CUFOA

Canadian Unlicensed Firearms Owners Association
Association canadienne des propriétaires d’armes sans permis

Sugar, Salt, Firearms, and Social Re-engineering in Canada

With the recent announcement by the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) the prospect of the implementation of the dystopian society predicted by George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" will have made a huge stride forward. CAEP has a declared goal "to enhance the health and safety of all Canadians", stressing the need to "protects citizens and save lives" by reducing "preventable tragedies".

While CAEP's goals may be laudable, their methods are completely intolerable.

In their press release, CAEP refers to firearms with a "focus on long arms [and] rural populations", noting significantly "gun related injury is most often associated with suicides as opposed to criminal intent".

Because a person may misuse a firearm and injure him or herself, CAEP wants the government to maintain and enhance the so-called gun control laws. CAEP also wants the federal government to implement "a nationwide surveillance system for firearm-related injury and mortality."

CAEP, proudly proclaiming to be "advocates for our patients", justifies this continued gross violation of personal responsibility and a further intrusion of personal privacy by the number of lives these laws purportedly save.

CAEP claims that "400 fewer Canadians are killed with guns annually in Canada than before the law [Bill C-68, the Firearms Act of 1995] was introduced." To save these 400 hundred lives from self-inflicted injury, the federal government implemented a two billion dollar ‘gun control’ program.

If we are willing to accept CAEP's rational for the unjust, intrusive 'gun control' legislation, then we should even more easily accept restrictions on personal items that are much more harmful than firearms.

Consider for a moment the adverse effects of sugar and salt on the human body:

Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide.1
An estimated 5.5 million adult (Canadians) … were obese.2
The [Canadian] national obesity rate in 2007 was 15 per cent. 3
The rate of deaths due to overweight and obesity nearly doubled in Canada [in 2000] to nine percent. 4
Diabetes [the type exacerbated by excess sugar intake] is Canada's healthcare epidemic.5 Excessive dietary sodium [table salt] is contributing to almost 17,000 cases of stroke, heart attack and heart failure each year.6

If CAEP's goal is really "to enhance the health and safety of all Canadians" do they want the Government to license the personal possession and consumption of sugar and salt? Is CAEP going to ask the federal Government for a national registry of foods that contain sugar and salt?

In their zeal to rid Canada of firearms is CAEP ignoring bigger health problems? Look for another moment at the numbers:

Obesity is more harmful to the heart than smoking.7
Diabetes affects more than 2.2-million Canadians [and] is the underlying cause of 10 per cent of all acute care hospital admissions in Canada.5
Table salt kills nearly 4,000 Canadians annually. 6

If CAEP supports and applauds the federal government’s spending two billion dollars of our tax money in the attempt to save four hundred persons from firearms-related suicide, how much money would CAEP like to see the federal government spend in licensing the possession of sugar and salt which would save ten times that many lives? When would CAEP begin calling for the federal government to implement a nationwide surveillance system to report sugar and salt self-inflicted injury and mortality?

Where does CAEP’s call for government intervention in the personal aspect of our lives stop?

It is not just the ownership and possession of firearms at stake.

If we do not reclaim the personal responsibility to protect ourselves, the Government will control all aspects of our lives.

Sincerely,

Edward B. Hudson DVM, MS
Secretary
22 January 2009

Canadian Unlicensed Firearms Owners Association
Association canadienne des propriétaries san permis
402 Skeena Crt. Saskatoon
Saskatchewan S7K 4H2
(306) 242-2379 (306) 230-8929
edwardhudson@shaw.ca
www.cufoa.ca

References:

1. Obesity is one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity

2. According to the 2004 CCHS, 23.1% of Canadians aged 18 or older, an estimated 5.5 million adults, had a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, indicating that they were obese
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-620-m/2005001/article/adults-adultes/8060-eng.htm

