From: nfadat@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 15:48:25 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Subject: Carstairs In Denial -- Copy And Spread

A little while ago, there was some concern about this argument: 

Larry Tardiff, President of the Manitoba RGO debated Senator Sharon 
Carstairs about gun control before a small meeting.  After the 
meeting, a Red Alert was distributed indicating that Carstairs had said 
in debate that Bill C-68 was "social engineering" rather than crime 
control. 

Carstairs' office then issued a statement denying that Carstairs said
it, and two people who were present said they had not heard it--not
that it was not said, but hat they had not heard it.  There is
considerable concern that their faulty memories are politically
inspired.

I now have a faxed copy of a hand-written letter from Conrad Zihlke, a 
neutral observer at the debate, to Larry Tardiff.  He says, in part:


"Please find hereunder my notes made to the best of my recall of the 
debate or presentation by yourself and Ms. Senator Carstairs.

"Some of the things I recall her saying included: Gun control was or would
        - a victory for women [Including women shooters? -- NFA]
        - a Bill that would re-engineer society
        - help control crime [How? -- NFA]
        - make gun searches easier
        - make it easier on police going to homes where guns were...kept
        - cost government very little 
        - be paid for by gun owners.

"Ms. Carstairs hostility toward you as yours was also obvious.  Ms.
Carstairs remarks about the document you dropped on the table was to my
mind self derogative.  You had found and presented some evidence which
she had said did not exist.  You contained your anger reasonably well.
You did not deserve to be treated like a bad boy in school."


>>From my own experience over the years, it is not unusual for an "anti"
spokesperson to enter a debate against a knowledgeable pro-firearms
spokesperson with a dangerous degree of overconfidence.  The "antis"
tend to believe that anyone speaking against them comes from an
uneducated and uncultured peasant class, and will be completely unable
to deal with the brilliance and sophistication that will be brought to
bear against them.

When a person with that mindset is confronted with an urbane,
articulate opponent who knows far more about the subject and presents
better evidence than the "anti," it is quite common for the 'anti" to
lose his or her cool.  Things get said that should not be said, and
truths come out that are supposed to be hidden.  I have experienced
that sequence repeatedly over the 21 years I have been a spokesperson
for the firearms community.

There is nothing unusual about ill-advised statements being made by 
Carstairs, nor about the frantic efforts now being made to claim that 
the statements were never made.  It has all happened before.

By the documents issued from her office, Carstairs is apparently 
trying to brand Larry Tardiff as the liar.

The evidence is before you.  YOU be the judge.  Is the elitist Liberal-
Conservative unity trying to re-engineer Canada so that everyone will
hold their belief that firearms ownership is the symptom of a degraded
or diseased mind, or are they trying to reduce violent crime through
methods that have been proved not to work in every nation that has
tried them?

Whichever way you decide, are these the people you want to have running
our nation?  If not, what are YOU doing to elect the only visible
alternative available today--the Reform Party--as the next government
of Canada?  What are YOU doing--from INSIDE the Reform Party--to make
sure that a Reform government will be the kind of government YOU want?

The day when political neutrality was acceptable is long gone.

Dave Tomlinson, NFA