Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Gunshot Residue Thought Experiment

Christie Blatchford, in her first missive on Saturday, wrote the following:
From the start, Canadian soldiers were using gunshot residue tests (this was mentioned by the former chief of defence staff Rick Hillier in his testimony to the committee this week, but the significance of the remark went unnoticed) to sift the wheat from the chaff.
Since Saturday, the GSR as proof that the people caught up in the sweeps by Canadian soldiers were not "simple farmers" line, has been taken up by others in comments in other places. I find this to be a fascinating argument. I mean, it's not as if farmers shoot guns, right? That's why Canadian farmers are such strong proponents of the long gun registry. I wonder how random GSR testing (with the threat of immediate arrest if positive) would go over in rural Canada?
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3 comments:

  1. If you've taken your blood pressure medicine today you should check out Corbella's 'Aghans love being beaten' column.

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  2. There isn't enough propranolol in the world. :)

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  3. And let's not forget that even the people who sell them don't advertise field GSR tests as being 100% accurate.

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