We have to use our ammo to stop your bad guys.
A police chase at the Canada-U.S. border forced the closure of the Peace Arch border crossing south of Vancouver on Tuesday.
It also caused dozens of Canadian guards to walk off the job, fearing for their safety.
The incident started when two men, both murder suspects, tried to get into Canada. Officials say the two men, 38-year-old Ishtiaq Hussain and 22-year-old Jose Antonio Barajas, are now in custody. They are wanted on murder charges in California.
But the arrest didn’t come easy. One of the suspects was wounded in a shootout with police.
They are suspects in the murder of a cab driver who were running to Canada. They almost made it too. The main I-5 border crossing in Blaine, WA was shut down for hours while US officals completed their investigation of the scene after the two were taken away.
I heard the story on the top and bottom of the hour radio news all night, but found the link to it at Right Thinking.
Lee pointed out two things that I would also like to point out:
First, this line from the story:
Witness Bill Whittle didn’t see the ensuing gunfight but he heard it. “I heard about seven or eight gunshots on the other side of the Peace Arch,” he said. “One of [the suspects] was shot. [The police] got him out of the car.”
Could this be the Mr. Bill Whittle, of ‘Eject, Eject, Eject’ fame? It’s been a good long time since he posted. It would be a shame if he didn’t offer up his experience.
And secondly, it seems that, like the unionized Dutch military at Srebrencia, the Canadian Border Patrol Officers get their hands so effectively tied by those in charge that their union has included a clause in their contract saying that they can up and leave whenever times get dangerous.
CBC News has learned that when unarmed Canadian border guards found out the murder suspects were coming their way they left their posts at four crossings along the B.C. border. Only two supervisors were left at each crossing to protect the Canadian side.
A spokeswoman with Canada Border Services says the guards have the legal right to refuse to work if they believe they are in imminent danger.
And that, folks, is who is watching the other side of the world’s longest undefended border.
Our guys may not have the proper armaments (BTW, where is the left wing’s call for body armor for the Border Patrol guys?) and have to call for backup, but they stay where they’re needed.
A page from the Canadian Border Services handbook?:
ARTHUR:
What happens now?
BEDEVERE:
Well, now, uh, Launcelot, Galahad, and I, uh, wait until nightfall, and then leap out of the rabbit, taking the French, uh, by surprise. Not only by surprise, but totally unarmed!
ARTHUR:
Who leaps out?
BEDEVERE:
U– u– uh, Launcelot, Galahad, and I, uh, leap out of the rabbit, uh, and uh…
ARTHUR:
Ohh.
BEDEVERE:
Oh. Um, l– look, i– i– if we built this large wooden badger–
[clank]
[twong]
ARTHUR:
Run away!
KNIGHTS:
Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away! Run away!
Sorry, couldn’t resist!
A sad state indeed. Sadly our Liberal government has long resisted efforts by various groups to arm our border guards, even body armour was poo-poo’d.
The prevalent thought here is that only the police and the military can be trusted with firearms. And as it stands, those are the only groups that really carry them.
The argument put forward by our betters is that should firearms be an issue the police can be called. Small consolation I am sure for the poor bastard working the border when the fecces hits the ventilator.
Here’s a better write up from one of our Northern bloggers;
http://www.stevejanke.com/archives/153727.php
Thankee for that very good post on this, Erik.