Firearms advocate sticks to her guns:

Firearms advocate sticks to her guns:
Date: Dec 19, 2006 7:42 AM
PUBLICATION: Vancouver Sun
DATE: 2006.12.19
EDITION: Final
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1 / Front
BYLINE: Janet Steffenhagen
SOURCE: Vancouver Sun
ILLUSTRATION: Colour Photo: Sharon Gregson's photo on the cover of the
Canadian Firearms Journal. The Vancouver school trustee has written an
article entitled 'A Woman with a .45.'; Photo: Canadian Firearms Journal
/ Sharon Gregson also claims to be the most-tattooed elected official in
Canada.
WORD COUNT: 605

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Firearms advocate sticks to her guns: 'Firearms are a healthy part of
society,' says pistol-packin' Vancouver school trustee

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The attractive woman posing with a .45-calibre Colt on the front of the
Canadian Firearms Journal this month is not your typical gun defender.
Nor is she your average public school board trustee.

But Sharon Gregson is all that and more. She's a long-time New Democrat,
a mother of four and an advocate of publicly funded daycare who recently
found her voice as a firearms champion. She admits it is an odd
combination, especially since she was afraid of guns until three years
ago when she received one as a gift.

"Before that I had been quite anti-gun," she said in an interview. "It
is kind of weird for somebody on the left to be enthusiastic about a gun
sport but, nevertheless, that's what I do and that's who I am.

"I am very committed to my social justice principles. I wish that as
Canadians we had spent the money that we spent on the gun registry on a
national child-care program, because that would have created a far
healthier society than we are now."

Her Vancouver outing as a gun enthusiast occurred Monday when she was
interviewed on a radio program talking about her competitive shooting,
her three firearms and her recent application for a U.S. permit to carry
a concealed weapon when visiting the U.S.

The response was overwhelming. "It was huge. Much, much, much, much
bigger than I would ever -- in a million years -- have guessed," she
said later. "People are incredibly curious about why I'm interested in
guns and the fact that I'm an elected person and a mother and a
child-care advocate."

She also claims to be the most tattooed elected official in Canada,
although there's been no national show-and-tell as yet.

The Vancouver school trustee said she is speaking publicly about gun
ownership to encourage a reasonable discussion in Canada with decisions
based on research rather than emotion.

"By speaking out as a legal gun owner who is concerned all the time
about safe storage, safe transport and safe handling of firearms, and
who enjoys firearms as a sport and as a collector, I think I'm putting
forward another part of the discussion and another perspective."

Her interest in guns blossomed in 2003 after her partner, Thomas
Lockhart, a competitive shooter, gave her the Colt .45.

She bought a membership at a shooting range, began to practise and was
soon competing with IPSC, the International Practical Shooting
Confederation.

"There's a huge amount of skill involved in shooting successfully and I
don't think that's recognized often enough," she said. "Some people
like
golfing, some people like hockey, I like shooting."

Gregson has also offered her support to a National Firearms Association
campaign promoting the rights of women to carry concealed firearms for
protection. She has applied for a permit in Utah to carry a concealed
weapon in the U.S. and expects to receive it soon.

Utah is one of only a few states that grants such licences to Canadians,
and Gregson said it was "prudent" to take advantage of that opportunity,
especially given that gun laws change frequently.

Asked if she wants to carry a concealed weapon in Canada, she replied
that while the situation is different here than in the U.S., there have
been times when she would have been safer if she had been carrying a
gun.

The response to her radio interview Monday was mixed, she said. Some
people were pleased she had broadened a debate while others said Canada
should ban firearms altogether. As of mid-afternoon, there had been no
word from the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE), under whose
banner she was elected to school board.

"I think most of my colleagues will be surprised that I'm a gun
enthusiast," said the former president of the NDP riding association in
Vancouver-Hastings.

"I think my fellow trustees might be looking at me a little differently
at the meeting tonight -- wondering what other hidden interests I have."


jsteffenhagen@png.canwest.com

- - -

This story can be heard online after 10:30 a.m. today at
www.vancouversun.com/readaloud.

