This one involves a 'known jhadi' who was residing in Canada until 2012 when he went east to 'get some', according to 'the good guys', by killing Syrians for ISIS. They claim he was already 'subversive' when they found him. He claims that the reason he left Canada was because the RCMP, 'security' and law enforcement had 'identified' him and were pulling-out all the legal stops they could to make his life, in our western version of heaven, as rough as they could - search warrants, raids on his friends and family, probably 'advisory' visits to bosses, social contacts and friends lest he slip them a bomb or something.
He did leave the country and may have been in Syria, but he came back, and that's when the fun started. For if you're a 'suspected jihadi' before you leave, you might as well be a 'convicted jihadi' when you come back. He was charged under the National Security Act and was "released" because he got a smart lawyer and, well, there wasn't much evidence to lay before the bond court. So he walked and the Dudley Doowrights set out to get more 'goods on him' than they already didn't have.
But that isn't what the Star's story was about. It was about his 'jihadi' weapons collection.
It seems he had guns when the investigation started. He still had guns when he left for Syria and his 'arsenal' was still 'properly secured' at his parents' house ('they' - those security and police forces - can take them if they aren't), when he came back. Now despite all the NSA charges, he was able to go right on out, like any regular Canadian, even while he was out 'on bail', and buy a couple more guns.
But what's that got to do with Canada's finest you might ask? Well, if you've read some of my other posts on the subject you will already know.
Some while ago - maybe close to 20 years back - a former government of Canada (Liberals) thought it might be a good idea to find out what kind of weapons Canadians had lying around the house. So along with some 'stringent' rules about storing guns, they required all Canadian gun owners to register their firearms. The National Gun Registry was born - a 'free' service that was soon, according to the opposition party (Conservative), to start costing Canadian taxpayers "obscene amounts of money" spent to maintain "a new. wasteful, government bureaucracy" in Quebec. But police chiefs loved it - knowing who had a gun before a call went out was a blessing, and it was a source of potential charges under the Firearms Act - should any gun owner be dumb enough to afford police entry. For a decade and a half the cries of "waste" were bolstered by cries about "rights" and when, at long last, the Tories (Conservatives) got into a position of political power, they 'de-nutted' the gun registry. Or at least the 'free' part of it.
For there was an additional wrinkle that had been added, as time went by. The requirement of a firearms acquisition certificate (FAC) - obtained by filing a form, and a fee, to cover a local police force making a determination that you weren't too bug shit crazy to own a gun. This was was transferred into the hands of, you guessed it, Sargent Presto of the Yukon and his winder-dog 'fetch'. When the Gun registry went 'poof' a better thing took it's place, the RCMP gun-owners database and need for a Forearms Possession Certificate (FPC) (the old gun registry). The RCMP took over the FAC process from locals - adding a required approval from ones' spouse that you weren't getting a gun to blow her head off. The Mounties controlled access to buying, possessing guns and kept tabs on the Canadians who did that.
The Mounties gave the 'jihadi' they were investigating, a certificate to go out and buy more guns. If he's an 'ordinary' enough Canadian - with all the positive references and lack of criminal charges necessary to buy and own a gun, blessed by the law of the land, then WTF is he doing with charges and a pending investigation?
And if he's as bad as somebody(ies) in the security community think, WTF is he doing with a gun, let alone an arsenal?
If his civil rights protect his gun ownership then they should be protecting him - even more - from arbitrary police investigation and harassment.
But really, this is just another story about stupid. If I were that jihadi I'd do whatever it takes to get away from guns and the owner's database. Because there are SWAT squads out there who would take it as point of professional pride, regrettably of course, to introduce you to you some heavenly virgins.
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