Long knives are out concerning slain mounties in Alta.

[Cal Sibley]

For a few days most newspapers focused on the grief over the loss of the 4 mounties slain in Alberta. Now the newspapers are picking up their war cry again to outlaw guns. Not a word have I read about enforcing the laws already on the books, about judges handing our stronger sentences to offenders, or God forbid about the Governments sacred cow, the Gun Registry. We'll catch a lot of flack for awhile. You can be certain of that. Is our government too inept, too much a party voting machine, or what? I simply no longer understand. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[toxic111]

Its the opposite out west Cal. Many Mp's etc have said that this just proves that the registry doesn't work and it should be scrapped. I was expecting a ban guns outcry, but this showes even with control criminals will always get guns.

[blacktail]

I agree toxic

Here in the land of the anti we are even hearing the crys of what has the reegistry done to prevent this and it is a farce of the libereals that has cost us bilions and cost us even more in lives.

Have to see how it plays out

[captain2k_ca]

The liberals will just never learn, and will never listen.

[captain2k_ca]

Sea of red tears

Four slain Mounties remembered by thousands at national service

EDMONTON (CP) -- In a solemn ceremony filled with tears, love and pride, Canada said goodbye Thursday to four young Mounties cut down in the line of duty by a crazed gunman.

The memorial began with a kilometre-long parade of scarlet-clad RCMP and police from across North America marching together in solidarity with their fallen comrades.

The officers then joined with grieving relatives and thousands of citizens, students and children to hear tributes to constables Peter Schiemann, 25, Leo Johnston, 32, Anthony Gordon, 28, and Brock Myrol, 29.

"They have fallen in service to us," Prime Minister Paul Martin told the crowd of more than 11,000 crammed into the University of Alberta pavilion in a service that was broadcast live across Canada on television and radio.

"The people of Canada owe an untold debt to these four officers and their families. We owe a debt to each and every woman and man who chooses to put on a uniform, to submit to risk, to face harm."

Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson also offered words of comfort to the families of the slain.

"What must never leave you is the gratitude of a nation," she said on a stage with a large Canadian flag as a backdrop.

"These men so cared about the public good that they were willing to die to serve it."

The four RCMP were ambushed by James Roszko in a Quonset hut on his farm near Mayerthorpe, northwest of Edmonton.

The shootings marked the worst massacre of Mounties in Canadian history, surpassing even the deaths of three members of the Northwest Mounted Police at Duck Lake, Sask., during the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.

Near Mayerthorpe, on top of the hill overlooking Roszko's farm, four RCMP officers blinked back tears as they listened to the ceremony on their car radios.

Other officers were still investigating the crime scene, listening to the service within metres of the spot where Roszko ambushed their colleagues.

"The feeling was indescribable," said Cpl. Rodney Koscielny. "Everybody on site here hasn't had much of a chance to think about it. When you hear today's broadcast you start to think of it. It's been overwhelming for all of us."

At the service, family members and friends of the constables recalled their loved ones with fondness and heartache.

"The pain of our loss is beyond anything we could have imagined," Don Schiemann said of his son.

"Peter, we shall see you in heaven, but we can hardly wait."

Schiemann's eulogy sent a ripple of sadness through the crowd as burly police officers as well as civilians wiped away tears.

Const. Lee Johnston, twin brother of Leo Johnston, struggled to maintain his composure as he spoke about the man born just nine minutes before him -- someone he called the "most important person in my life."

"In his final moments . . . he did not give up. He fought, refusing to believe in any outcome but victory," Johnston said, before pausing briefly in front of his brother's portrait.

It was left to the man who was in charge of the fallen Mounties to say their sacrifice will give strength to those they leave behind.

Bill Sweeney, RCMP assistant commissioner in charge of Alberta, told the crowd that evil is a fact of life in this world and it is the duty of police to confront it.

"Evil would be victorious if our resolve, our determination to serve and protect, is irreparably shaken by this tragic loss," he said.

