US to Canada: “Stop harassing gun owners or we’ll stop hunting
there!”
— Help send a strong message to our northern neighbor

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Oscar Lacombe is a 75-year-old Canadian veteran of the Korean War
who was security chief for the legislature of Alberta for 20 years.
He retired in 1993, and is now a distinguished and responsible
private citizen.

On January 1, 2003, the date Canada’s notorious federal gun registry
took effect, Lacombe took an unloaded .22 rifle to a press
conference in Edmonton, Alberta, and told the news media he would
not register it. On principle, he could not submit to such an
unnecessary and unjust law.

To avoid creating public alarm, the rifle was sealed in plastic, the
firing bolt was removed, and Lacombe had given two days’ notice of
his intention to police.

The province of Alberta had promised since 1998 not to enforce the
federal gun registry. It promised to leave enforcement to the
federal government. Some other Canadian provinces made the same
commitment.

If they had stuck to that commitment, it would have been possible
for Lacombe and other protesters to have the federal Firearms Act
struck down in court as unconstitutional.

But after months of private negotiations with the national
government, Alberta broke its promise and charged Lacombe for
failing to register under the Criminal Code of Canada (something
only provinces can do). Lacombe now faces up to six months in
prison, and a fine of up to $2,000.

Worst of all, Alberta’s double-cross has deprived Lacombe of his
chance to challenge the hated federal gun registry in court. The
brave act of this outstanding citizen has been wasted.

The Alberta government has received over 100,000 e-mails from
individual Canadians asking for the Lacombe charge to be withdrawn.
The authorities still have about two weeks to reconsider their case
since they can withdraw the charges against Lacombe up until the
moment of the verdict. Even after that, authorities can still apply
to a higher court to have the conviction rescinded, or they can
simply abandon the case if Lacombe were to appeal a guilty verdict.

ACTION: The power to decide this issue rests with Alberta Premier
Ralph Klein. Please use [email protected] to e-mail him. A letter
you may wish to copy and paste can be found below. You might also
want to send the note to Mark Norris at
[email protected] — the bureaucrat in charge of
tourism.

—– Pre-written message —–

Dear Premier Klein:

It’s disgraceful that your government has employed a federal “agent”
to prosecute Oscar Lacombe for not registering an old .22
single-shot rifle.

If this is how you treat a respected 75-year-old Korean War veteran
who worked for your provincial Assembly for 13 years, how might you
treat American hunters?

Will you register my gun and turn the information over to US
authorities? No thanks. I don’t need that kind of hassle. You
can’t even keep your word to your Canadian citizens like Oscar
Lacombe. Why I should trust you to keep my name and gun owner
status private?

If you won’t keep your word to your own people and you still insist
on prosecuting Lacombe, I’m going to pass on Alberta when it comes
to future hunting trips.

Sincerely,

****************************
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