3. The national obesity rate in 2007 was 15.5 per cent, part of a general upward trend since 1996. In the survey, more than four million adult Canadians … indicated they were obese.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=00ade8f4-35d3-44f2-81bb-72aed2f8cda5

4. Queen’s study finds obesity-related death rates rising. Between 1985 and 2000, the rate of deaths due to overweight and obesity nearly doubled in Canada – from 5.1% to 9.3% –
http://qnc.queensu.ca/story_loader.php?id=4005aac9caae4

5. Diabetes is Canada's healthcare epidemic. More than 2.2-million Canadians live with diabetes. Diabetes is a leading contributor to heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, blindness and amputation. In fact, diabetes is the underlying cause of 10 per cent of all acute care hospital admissions in Canada. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109721.php

6. The average Canadian adult consumes approximately 3,500 mg of sodium every day. Lowering that to what the U.S. Institute of Medicine considers an adequate intake for adults - 1,100 to 1,500 mg daily - would mean up to 16,776 fewer cases a year of stroke and heart disease, according to the study to be published Wednesday in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/story.html?id=928bba7d-762b-4568-a45d-662482816d16

7. A study … put real numbers to the risk of obesity and suggests "excess adiposity" - fat tissue - is more dangerous to the heart than smoking.
http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=11a12f0d-dd3b-484d-a04e-3de4fc2dd670

************

Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP)

Attention News Editors:

Firearm-related injury continues to significantly impact Canada's health care system

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2009/15/c7489.html

OTTAWA, Jan. 15, 2009 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) released an updated position statement on gun control. Firearms are an important cause of injury and death in Canada. Contrary to commonly held misperceptions, gun related injury is most often associated with suicides as opposed to criminal intent, is more often associated with rifles and shotguns and is over represented in rural and aboriginal populations.
More effective gun control must continue to focus on long arms, rural populations and those at risk of suicide or domestic violence.

"As an emergency physician I have witnessed too many tragedies of patients injured or killed by firearms. All of these were preventable. As advocates for our patients, we must oppose the weakening of gun control laws. Gun control protects citizens and saves lives", commented Dr. Carolyn Snider, CAEP member and lead author of the position statement.

The following measures are recommended:

<<
1. Continued support for the original provisions of Bill C-68 and the gun control law, and active opposition to any attempt at repealing the national firearms registry (including the long gun registry).
2. Advocacy for the implementation by the government of a nationwide surveillance system for firearm-related injury and mortality.
3. Expansion of programs focused on the prevention of suicide, intimate partner violence and gang-related violence.
4. Support for legislation mandating that health care facilities report gun shot wounds, but not knife injuries or other violent injuries.
5. Continued support for research into firearm-related injury and death in order to guide further public policy development and future legislation.
>>

"CAEP's research credits Canada's strict licensing and registration regime with the significant decline in firearm injury and death we have seen in recent years: 400 fewer Canadians are killed with guns annually in Canada than before the law was introduced. We are delighted that they are as committed as they were 16 years ago to supporting strict controls over all firearms. The current government has made no secret of its plans to dismantle gun control and we will need CAEP and other health and safety experts to stand firm", said Wendy Cukier, Professor, Ryerson University and President, Coalition for Gun Control.

In 2004, 743 Canadians were killed by the use of firearms and, despite general media focus on urban crime, 76% of these firearm-related deaths were caused by suicide. In 2005, Ontario passed Bill 110, the first Canadian law that required health care facilities to report to legal authorities the name of anyone presented with a gun shot wound. In March 2007, Saskatchewan passed similar legislation, as did Nova Scotia in November of the same year.

The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) is a national advocacy and professional development organization representing 1,750 of Canada's emergency physicians. CAEP's mission is to provide leadership in emergency health care with a goal to enhance the health and safety of all Canadians.

For further information: Wendy Cukier, Professor, Ryerson University and President, Coalition for Gun Control, (416) 979-5000 x 6740; Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, (613) 523-3343 x14