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Here is a Canadian HERO!
decee
Member Posts: 456 ✭✭✭
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSWeirdNews0203/21_solder-cp.html Man registered soldering gun as firearm Manitoba resident not concerned he could go to jail OAK LAKE, Man. (CP) -- The Manitoba man who successfully registered his soldering gun as a firearm to protest new federal gun laws says he is not concerned he could go to jail. "I don't think they would be foolish enough to want this thing to drag out for a year or two, because it could if they charged me," Brian Buckley said from his auto body shop in Oak Lake, 250 kilometres west of Winnipeg. "I won't plead guilty." Last Christmas, Buckley, who is opposed to the new gun laws requiring all firearms to be registered by 2003, mailed his registration form back to the government with information from his soldering and heat guns on it. The "guns" were registered in the national database. On Wednesday, government officials said Buckley could be jailed for what he did. The threats have made him angry. "I've got an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old kid and they're hearing on the radio some bureaucrat from the east threatening I could go to jail for five years," Buckley said. "Even though I have reassured my kids that the government would never actually do that, I know when my son got on the bus this morning he said, 'I don't think you'll go to jail, eh dad?' And I said, 'No, I never will.'" David Austin, spokesman for the Canadian Firearms Centre, said Buckley's case has been turned over to the RCMP. "It's limited what I can say here because we've got the prospect of criminal charges," Austin said. As far as making an example of Buckley, Austin said it is not the centre's call. "Enforcement of the Criminal Code is the responsibility of the police," Austin said. "We do not make the decision on prosecution. We've got our job and they've got their job." Buckley, who has a possession-only firearms licence, calls the gun registry laws a waste of time and money. When he got a registration card back with the make of the gun listed as Black & Decker/Weller, he said he couldn't believe his eyes. Under the Criminal Code it is illegal for anyone to provide false information to register a firearm. Officials have said Buckley violated the Criminal Code because the information he supplied does not relate to a firearm. Depending on the type of conviction, an individual who provides false information to get a registration certificate could be given anything from a $2,000 fine or six months in jail to five years behind bars. Buckley admits the publicity that has swirled around him this week has been "kind of fun." He said he heard from about a dozen people Thursday who said they support him. "I've had people phoning me today and stopping in here saying 'If you do get charged and you need financial help to pay a fine, let us know. We are sick of this,'" Buckley said. A member of Parliament has even contacted Buckley to say he can get some free legal help if he needs it. "This is a pretty friendly town as it is, but I can't believe the number of people who have big smiles on their faces and are waving at me today."