“We just want to make sure that all of those things are in a spot that we control, simply because of what they are.” – Sgt. Brian Topham in ‘Hell to pay:’ Residents Agry as RCMP seizes guns from High River homes [at calgaryherald.com]    (h/t instapundit.com)

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34 COMMENTS

  3. “I find that absolutely incredible that they have the right to go into a person’s belongings out of their home,” said resident Brenda Lackey, after learning Mounties have been taking residents’ guns. “When people find out about this there’s going to be untold hell to pay.”

    First off, you silly Canadians willingly gave up your rights when you voted for gun control. Secondly, there won’t be hell to pay because you willingly let the government gain such power and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it now.

      • Like that guy sang in “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut”, “They’re not even a real country anyway.”

    • Exactly, this is why if registration and/or confiscation occurs that everyone should literally fight like hell against it. Otherwise, there will be no way to resist in the future when they are persecuting us for speech, religion, etc.

    • Hey bud, nobody up here “voted” for gun control. It was imposed on us by”progressive ” thinkers holding the reigns of power. Just like the one you voted into the White House. How’s that working out for ya by the way?

  4. From the article…”Officers laid down a spike belt to stop anyone from attempting to drive past the blockade. That action sent the crowd of residents into a rage.”

    “He did confirm that officer relied on forced entry to get into numerous houses during the early stages of the flood because of an “urgent need”, said Topham.

    Police are no longer forcing themselves into homes and the residences that were forced open will be secured”

    Urgent need? According to who?

    Now that it’s got into the press, they’re going to stop.

    Move along folks, nothing to see here….

      • The word reasonable should be stricken from being used in our laws. They use it to justify any BS actions they take and judges LOVE it up here. Anything is justifiable if its reasonable to do so for public safety, apparently even after the public in question was evacuated.

  5. …until residents are *allowed* to return to their homes.

    oh my. How long will it be until the average joe sees government employees for what they are: people that wear pants and poop just like everyone else. Could you imagine if Nickbnumbers went to Canada and told someone he was forbidden from going home–oh yeah, and his guns are gone? I’d be laughed at and/or jailed. When a man with a uniform (costume) or badge does it, though…then it’s “We’ll come back at noon every day and get mad at you until you give us permission!”

    Just like every email should have as a signature: “This email may be monitored by the NSA and should not have words in it like: allah, bomb, terrorist, circus tickets, freedom, liberty, federal, Eric Holder, ATF, Ron Paul, IRS, or President. If it does, notify the owner as well as Janet Napolitano. It you see something, say something,” everybody in the world should start wearing uniforms. When it’s universal, it will lose its effect.

  7. Resistantance is futile… Actually if this happens here we will need resistance. And the grabbers ask us what tyranny?

  9. “Just Taking Orders”

    That excuse has been tried before. Didn’t work. Just ask anyone who was on trial at Nuremberg.

      • Yep, Australia had their chance in 96 but failed to do what needed to be done, and no I not talking protest, phone calls, e-mails, that time had come and gone at that point.

  11. Tom Gresham recently had a guest (don’t remember who) that said it is common for police in some jurisdictions to secure (seize/collect) any unsecured firearms after a fire in a home. He said that was a good argument for keeping your guns in a fire safe and I agree. It seems that is would also help in this situation. The police did force entry into the homes but I would be surprised if they spent the time to force entry into a safe. If they did, I would be in court asking for damages.

    • Once a firearm is in police custody it can be difficult and expensive to release it. They have the implied permission to run the SN and collect ballistics from it as well as hold it for an unspecified length of time for any reason at all.
      Lock your guns up except for the carry piece you should be wearing when standing outside with the firemen.

  12. Then there’s the bit about providing proof of ownership to get them back. Like I could come up with a bill of sale for something I bought in a private transaction 30 years ago?

  13. “ ‘This is the reason the U.S. has the right to bear arms,’ said Charles Timpano, pointing to the group of Mounties.”

    Indeed.

  14. As a Calgary resident, the situation in High River is getting quite tense. But that is outside of the issues being discussed here.

    There is little news about this sofar, other than the linked article above.

