Handgun Sales Skyrocket Across Canada

Martin's proposed gun ban propels sales rise

The morning after Paul Martin campaigned in Toronto's crime-ridden Jane-Finch corridor and pledged to ban handguns, Frank Hiemstra walked in to work at Shooter's Choice gun store and range and got a surprising phone call.

"The guy says, 'Get me two 1911s. They don't want me to have one gun, I'm going to buy two,' " Mr. Hiemstra said.

Mr. Hiemstra, whose store is in Waterloo, Ont., said the announced ban has had a noticeable effect on sales: "We're definitely selling more guns than normal."

Gun shop owners and distributors across the country say handgun sales have increased since the Liberal Leader promised to ban them if his party wins the next election. Buyers are stocking up on coveted models before it's too late and hoping the ban would not be retroactive by including guns already owned.

"The people that are buying these guns hope they'll be covered under the exemption Martin said there'd be for target shooters," said Sean Hansen, who manages Freedom Ventures Ltd., a high-end handgun distributor in Halifax.

"And if they are seized, they've said, 'we'll have a very recent receipt showing the market value,' which Mr. Martin promised when he said he'd buy up all the guns."

Phil Harnois is a former police officer who now owns one of the biggest gun shops in Western Canada. Handgun sales at his Edmonton store, P&D Enterprises, have skyrocketed since the Liberal announcement.

"In a week we've done about 60 handguns, where we'd normally sell about 15," Mr. Harnois said. "It's certainly driven sales and we didn't try and assist that at all. People just came on their own."

He's worried sales might plummet, though, if the ban goes into effect.

"In the short term, yeah, we're doing quite well in sales. But soon we're going to exhaust our inventory and we don't know if they'll allow more handguns in Canada," Mr. Harnois said.

There are more than 500,000 legally registered handguns in this country. Most are owned by police, security guards, collectors and licensed target shooters.

Under the proposed ban, collectors would have to permanently disable or get rid of their guns. But Mr. Martin said legitimate target shooters who meet "strict requirements" would be exempt. He did not, however, explain what those requirements would be -- leaving target shooters frustrated by the idea of more red tape in what is already a strictly and cumbersomely regulated sport.

"People are saying, 'Piss off a Liberal: buy a handgun,' " said Len Kucey, owner of Phoenix Indoor Range and Gun Shop in Edmonton, who has also seen a boost in sales.

He said the people who come to his shop are tired of politicians making threats against the sport and not explaining any of it.

"We get calls all day about these announcements and regulations, 'What's your feeling on this, what's going to change?' " Mr. Kucey said.

"It's all very frustrating, because they [the government] are not doing the right thing. I would bet my house that less than 5 per cent of these crimes they talk about are committed by lawful gun owners."

Mr. Kucey said target shooting is a popular pastime in the area and he gets all types of shooters walking through his doors, from first-timers to national competitors.

"We get lots of stagette parties in here," Mr. Kucey said. "It's a lot of fun and women tend to be very good, better than the guys, beginners."

this article gives me the sudden urge to buy a handgun. course i'm the highly suggestable type.

it does doesn't it, its just something about defying a really stupid government that I cannot resist. I do not own any firearms although I am legally entitled to purchase rifels. But since the Liberal's announcement on banning handguns, I have seriously thought about getting the extra lisence needed to purchase a handgun. Although I would probably rarely use it, and probably keep it lockedup in a gunsafe at my parents house.

While I support the Liberal Government in most of its endeavours, I do not honestly believe that its proposed handgun ban will have anything more than a negligible effect on handgun crime in Canada. I do, however, support the ban in the context of being a declaration from the Government that handgun crime is unacceptable, and that it is a problem in Canada; that is, I suppose I support the ban in principle, but not in practice.

i dont think so either, and there are much more effective ways to curb firearm violence in Canada.

I think I know what you are saying, however for the government to acknowledge that handgun crime in unacceptable by making such a foolish law, it really speaks of the thought process that is put into making new legislation.

The liberal party is famous for making these kind of declarations on an uninformed public, to simply garner votes, or please people in a certain region.

Yep, as usual the Liberal government in Canada places the needs of the criminal ahead of those of the law abiding citizen. Why can't the Liberal government grasp the simple concept of making laws that punish the criminal, not the law abiding person?

Why I'll bet come election time, criminals will line up to vote en masse for the Liberal party.

I'm with you there Roy! I've never owned a gun, but am strongly considering buying one now.

I've never owned a catapult, but I'm considering building one. A great huge medieval siege engine...maybe big enough to hurl a cow.

Or at least a piano... :P

Pianos are expensive though. Cows are free.

...this fellow sounds like my dad

...wow this is going to be a great use of taxpayer money eh!

So I guess they (Liberals) believe that collectors and people who have had guns passed down to them through family are the real threat, wow we need to keep our veterans and their antique pistols off the street before they start shooting us up.

...correct me if im wrong, but aern't there already strict requirements for target shooters? ...what is Mr Dithers talking aboooot?

yep...I am getting tired of the shabby treatment of Canadians who own guns, and I don't even own one....yet

hey this guy is smart... I would bet my beans that he's absolutely correct.

Sure but does he have a catapult?

it is too funny how reactionary people are. by that i mean both the reactionary nature of the government to handgun violence and the nature of people reacting to the government's reaction.

society would be best served with guns removed, but unfortunately we can not successfully force the removal of something from society. History and human nature teaches us that.

We need to be addressing the core issues around gun violence rather than upsetting liberals by buying handguns.

I was thinking about the REACTIVITY of some people too. Someone talks about gun control and just like adolescents ......off they go and buy guns. Teen rebellion comes to mind with such imaturity. Embarrassing to see people act this way. Knee jerk reactions.

