It is now a year since the horrible slaying of the four RCMP in Mayorthorpe. The father of one of those slain, Don Schiemann, has rightfully pointed out that the present minimums for gun crimes is a joke, emphasizing that we need to send a strong, strong, message to the criminals.

Yet there are many in high positions who seem to disagree. "Criminals tend not to be forward-thinking enough to be deterred by harsher sentences," says Willie de Wit, a Calgary criminal lawyer and past president of Alberta's criminal justice branch of the Canadian Bar Association.

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