"While we may pause to mourn alongside Peter, Leo, Tony and Brock's families, let there be no mistake that our strength is found in the morality of our cause and we will prevail through this terrible test of faith."

Singer Ian Tyson's rendition of his melancholy song Four Strong Winds and Tom Jackson's take on Amazing Grace added a bittersweet tone to the service that was only surpassed by the mournful notes of the Last Post play by a Mountie bugler.

But the day was dominated by the heart-wrenching remembrances of family members and solemn RCMP traditions.

Hundreds of Mounties in their world-famous red serge tunics filled row upon row in the pavilion. Four Mounties placed black pillows with the slain officers' Stetsons on top of a traditional RCMP horse blanket just before the service started.

The service followed the stirring sight of a troop of RCMP on black horses leading thousands of Mounties marching eight abreast along a city thoroughfare.

People lined the parade route two-deep in bright sunshine, brushing away tears, sobbing or staring straight ahead.

The sombre mood was punctuated by the rhythmic clicking of boots on pavement, senior officers barking the cadence -- "Left. Right. Left. Right!"-- the steady thump of helicopters overhead and the mournful skirl of the bagpipes from the RCMP pipe band.

A rainbow of colours streamed by -- the navy blue of the Edmonton police, the green of the U.S. border patrol, the sky blue of air ambulance pilots.

Officers came to pay their respects from across Canada, from Ohio, New Hampshire, Alaska and from a host of other states. There were Parks Canada wardens, Calgary firefighters and Canadian Pacific Railway Police.

It was being called the largest memorial in the RCMP's history. Smaller services were being held as well across the country.

At the RCMP training depot in Regina, where the slain constables had recently graduated, about 300 cadets, instructors and support staff watched the service on a big TV screen in a darkened drill hall.

Training continued throughout the services with cadets stopping in to watch when they could.

"Today is a very sad day," said Sgt. Bob Bourget, a supervisor at the facility. "It has been a very sad week."

In Mayerthorpe, where the Mounties died, the streets were quiet.

Inside the high school, a few dozen students watched the televised service projected onto a wall in the gymnasium.

[captain2k_ca]

Thu, March 10, 2005

Readers take direct aim at Liberal gun laws

By JOHN GLEESON -- Winnipeg Sun


When a psychopath decides to end his miserable life and take four Mounties with him, there is no public policy in the world that can prevent it. The case of James Roszko, however, has such extreme outlines that Canadians can't be faulted for demanding to know why authorities allowed things to escalate to mass murder.

Like a character straight out of Deliverance, Roszko terrorized a tiny Alberta community for years. He was prohibited from owning guns -- but everyone knew he had guns. The courts had repeated opportunities to lock him up and throw away the keys -- after all, he was a convicted pedophile who was later charged with serious offences involving firearms -- but instead Roszko walked free.

There is simply too much wrong with this picture. While the main focus in a nationwide post-mortem should be on the justice system and how the law itself was unable to tether a known menace like James Roszko, some of the most thoughtful letters written to The Sun since the tragedy have zeroed in on the Liberal gun laws and the farce known as the gun registry.

Reader after reader, from East Coast to West Coast, from small town to big city, is saying essentially the same thing. The problem isn't just that the gun laws are aimed at law-abiding citizens. It's that there are no effective gun laws for criminals and monsters like James Roszko. The registry, in that sense, is like a lethal decoy.

Larry Roberts of Winnipeg wrote: "As critics have long pointed out, 'controlling' firearms with a billion-dollar blizzard of paperwork does nothing to protect the public! Scrap the existing bureaucratic nightmare that spends as much time tracking law-abiding citizens as it does the crazies, and spend the money on a program that focuses on previous offenders, to make sure they are prohibited from access to any firearms, period.

"That way, four of Canada's finest will not have died in vain."

