Canadian Firearms Journal - June 2010 by NAftional Firearms Association

June/July 2010

CANADIAN

$4.50

Firearms Journal

Inside: Meet your new Executive! Police, Policy Making & C-391 NFA Launches New Legal Defense Fund! Fully Committed On All Fronts:

Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Firearms Association

Inside This Issue

Greeting from Head Office

Regulars

We’re also happy to renew your membership on the spot or sell you one if you haven’t already joined “Team NFA.” ☺

Hello! Things have really been picking up here in the office since the nice weather finally hit and we’ve been kept hopping answering member’s questions, attending gun shows on behalf of the organization and dealing with the tons of mail we receive every week. We love it! We’re happy to report that our recent “End the Long Gun Registry” postcard campaign was a great success with a very good return rate. Thanks to all who took the time to send their cards and let Ottawa know where you stand as responsible firearms owners. Gun show season is still upon us and there is nothing we like more than having an opportunity to interact with fellow gun owners and members. Please don’t hesitate to drop by any table where you see our banner and say “hi” or fill out a postcard.

From the Editor’s Desk ...................................................... 4 Sean G. Penney

Our new on-line store is now up and running and the new website is really starting to see heavy traffic from our members. We’re pleased to announce that you can now buy or renew your membership instantly on-line with our secure shopping cart or pick up a new NFA T-shirt, travel mug or gym bag, etc…from our selection of NFA merchandise. Finally, by the time this issue goes to print our Annual General Meeting for 2010 will have come and gone. It was a lot of work, but we’re sure it will have proven to be a great success. Congratulations to all the new NFA directors and new executive and thank you to all members who took the time to exercise their franchise and vote.

From The NFA Bookshelf – Old Guns & Whispering Ghosts . ....................................... 5 Wm. Rantz

President’s Message – Passing the Torch....................6-7 Blair Hagen

Vice President’s Column – Taming the Hobgoblin.....8-9 Sean G. Penney

Letters to the Editor. ..................................................... 10-11 Preserving Our Firearms Heritage – Firearms & Fashion................................................ 12-13

On The Cover

Gary K. Kangas & Sybil Kangas.

Have a great summer everybody! ☺

One of the most satisfying things fellow firearms own-

- Diane, Bev, Megan & Ted

ers can do is pass along their knowledge and experience to new shooters. Help preserve our cultural heritage and

Politics & Guns – Police, Policy Making & Gun Control.......................20-23 Tyler Vance

become a mentor. New shooter recruitment is rapidly be-

Old Western Armoury – Elfego Baca & the Frisco War: Standing Alone for Justice. ....................24-26

coming an issue of critical importance to our community

Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin

as the shift from the nuclear family to two-income families continues to cause declines in hunter and gun-owner populations.

Legal Corner.......................................................................... 27

Grayson Penney

The International Front – Facts, Science & Strategy in Australia ......................28-29

Gary Mauser

Mission Statement

Canada’s National Firearms Association exists to promote, support and protect all safe firearms activities, including the right of self defence; firearms education for all Canadians; freedom and justice for Canada’s firearms community, and to advocate for legislative change to ensure the right of all Canadians to own and use firearms is protected.

Team NFA Update...........................................................30-31 Grayson Penney

Gunsmith “Q & A”.........................................................42-43 Grayson Penney

The Last Word. ................................................................46-47 Grayson Penney

Features

2010 Election Results & Annual General Meeting...............................................14-17 Sean G. Penney

Kids & Guns – Is Hunting Good for Bad Kids?. ..20-23 Cast Bullets For Beginners, Part II. .......................32-35

The contents of the Canadian Firearms Journal are Sean G. Penney copyrighted and may be reproduced only when written Made Right Here – Alberta Tactical Rifle permission is obtained from the publisher. Supply AT-15: Homegrown Black Rifle....................36-40 Sean G. Penney

