Gun Bans Target Olympic Athletes: Shooting Federation of Canada

01 June 2020
Reading time is 3 minutes

TheGunBlog.ca — The Shooting Federation of Canada, the main government-recognized body for sport shooting, asked the government “to review and amend” its order for mass gun bans to avoid destroying Olympic careers and target sports.

Shotgun Confiscation

The SFC said in a May 6 letter to Minister Bill Blair that the May 1 decree to confiscate firearms with a bore diameter of 20 mm or more targets athletes and plinkers.

Olympic, Sport Shooters

“On behalf of the Shooting Federation of Canada, we are asking you to review and amend SOR 2020-96 as the regulation impacts Canada’s target shooting sport athletes by banning firearms with bore diameters used in Olympic events and recreational shooting sports,” President Sandra Honour said in the letter on the SFC website.

Why It Matters

  • The ban order made it a crime for athletes, plinkers and hunters to use any of their newly prohibited rifles and shotguns, and ordered confiscation within two years.
  • The government plans handgun prohibition next.
  • SFC is concerned about “negative impact” on sport shooters.

https://twitter.com/TheGunBlog/status/1267540313427660808

Disinformation Campaign

Blair Assertions

Blair said on Twitter the day before the SFC letter that “it is absolutely incorrect” the bans target users of 10-gauge and 12-gauge shotguns.

He was responding to a legal opinion by Edward Burlew for the Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA).

The CSSA later detailed Blair’s repeated assertions, including to parliament, that the prohibitions exempt shotgun owners.

RCMP Bans

The federal police has changed its opinion on several shotgun models to “Prohibited” since the ban order, even after saying it considers 10-gauges and 12-gauges have bores of less than 20 mm.

The CSSA is among organizations demanding Blair’s removal.

‘Serious Anxiety’

The confiscation plans were drafted in secret with the federal police and specifically target Canada’s 2.2 million federally licensed firearm users and 4,400 businesses.

The uncertainty for shotgun owners “has created serious anxiety within the hunting community,” the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, one of Canada’s biggest hunting groups, said last week.

Trudeau Slander

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his crackdown targets the owners of weapons “designed for one purpose, and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time.”

TheGunBlog.ca couldn’t find any Team Canada Olympic shooters charged with mass murder or terrorism.

Petitions, Lawsuits

Trudeau’s May 1 assault on honest citizens has led to the top-two e-petitions in House of Commons history.

At least four lawsuits have been filed, and more are in the works.

Handgun Owners Next

The May 1 decree is the first wave of the governing Liberal Party’s newest effort to weaken citizens, cripple the firearm industry and kill modern sport shooting.

Trudeau is going after Canada’s 300,000 handgun owners next, potentially wiping out the Olympic pistol team.

‘We Have Lost Many Athletes’

“Previous legislation had a negative impact on our members and hundreds of clubs across Canada and we have lost many athletes, and had to persevere through many club closures,” the SFC said.

“Our ability to develop high performing athletes for future major games (Continental events, World Cups and Olympic Games) is getting harder with each new restrictive legislation about firearms that impacts legal gun owners and ranges,” the SFC letter said.

SFC Letter to Blair

English version

Version française


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Topics: Bans, SFC, Sport

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