TheGunBlog.ca — The trade group for the world’s largest gun industry warned shotgun exporters to Canada they risk confiscation after last week’s surprise bans by the Liberal Party. The U.S. National Shooting Sports Foundation’s “important alert” shows how the prohibitions could batter firearm companies worldwide. In the middle of business on May 1, Prime Minister…
TheGunBlog.ca — We may not like the cause, but the boom in demand for guns from the Covid-19 crisis is doing more for Canada’s firearm industry, gun culture and “gun rights” than anything else in modern times. It also comes with drawbacks, besides the mass death, infection and economic devastation from the virus and the…
Updated daily throughout the week.
Highlights This Week
– The Bright Side of Seeing Gun Shops Sold Out
– Mass Media Focus on Rising Gun and Ammo Sales Amid COVID-19
– Talking Points for Media Interviews
– News Bullets
TheGunBlog.ca — Sales of guns and ammo are rising in Canada on concern the COVID-19 coronavirus will lead to supply shortages or even social unrest. Stores are shutting their doors to stop contagion, while ramping up online and phone service amid a buying surge from the 2.2 million men and women with a federal firearm…
TheGunBlog.ca — John Hipwell, the founder of Wolverine Supplies Ltd., said today he designed the new WS-MCR multi-calibre rifle, his second semi-automatic model taking AR-15 ammunition magazines. The made-in-Canada firearm is classified “Non-restricted” in Canadian law, Virden, Manitoba-based Wolverine said today in an e-mailed press release signed by Hipwell. He said he was inspired by…
TheGunBlog.ca — Bullseye London, a major Canadian independent gun shop, is tripling in size as “very high levels of growth” for firearms, ammo and accessories offset concern over gun bans. The company continues to oppose the governing Liberal Party’s plans to order mass gun confiscations against federally licensed stores and hundreds of thousands of firearm…
TheGunBlog.ca — It’s impossible to talk with Fred Pellegrino without feeling excited about the future of Canada’s shooting community. Pellegrino is the owner and organizer of TACCOM, the Tactical & Competitive Sport Shooting Show. The September 2019 edition was the first and largest expo of its kind ever held in Canada. Optimism, Enthusiasm It filled…
(Update Dec. 25: Adds Hipwell comment on CGN, adds link to Kodiak follow-up statement.) TheGunBlog.ca — Wolverine Supplies Ltd., one of Canada’s largest independent gun distributors and retailers, and Kodiak Defence Inc. said they stopped working together to make and sell the top-selling WK180-C rifle. Update Dec. 25: “I am very saddened by this development…
TheGunBlog.ca — The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association told Toronto City Council it’s letting down residents by working against gun and ammo businesses and millions of hunters and sport shooters instead of working to reduce crime. The CSAAA, the main group for Canada’s 1,500 firearm-related businesses and their almost 50,000 staff, made the comment…
(Update Nov. 25: Rewrites headline and first paragraph.) TheGunBlog.ca — Adam Caruana, who pitched the idea for what became the TACCOM gun expo that shifted Canada’s firearm industry, moved to AmChar Canada Inc. last month after four years at Firearms Outlet Canada Inc. Caruana is the national accounts manager at the firearm importer and distributor…
TheGunBlog.ca — Canada’s firearm industry is often silent against inaccurate or biased media reports pushing gun bans. It could mimic FedEx Corp.’s firm and unapologetic response to a New York Times article saying the U.S. parcel-delivery company paid no federal taxes last year. “The New York Times published a distorted and factually incorrect story on…
TheGunBlog.ca — Marstar Canada President Payam Khoee comments below in an interview about what’s at stake in next month’s election for his firearm business and the industry. Marstar specializes in importing and selling military-surplus firearms. The company is based in Vankleek Hill, 100 km east of Ottawa. Khoee led the employee buyout of the company…
TheGunBlog.ca — Two of Canada’s leading groups for hunters and anglers and the firearm industry are inviting people across the country to take a 5-minute survey on their spending patterns to assess the size of the market. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) and the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA) promoted…
TheGunBlog.ca — Wolverine Supplies, one of Canada’s largest independent gun stores, made the following comment on Facebook and Instagram today as speculation rises the government will ban new sales of AR-15 target rifles and use Bill C-71 to confiscate the guns from families after the owners die. Wolverine Supplies is based in Virden, Manitoba. Background…
TheGunBlog.ca — Canadian shooters are rushing to buy AR-15 rifles and other target guns on concern the government will ban new purchases in three weeks, said Firearms Outlet Canada Inc., one of the country’s biggest independent gun stores. Speculation of new prohibitions fired up four days ago after Tony Clement, an independent member of parliament,…
TheGunBlog.ca — Following is a Q&A with Scott Patience, the owner of Bullseye London, a gun store in London, Ontario. He responds to questions about the demand for “Restricted” firearms, the outlook for business, gun politics and gun bans. Patience will be running a panel at Taccom, the Tactical and Competitive Shooting Sports Show organized…
TheGunBlog.ca — Here are some of my highlights from this year’s SHOT Show, the world’s biggest trade show for the firearm industry. The expo ran last week in Las Vegas. It started with a range day. Names You’ll See Below AmChar, Anschütz, Blaser, Canadian Shooting Sports Association (CSSA), Daniel Defense, European Arms Distributor, Galco, KelTec, Peacekeeper Products,…
TheGunBlog.ca — The SHOT Show range day for military and law enforcement yesterday was the quietest I experienced in the three years of attending the world’s biggest trade expo for the firearm industry. That made it quicker to try the gear on display and easier to talk to the company reps. The rest of this week…
TheGunBlog.ca — Following is an interview with James Cassells, the sales manager for Canada at Austria-based Glock GmbH. He comments on business, products, new police contracts and possible gun bans. Cassells, a former Toronto police officer and SWAT member who developed use-of-force training for the police in the early 1990s, spoke with TheGunBlog.ca by telephone…
TheGunBlog.ca — Glock GmbH, the maker of the world’s bestselling handgun, designed its new model 48 pistol as its first standard firearm developed specifically to be legal in Canada, one of the company’s largest recurring markets outside the U.S. The single-stack 9 mm gun could be in stores across the country as early as next…