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PUBLICATION: GLOBE AND MAIL
DATE: 2006.12.19
PAGE: A11 (ILLUS)
BYLINE: JANE ARMSTRONG
SECTION: National News
EDITION: Metro
DATELINE: Vancouver BC
WORDS: 857

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B.C. trustee won't conceal her love of guns Vancouver mother wants
relaxation of handgun laws, but colleagues want her to stop shooting off
her mouth

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Vancouver school board trustee Sharon Gregson loves to shoot her Colt
.45 handgun. She's posed with her prized weapon on the cover of a
national magazine and even went to the United States to obtain a
concealed handgun permit, which is good in 30 states.

She thinks Canadians need to broaden their thinking about handgun
ownership.

"There is a thinking that guns can only be bad and related to crime, and
that's not my experience as a legal gun owner, participating in a gun
sport," Ms. Gregson said, explaining why she decided to get a handgun
permit in Utah.

Recently, Ms. Gregson sent an e-mail to Prime Minister Stephen Harper
urging him to relax handgun restrictions.

"One of the frustrations with being a gun owner [in Canada] is that the
rules keep changing and so it seemed prudent to apply for this licence
while it was available to me." But some of Ms. Gregson's colleagues have
urged the trustee, a married mother of four, to stop shooting her mouth
off.

Trustee Clarence Hanson said her comments send the wrong message to
kids.

"I was quite shocked," Mr. Hanson said after he heard Ms. Gregson on a
morning radio program yesterday, in which she argued in favour of easier
access for permits to carry a concealed gun, especially for women who
feel threatened.

"As a school trustee, my concern is basically, we have a number of
children . . . who sometimes feel harassed and bullied.

"I don't want them to get the impression that this is the way to protect
yourself," Mr. Hanson said.

"If they get a feeling that a school trustee who represents them thinks
it's okay to protect yourself in this way, . . . we're going down a
dangerous road, I think." But Ms. Gregson said she won't retract her
comments and invited Canadians to start a national discussion about gun
ownership, safety and crime rates.

Ms. Gregson said she appeared on the cover of the National Firearms
Journal to lend her support to its campaign to loosen Canadian
restrictions on carrying handguns.

Currently in Canada, only target shooters and collectors can get a
permit to buy a handgun.

And rules for transporting the weapon are restricted to taking it back
and forth to a gun club or gunsmith.

"I think that there should at least be more discussion about the issue
surrounding guns in Canada," she said.

"Right now in Canada, you can't own a handgun for the sole issue of
self-defence. You can have it for target shooting and for collection.

"I don't think it's appropriate to say we shouldn't even discuss
protection issues and safety issues." Ms. Gregson became interested in
guns after she received the handgun as a gift.

At a shooting range in the suburban Vancouver municipality of Maple
Ridge, she began competing in International Practical Shooting
Confederation tournaments in which shooters complete an obstacle course
while firing at targets.

"You know, some people like bowling, some people like knitting.

I like shooting," Ms. Gregson said.

"The people who are very good are absolutely amazing to watch.

It's completely entertaining and their skill level is just so
impressive." Ms. Gregson said she did not mean to suggest that kids in
the school system be urged to carry guns.

However, she did suggest that the outcome of the Montreal massacre might
have been different if any one of Marc Lepine's 14 female victims had
been carrying a weapon.

"I've heard some people say if one of those women had been armed, [Mr.
Lepine] might not have been able to commit such a horrendous crime if
they weren't all completely defenceless against that onslaught," Ms.
Gregson said.

"But in no way have I ever suggested this has anything to do with kids
carrying guns to protect themselves." However, Mr. Hanson said he wants
to talk to Ms. Gregson about her comments.

"I think when we become a school trustee, you've raised the bar a little
bit for yourself. So you have to help set an example out there." The
head of the Canada's main gun-control lobby denounced Ms.

Gregson's comments as well as the National Firearms Association campaign
that is trying to make it easier for women to carry handguns.

"If arming to self-protect worked, the U.S. would be safe and it's not,"
Wendy Cukier said in a telephone interview.

"It's an absurd comment. It's completely contrary to Canadian
traditions. It has no basis in fact, and for someone who is associated
with schools to be making those comments is particularly alarming,
especially a woman." The Edmonton-based National Firearms Association,
which is spearheading the permit campaign, has argued that women can
better protect themselves from personal attack and reduce crime if they
are permitted to carry handguns.

"It's about safety," said the association's president, Dave Tomlinson.

"Most women feel relatively helpless. They regard themselves as not
having any practical way to defend themselves.

"Police protection is a myth. Police only come after the crime has been
committed."




The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !