Monthly Archives: February 2006

Canadian gun registry hits

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This is just a letter to the editor and in general these are extremely unreliable sources of information.  But if true it explains something that has bugged me for a while, “Why are there so many accesses to the Canadian gun registry?”

Every time a car’s licence plate is checked to see if it is a stolen car, or a driver’s licence is checked to see if it is suspended, a “hit” on the gun registry gets recorded. We see thousands of those each day, so what? None of them have anything to do with keeping guns away from criminals, which should be the primary role of any gun-control initiative. Not even its most adamant supporters claim that the gun registry does that.

The writer goes on to nail the real reason for the registry–it makes some people feel good:

It was an interesting idea which didn’t pan out; it’s now an extremely expensive pink elephant that people cling to because it gives them a warm fuzzy feeling. One thousand more police officers with state-of-the-art equipment will do a lot more to combat gang violence in Toronto than some inaccurate and error-filled list of who owns which duck hunting guns.

Elena Markina, Thornhill

Google in China

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Interesting… using google.cn I get very similar results to google.com for the searches “Boomershoot”, “Joe Huffman”, “Freedom”, and “want some help building a bomb”.

I suppose the “Great Firewall of China” probably will block access for some of that but still it highlights the difficulty government types have in restricting information.

Also of interest is that by setting up a proxy on the outside of the firewall and encrypting the traffic between the browser on the inside of the firewall and the proxy on the outside it is trival to bypass the firewall and get access to all the internet.  The firewall would have to block all proxies or all forms of encryption and stegonography (very tough problem) to be effective.

As with illegal recreation drugs in the U.S., illegal handguns in the U.K., and all other goods if there is a market it will be supplied by someone making a profit.  Information in China will be the same.

Quote of the day–The Brandon Sun

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The new Conservative government has the federal long gun registry in its crosshairs, which has prompted some defenders of the program to plead with the Tories not to pull the trigger on the much-maligned registry.

But the cries of clemency coming from crime victims and now police chiefs, as compelling as they may be, must not be heeded and the registry must be put out of its misery.

The Brandon Sun
Say goodbye to the gun registry
January 31, 2006
[If this actually comes about it will give freedom lovers everywhere hope.–Joe]