Victoria is looking at ways to regulate the sale of firearms and ammunition in the city.
After hearing that a pawnshop was buying and selling guns, Mayor Dean Fortin wanted a staff report on possibly “restricting” the sale of firearms in the downtown core. But councillors Thursday broadened the scope to include “regulating” the purchase and sale of firearms within city limits.
“Some of the local businesses have brought to my attention that one of the local pawnshops has got a licence to buy and sell guns in the downtown core,” Fortin said. “It obviously has sparked a concern in the sense of what risks are out there.”
He noted that some municipalities, such as Surrey, use zoning to restrict where firearms can be sold.
Jeremy Griese, general manager of Island Collateral and Sales in downtown Victoria, said he was shocked by the councillors’ action. He has just gone through the federal process of being licensed to buy and sell firearms but has yet to buy or sell any guns.
Griese said television shows such as Pawn Stars have piqued people’s interest in pawnshops and antique guns. “Now we have the licences in order so if somebody comes in with some rare gem of an old gun or somebody’s father passes away in Oak Bay and they have all these collectible old guns, now we have an option [to take them] as an item we could pawn, buy or sell.”
He said after he received his federal licence, he notified Victoria’s bylaw department. “Then the city came and issued us a business licence with a firearms condition on it for the coming year of 2014,” he said. “We’re not here to arm the city or build a militia.”
Councillors Lisa Helps and Geoff Young were the only councillors to vote against requesting a staff report on the issue.
Helps said she is not a fan of guns but she is worried that the request would have a significant impact on limited staff time. “We need to say, ‘If we are going to do this, what are we going to take off the table,’ ” Helps said.
Young said all kinds of things are sold downtown that he is not interested in buying and has no interest in seeing others buy — but that doesn’t mean the city should restrict their sale. “So we’re sending a message [with the motion] that there’s some kinds of stores and some kind of people that we just don’t want in our downtown. I think that is absolutely opposed to what we’ve all agreed. We’ve said Victoria is the centre of a significant region and we welcome people to come here.”
Fortin said his concern was the sale of guns downtown. “It may be something acceptable in other areas of the city but in the downtown … it just seems it’s a higher risk, less advisable activity.”
Councillors Charlayne Thornton-Joe and Shellie Gudgeon didn’t see any reason to limit the focus to downtown. “I don’t think we want to see this migrate to our neighbourhoods, which are thriving,” Gudgeon said.
Victoria police said while firearms sales out of a downtown pawnshop concerns them, there’s nothing they can do. “Do we like the fact that it’s there? No,” said Victoria police spokesman Const. Mike Russell.
The firearmscanada.com website lists three gun dealers in the capital region.