    The RCMP forcefully entered homes, in search of residents who purposefully disobeyed the evacuation order. The fact that they removed firearms, suggests that they removed said firearms who were not stored properly according to Canadian Firearms Law. (Locked in a “secure” safe/cabinet, or with trigger locks)
    Background info here: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/fs-fd/storage-entreposage-eng.htm
    This suggests that they removed firearms which were stored openly (High River is a rural town), open storage *is* legal in Canada, provided certain guidelines are followed, see above link.

    The questionable nature of this suggests:
    #1 – The now defunct Long Gun Registry likely still has some information floating around somewhere. Otherwise, Non-Restricted class firearms have no traceability of ownership.
    #2 – The RCMP will (eventually) be chastised for breaking the law (unless there are secret provisions in Canadian law which allows for such 1984 behaviour).
    #3 – The specifically went to homes which contained Restricted Class firearms (Handguns, and rifles+shotguns which fall into the “Scarey” class, or barrel shorter than 18.5″/470mm, overall length shorter than 26″/660mm). And the fact that the RCMP removed them, suggests lack of proper storage guideline adherence. (This point is not specifically mentioned in the news article, but Restricted Class firearms are registered)

    Now, that being said. This is in no way the “right” thing for the RCMP to do!
    But, the fact that there is a near riot going to happen in High River, leads to the conclusion the RCMP is pro-actively disarming a small number of the populace to prevent a violent uprising.

    Here in rural Alberta, firearms are a way of life, and Alberta did have the highest number of registered firearms, per capita. But did have a rumoured lowest percentage of compliance, per capita.
    (I have no direct links to support these facts, but is a generally accepted statistic, I’m sure there are facts to support these claims, but, they are my own interpretations of the statistics, that I have seen elsewhere, and not in my links provided.)

    Canadian Firearms laws are available here:
    http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/F-11.6/
    http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/fs-fd/index-eng.htm
    Yes, they’re confusing, even to us Canadians.

  15. TO: Canadians
    RE: Sooooo….

    ….you’re beginning to see the results of your choices in elections.

    Regards,

    Chuck(le)
    P.S. Don’t worry. It’s going to get worse. MUCH worse…..for you…..

    • This from a guy living in a country that elected Barack Obama? How are YOUR election day choices working out for YOU?

      Best not to be too smug, mate. I can buy an 870 with an 8″ barrel sans extra tax and hike around in the bush with it. I can build a 10″ barreled AR. Hell, I can even throw a stock on a Rossi Ranchhand and make God’s Own Truck Gun, all stuff you need permission from the feds for. It isn’t all bad up here.

      Pointing and laughing ain’t helpful. We’re all gun owners dealing with governments that lie to dabble and feck about with stuff they don’t know the first thing about.

      And for the record, out current federal government is a hell of a lot more firearms friendly than yours. We’ve repealed the long gun registry. Your feds seem dedicated to instituting one despite our $2B failed experiment. Things aren’t getting a hell of a lot better up here, but at least they aren’t getting much worse…

      How about you? Second amendment not under any sort of attack, is it? No big-money mayors launching campaigns against private ownership? No one branding us gun owners as psychopaths-in-waiting? No? Great. Glad to hear it…

  16. “The guns will be returned to owners after residents are allowed back in town and they provide proof of ownership, Topham added.”

    Hey, the Dems just want “common sense gun registration and background checks”. “This won’t lead to confiscation – honest!! No, we really mean it!!! And did we mention that we think the English and Australian gun laws are really spiffy?”

  17. The cops broke into their homes, went through their personal belongings and seized their guns because “People have a significant amount of money invested in firearms … so we put them in a place that we control and that they’re safe.”

    Also, “. . . residences that were forced open will be secured.” Seriously? They’re basically saying that “We broke down your doors and ransacked your homes for guns, then we walked away leaving your homes open to vandals and thieves for 8 days. But we’ll secure them now!”

    It will be interesting to see how many folks’ proof of ownership paperwork simply “floated away” during the flood.

    CaNAZIans!

    • Interesting that Officer Friendly and company feel the need to wear bullet resistant vests while doing such a fine job for the best interests of the community. Breaking into homes and removing personal possessions?

  18. In order to protect the guns from looters the RCMP looted the homes. I wonder if there were any reports of looting done by any other than RCMP?

  19. Look people, just pay the taxes and do as we tell you. Or we’ll send you to your room without supper.

  20. I wonder if they would go into a bank in the flood area and open all the safe deposit boxes?

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