights to carry for defensive purposes. All I get to do is stare at my Utah permit and wish that the Canadian government respected and trusted me enough to carry up here. :frown:

Anyway, I'll try to chip in my $0.02 worth of opinions from the perspective of a Canadian that still believes that criminals should be blamed instead of guns, and that self-defense isn't a dirty word. Our big problem up here is that huge numbers of :sheep: live in Eastern Canada and they, unfortunately, control our Parliament. Out West in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia there is actually a fair number of gun owners and people with common sense. Unfortunately, the liberal weenies back east are always trying to save us Westerners from ourselves with their stupid anti-gun rules.

If you want to know how bad it is back in Eastern Canada, just last week there was an old lady with multiple sclerosis who needed home care to stay alive. When a new home care nurse came over to her house she saw, horror of all horrors, an unloaded, trigger locked rifle that the lady's husband had left sitting in the den. She fled the house in fear. Later, the homecare company said the husband would have to get rid of all his guns from the house or the dying woman wouldn't receive the needed health care. :aargh4:

It just goes to show that the anti-gunners will stop at nothing to advance their warped view of the world.

 

[polekat]

Welcome to the forum

 

[duckhunter]

Welcome aboard from Indiana! It is certainly eye-opening to get a look at the gun laws and outlooks of other countries.

 

[Colin]

Hi Ommi, I live in Vancouver also, hang out on CGN as Colin

Did you do the Utah CCW course they were holding awhile back in Abbotsford?

The only thing Canadians can brag about in regards to gun laws is that we can buy cheap Norinco's pistols. Also our customs officals are slightly less anal than theirs. The paperwork and requirement to get an export permit to ship gun parts more than $100 to Canada has effectively killed any interest in US stores selling gunstuff to Canada. It's a shame, because we would be agreat market for all those 10rd pistol mags.

 

[Omni]

Hey Colin,

Actually, I took the CCW course which was held in Langley back in January. How about you?

I'm hoping that as many Canadians as possible will get a U.S. based CCW permit. There is power in numbers, and if we can show that thousands of Canadians are safely and legally carrying concealed firearms when we are stateside, that may help us pursue some less restrictive laws here. Of course, we also need the Conservatives to win a majority in the next election!!!

I also hope we can get the NRA working up in Canada. That's why I joined. Our Canadian firearms spokesmen are too fragmented and ineffective. We need an organization that isn't afraid to kick ass and take names. We tried being quiet and hoping that the government would just leave us alone, and we almost got royally burned in the last election. The time has come to stop worrying about offending the weak minded liberals that are out to ban guns. It's a war and only one side can win. Lets make sure our side wins. We are fighting for property rights, self-defense rights and the fact that firearms are a part of our national heritage, and those are things worth battling for.

 

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums. I was in Ottawa just a couple weeks ago. Beautiful city, and nice friendly people.

You guys need a charismatic leader, or just a leader period. The NRA is an organization, but the NRA relies on people on the ground to do the work. So you need to gather all the pro-rights people under one organization and go from there. It will take a leader who is intelligent, articulate and dedicated to the cause. There will need to be enough in donations to pay this person full-time to do what is necessary to bring rights issues to the forefront. You will also need a supporting cast that isn't necessarily paid, but is there when needed.

Things like taking ministers shooting. Taking media people shooting. Writing letters to elected officials and the media. Offering up to be a resource for firearms related stories for fact checking etc. All these things are needed so that you can turn the perception of firearms and firearms owners to the positive. I could go on I'm sure, but this is a welcome thread so I'll stop now.

-Scott-

 

[Colin]

Ommi, I will take that course next year, have blown to much money on guns, bullets, etc for my wife's liking, starting to get the look!!!

Since you took the course, I suggest you start a thread here and ask some questions that were raised about non-US citizens carrying in the US.

Scott
We have two organizations, the NFA and the CSSA, they get a bit annoyed at each other, but are getting better, the Internet is a big help, also gun owners are fragmented by type (done on purpose by the anti's, government) They also need to look after each other, hopefully having a gun friendly Federal government in for awhile will give the chance to organize better.

 

[rstickle]

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined us!