Here's how Joe Gingrich of Nipawin, Sask., put it: "Jim Roszko, as a criminal, was out of scope of the Firearms Act. Therefore, not only Roszko but over 176,000 Canadian criminals with firearms prohibition orders are not routinely tracked, hunted, searched, or checked to make sure they are disarmed; year after year after year.

"Our useless and unjust gun law simply targets the wrong people. The police, judges and legal prosecutors are very busy, however, making paper criminals of our citizens and using feel-good legislation to do it. Let's scrap the Liberals' Firearms Act now and make logical legislation which pertains to criminals.

"Canadians know what happened, and they also know why."

Thomas G. McVeigh of Victoria wrote: "In a time when training and funding for our police are being squeezed every way possible, I find it tragic that we have squandered precious funding on something that quite patently does not do the job it is supposed to do.

"The gun registry is now no longer up for debate."

Jeff Hyland of Halifax: "There is a lot being written on the need for stricter 'gun-control.' These writers have missed the point completely. What Canada needs today is stricter 'criminal control.' "

Jason Quinn of Fredericton, N.B., said the Mountie tragedy "proves that Canada's expensive gun registry does not prevent criminals from getting guns or ammunition, either stolen or smuggled. It simply burdens the law-abiding majority. Canada needs to prosecute the 'criminal' misuse of firearms with mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines so that everyone involved with crime is aware that they will face lengthy jail sentences if they are in possession of a firearm."

Barry Glasgow of Woodlawn, Ont., lists the various firearms offences Roszko had apparently committed, which technically could have sent him away for 69 years. Yet the fact is, he adds, "the system was unable to secure convictions on these charges or police were unwilling to investigate allegations of illegal firearms (which has been done numerous times against legitimate gun owners)."

Barry argues that the Liberal government and its supporters, "in order to save face," are choosing to ignore the reality that the system is seriously broken.

Is that it? Is it all about saving face?

Perhaps that's being too kind.

Winnipegger David Gauthier wondered how the Liberals could keep defending the gun registry as a credible law-enforcement tool in view of all the evidence we now have to the contrary. Cynically he asked, "Could this so-called 'gun registry' just be another Liberal party 'AdScam?'"

That would be my suspicion, David.

[fabsroman]

Gun laws, registry, or whatever, criminals will still kill people.

Down in Atlanta, Georgia, an accused first degree rapist, waiting just inside the courthouse lockup to attend his trial, overpowered the female deputy that was taking her cuffs off, took her gun from her, and shot her in the head. She is listed in critical condition. He then proceeded to kill the judge that was presiding over his case along with a deputy in the courtroom. After that, I believe he killed another deputy while leaving the building.

On a previous court appearance, which ended in a mistrial, the deputies found that he had two jail house fashioned shivs in his shoes and that he had been planning on going after the judge. Allegedy, the judge had requested additional security for this second trial, but it was not granted. Hence, a jduge and two deputies are dead and another deputy is in critical condition.

Along the same line, in Chicago a federal judge's husband and mother were killed execution style in what she believes was a message to her pertaining to a case that she was presiding over.

Crime is just out of control. The liberals hate harsh sentences and they think they can fight crime in other ways. Personally, I believe in throwing the book at convicted people. Sad thing is that I am sometimes on the other side of the coin representing some of these criminals in court and asking the judge to be lenient on them. Granted, none of them are as bad as these guys. Mostly bar room fights and DWI's. It's just a system that doesn't always work properly.

I wish you guys in Canada the best of luck with the gun registry issue. Just remember, guns, knives, cars, bats, arrows, etc. don't kill people, PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE.

[TheeBadOne]

[captain2k_ca]

Excellent Picture. Thanx for posting.

[fabsroman]

TBO,

That is a great pic.

[toxic111]

Wonderful image, it is now my wallpaper.

[BILLY D.]

BEAUTIFUL, AND ALSO A MESSAGE. KIND OF LIKE THE MISSING MAN FORMATION.

MAY GOD BLESS AND KEEP THEM.