That's true Caracal. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives have been silent on addressing the social issues though.

yea that would be cool, or maybe we could build one big enough to hurl you all the way to suburban Toronto......or better yet the Parliment building in Ottawa where you could assist in making ridiculous laws based on idealogy.

Not a chance, Roy.

Hmmm.... Roy have you looked at your last post closely...

ROY - I so wish you had kept to the rules of posting copyrighted material - even just a link to the original article.

I have another Forum in which I would really like to link to that article - BUT I CAN'T.

sry Tenpacks, I will have to remember to link my articles next time around. And if you want more info on it just google "handgun sales up in canada" and there should be plenty articles.

I totally agree with you that we need to be addressing the core issue around gun violence, because that is the only way we can solve the problem. These "quick fixes" given to us by our leaders are not worth their weight, and frankly are possibly inadvertantly causing more crime.

Now the problem is, how can a regular joe like you and I help the government address these issues or even make them aware they are wrong. It is quite obvious that the Liberals did not do their homework before announcing this new handgun ban, now you tell me how can an ordinary citizen like myself show my displeasure or defiance to this government? Many people feel that by deliberately defying an out of touch government it will send a strong message back to the lawmakers. When I look around I see some of my fellow citizens attacking me because guns are a "right wing" thing..... I find it sad.


What ever happend to true Liberals, or more accurately Libertarians... We should stand up for everyone. We can't pick which causes we want to stand up for because it is a left-wing or a right-wing situation. Gays, law abiding gun owners, religous people be it Christian or whatever, they all deserve to be protected. Some people on this board will see an issue as right or left and make stupid comments because they don't find that issue importaint...but they don't realize that it is importaint to other Canadians. One only need to read this thread to see the "pick and choose" rights based on my partisan bias people.

you are correct, it should not be a left vs right debate but a question of finding a workable solution to the problems, which usually involves aspects of both the right and the left (or perhaps better described as carrot and stick, since people respond better to different stimuli).

I have been reading about this issue quite a bit recently and many people I know have been really distrubed by this news the Paul Martin Liberals have announced. They seem to have sidestepped the issue on how to reduce shootings and targeted the few legitimate gun owners in this country.

I did hear about the sharp sales increase in Alberta, I believe it was around a 40% increase. This really shows how the current government is at odds with the rest of Canada outside Toronto, specifically Western Canada. I think the Liberals have basically handed the election to opposition MPs in Alberta, Eastern BC, Sask, and Manitoba. A large population of uninformed fools down in Ontario feel the need to further aggrivate people all over Canada is acceptable, but I think this is one more nail in the Liberal coffin.

What are handguns, not other types of guns, actually used for? Their only practical purpose is to injure people. In my opinion, they serve no other purpose than to pose a danger to society; the proposed ban by the Liberal Government of Canada does not threaten legitimate owners of any other types of guns; hunters with hunting rifles and similar weapons are permitted to retain them, as are every other type of "recreational" gun that I know of.

This ban is exclusive to handguns.

When is alberta not at odds with the rest of canada? alberta is like the rogue territory when it comes to politics.

But none of the parties are proposing complete solutions. they are all playing the party games which leave canadians with half-arsed solutions. Have you ever watched the ski industry? boots come in two basic forms: front entry and rear entry. Every few years, the manufacturers switch the focus from one to the other and the stores promote the "current" boot as a better design then the other. Why? it keeps people buying new boots every few years. We see the same shenanigans from the political parties. Rather than giving us a complete solution, they play the two version game, and count on people switching styles every few years. Now sometimes a true leader comes along that goes against this shortsighted self-serving way of business, but that isn't all that often.

Because you cannot go half way with this kind of think. Shotguns can be sawed off and carried in similar concealed ways and yet they probably dont fall under that plan.

The fact is that banning the tools of killers is not going to stop them from finding other ways to kill people. I am a firm believer in legislation that attacks the use of illegal weapons or weapons that were obtained illegally and those that supply them.

actually five, a legitimate argument can be made for the posession of a handgun.

This whole handgun ban thing drives me nuts (I know....its a short trip)

It makes it hard for me to have any rational debate with a Liberal supporter.....I get angry because I consider them part of a conspiracy to steal my property, namely my handguns.

It is not paranoia when they really are out to get you.

Excuse me, but maybe you should rethink you statement. There are thousands of legal law abiding handgun owners across Canada whos purpose is not to injure or hurt people! That statement is totally illogical and an attack on something you are not informed on. Can you tell me how many legal handgun owners commit murders in Canada? The number would be less than 5% of total gun homicides in the whole nation. Why do people have to surrender handguns that have been in the family for generations, because the Liberals want to win a few votes in Ontario, and/or simply unaware of how to combat crime problems? This announcement, after thousands of Canadians were forced to go through the headache or paying to register our firearms with the federal government, only have them say we changed our mind.

Do you know the Liberals have cut funding for policing our borders, which leads to more handguns smuggled across. There are what, 200 unguarded border crossings? This is unacceptable, especially when they could of spent the money there instead of throwing 2 billion at a gun registry which has been inneffective.

WOW!

Here's a short history of firearms registration in Canada:

1934....Handguns registered.

1979....short-barreled (less than 18 1/2 inches) semi-automatic rifles and shotguns registered.

1992....a list of "undesireable" long guns created that require registration. Several types seized without compensation, including many of those registered in 1979.

1995....all guns to be registered. A new list made up of firearms to be seized without compensation, which includes about one third of all guns registered before 1995.

2005....the Liberals promise to ban handguns.

If you read this, it becomes very obvious that this is incrementalism. A little at a time, the government is removing firearms from society. ALL firearms.

Registration means confiscation.

They are after them all, a bit at a time.