Gunsmoke Services in Campbell River is getting calls from the Lower Mainland from people wanting to find handguns, as demand surges because of planned new federal restrictions.
Calls from the mainland are unusual because the store mainly caters to locals, says store manager Nicole McCurrie, whose parents, Kevin and Sharon McCurrie, founded the businesses 30 years ago.
“I guess there are many shops which are already sold out, which has never happened before.”
Gunsmoke has just a few handguns in stock and has orders in with suppliers. Suppliers in Canada normally get one shipment of imports per year from certain companies. Nicole McCurrie has been advised to buy immediately if a product is available or risk going without.
Buyers typically already have handguns or have a licence allowing them to make a purchase but haven’t yet done so. The vast majority of customers buy them for target practice, McCurrie said.
The federal government tabled legislation on Monday to impose a ban on importing, buying, selling or transferring handguns to control the number of these firearms in the country, in an effort to improve safety.
Anyone committing acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, such as stalking, would automatically lose their gun licence.
The bill would create a new “red flag” law allowing courts to require those considered a danger to themselves or others to surrender their firearms to police.
McCurrie says the federal government is targeting law-abiding citizens who only want to compete in recreational target shooting.
Proposed handgun rules show a “kind of distinct contempt I would call it for many Canadians who maintain their licences and comply with regulations and use their firearms responsibly.”
Douglas Bancroft, president of the Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association on the Malahat, calls it “bad legislation.”
“It doesn’t accomplish the stated aim of improving safety in particular, minimizing violent firearm crimes,” said Bancroft, whose group has about 2,700 members who have handguns for recreational use.
“This legislation basically says nobody going forward will be given a license to get a handgun.”
Those commiting crimes with firearms are not the same as those who take part in recreational shooting, he said.
In downtown Victoria, Jeremy Griese, general manager at Island Collateral and Sales on Johnson Street, said the store has sold about half its current stock of handguns.
“As soon as the annoncement was made that there could be a possible ban on handguns, there’s been a surge in interest in obtaining them,” said Griese, whose store sells both new and second-hand firearms.
“We’ve had people who possibly haven’t bought a restricted firearm before but are licensed for it, [who] are now looking to buy one or more in the hopes to be grandfathered or to keep them down the road.”
Many are concerned their window of opportunity to buy a handgun could close, he said.
The number of registered handguns in Canada increased by 71 per cent between 2010 and 2020, reaching approximately 1.1 million, according to federal statistics.
Handguns were the most serious weapon present in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes between 2009 and 2020.
cjwilson@timescolonist.com
