XPost: can.politics, bc.politics   
      
   Note that Moldaver is a Harper appointee to the Supreme Court.   
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   OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down a law imposing mandatory   
   minimum sentences for certain gun crimes. Here are some quotes from the   
   majority ruling from Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, and the dissenting   
   opinion by Justice Michael Moldaver.   
   ___   
      
   "In most cases ... the mandatory minimum sentences of three and five years   
   respectively do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. But in some   
   reasonably foreseeable cases that are caught by (the law) they may do so." —   
   McLachlin.   
   ---   
      
   "Mandatory minimum sentences, by their very nature, have the potential to   
   depart from the principle of proportionality in sentencing. They emphasize   
   denunciation, general deterrence and retribution at the expense of what is a   
   fit sentence for the gravity of the offence, the blameworthiness of the   
   offender, and the harm caused by the crime." — McLachlin.   
   ---   
      
   "They function as a blunt instrument that may deprive courts of the ability to   
   tailor proportionate sentences at the lower end of a sentencing range." —   
   McLachlin.   
   ----   
      
   "A person cannot be made to suffer a grossly disproportionate punishment simply   
   to send a message to discourage others from offending." — McLachlin.   
   ---   
      
   "It is not for this court to frustrate the policy goals of our elected   
   representatives based on questionable assumptions or loose conjecture." —   
   Moldaver, in a dissenting opinion.   
      
   ---   
      
   "In my view, sending our elected representatives back to the drawing board on   
   (the law) would impede the goals of deterring and denouncing the unlawful   
   possession of deadly weapons and keeping them out of the hands of those who   
   would use them as instruments of intimidation, death, and destruction." —   
   Moldaver.   
      
   ---   
      
   "The record plainly demonstrates that, after lengthy debate and study,   
   Parliament responded to the pressing issue of gun crime by enacting the   
   heightened mandatory minimums in (the law) In my view, that policy choice   
   merits considerable deference." — Moldaver.   
      
   ---   
      
   "Where matters of public safety are implicated, we should be wary of   
   second-guessing the choices of our elected representatives, absent a compelling   
   justification." — Moldaver.   
      
   ---   
      
   "We are reviewing today's Supreme Court of Canada decision to determine its   
   impacts and the most appropriate next steps towards protecting Canadians from   
   gun crime and ensuring that our laws remain responsive." — Justice Minister   
   Peter MacKay.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)