Things are Getting Interesting!
/There is an ancient curse that says, “May you live in interesting times.” Well, our ongoing global pandemic and some homegrown politics has sure made this an interesting spring.
As of now, we anticipate a gradual re-opening of the range and our retail operation coming soon. When we’re ready to re-open, we will announce it on Facebook, and will send an email to all our members letting you all know what’s happening. The light is at the end of the tunnel, and businesses are starting to re-open, so we’re ready to get back to business and get in some serious trigger time once we’re allowed to. And we’re eager to dig into… another ongoing project…
Like the rest of you, we don’t have a confirmed date yet, but we have a plan of action to get things going again while keeping members and staff safe. We will have to wait for the provincial government to give the okay before we can reopen to the public, but in the meantime, we are still doing Saturday curbside pickups for ammo orders placed via email, text or messenger through the week. Ordering details can be found in our previous update post.
But enough about the virus. Let’s talk about the other disease plaguing our country.
As much as possible, we try to keep our politics private. As individuals, you can probably guess where our votes might go, but as a business, we are for the most part politically agnostic. We welcome anyone with the same sporting interests, regardless of their personal politics.
That being said, we disagree in the strongest possible terms with the Order in Council put into law on Friday, May 1. The “assault weapons” ban is a bad piece of law, written, timed and executed poorly, which will do nothing to accomplish the stated goal of making Canada safer. We know that the overwhelming majority of our members share this opinion, and we probably don’t need to go into a lot of detail about why this ban is a terrible idea. That’s a matter of public record, and is stated better by actual experts:
Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights (CCFR)
Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA)
National Firearms Association (NFA)
Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA)
Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH)
These are a few key examples. There are plenty of others, and finding other sources that agree with these experts is a pretty easy Google search.
There has been a lot of speculation about hunting shotguns meeting the conditions of this ban. The OIC has prohibited all firearms with a bore larger than 20mm, and most modern 12-guage shotguns with removable chokes technically meet this condition. Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Bill Blair has gone on record as saying that shotguns are specifically NOT included in the ban, but he did this via a tweet rather than through the Criminal Code. A single court case could, in theory, result in the complete ban of 12- and 10-guage hunting shotguns with removable chokes, based on the wording of the OIC.
What this means is, even if your deer rifle or goose gun was not on the list and you don’t care about AR-15s and other “assault weapons,” this ban should concern you. This ban is a hair’s breadth from taking your hunting gun, and that might only be a matter of one court case. We all need to be on the same page on this one, whatever we shoot, because it is absolutely not going to stop here.
Whatever your political leanings may be, we encourage you to write your Member of Parliament to denounce this ban. Write Bill Blair and Justin Trudeau. Write editorials and opinion pieces for your local paper. Write a blog post or a tweet. Spread good information to counter the misinformation we have been hearing. Respectfully disagree, and back your arguments with fact.
If you can afford it, donate to the CCFR to help with their legal case. Rod and Tracey and the gang are fighting the good fight on our behalf and can use every bit of support we can give them.
Details of the case can be found HERE.