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NFA Book Shelf

From The Desk of the Editor This is a special issue for me, as it marks my final column as your vice-president, communications. Our 2010 AGM has come and gone and we have a great new executive in place. For now, my focus is going to lean more towards marketing & promotion. In that role, I’ll be exploring new ways to grow & improve our magazine as Editor-in-chief, keep our web site content fresh and make sure our members are kept informed. In this issue our ever-popular regulars are back. Bill Rantz reviews a book by fellow contributor Jesse Hardin. Our friend Gary Kangas checks in with another glimpse into our past with his firearms heritage article looking at the fashion of the Cowboy Action Shooting world. I’m sure some of those same fashions would look quite familiar to the subject of our Old Western Armoury feature, one Elfego Baca, as related by Jesse Hardin. Professor Mauser returns with another look at Australia and what lessons we should take from this failure on the part of the Australian firearms orgs. Definitely some food for thought! My co-editor, Grayson, weighs in with his “Last Word,” taking a look back at how he got his start in the shooting sports with his first Red Ryder BB gun and also shares his method of adjusting original Remington 700 factory triggers in our “Gunsmith Q&A.” With the end of the 2010 race season he also gives us the final update on Team NFA for the year. I contribute with my report on the 2010 election results and Edmonton AGM. Attendees were very positive over the whole experience and we hope to make next year’s even bigger and better. Special thanks have to go out to our hardworking staff at headquarters and the generous support of our corporate donors who helped make the AGM a rousing success. I’m also back with a review of one of the few Canadian made AR-15s, in our “Made Right Here” regular feature and finish up with part two of my “Cast Bullets for Beginner’s” primer.

Canadian gun owners and provide aid to those in need when they go up the proverbial 600lb gorilla that is our national police force. Check out this issue’s “Legal Corner” for more information on the fund and court challenges related to recent unilateral reclassification of semi-autos. We’re also welcoming a new contributor to Canadian Firearms Journal this issue; Tyler Vance joins us for his take on Politics & Guns, with his in-depth treatise on the role the various police and law-enforcement associations play in public policy making on firearms issues. Finally, the “Kids & Guns” feature is back with an interesting look at the whole issue of kids, guns and hunting and what exactly young hunters and shooters can take from a positive and safety conscious introduction to the sport. As we’ve said time and again, kids who grow up hunting and shooting don’t grow up to knock-over liquor stores or rob little old ladies. I think the author drives home this point quite succinctly. Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this issue just as much as we all did putting it together. As always, we love to hear from our readers and we’re always on the look-out for new talent, or a member with something to say via our “Member’s Soapbox.” Don’t be shy! Correction: Please be advised that the caption for the photo found on page 19 of the April/May 2010 Canadian Firearms Journal is incorrect. The individual pictured with new NFA President Sheldon Clare is Mr. David Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary to Natural Resources Canada Minister Christian Paradis and not Mr. Shawn Fried. We apologize for any inconvenience

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OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS Author - Jesse L. Hardin Publisher – Shoot Magazine Corporation 267 Pages, Colour & Black/White photos Hard Cover with Dust Jacket ISBN: 0-9726383-2-6 One purpose of a dust jacket is to protect the book that it contains. Even more importantly, from a retail perspective, the role of the front cover is to attract the prospective buyer’s attention. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS’ dust jacket features an 1881 Marlin rifle, an old style cartridge belt, pocket watch and a photo of William F. Cody holding his 1873 Winchester rifle. How could any gun enthusiast or history buff resist ordering a copy to add to their library? OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS arrived shortly after ordering and I began by scanning through the pages. It was soon apparent that this book was like no other that I owned in my extensive book collection. There are many books that concentrate on the firearms of the early days and just as many that focus on historical figures from the same time period. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS allows the reader to explore the relationship between the firearms and the lives of the men and women who carried those guns years ago. History of the Old West, as told today, is a blend of well documented facts, folklore and distortion by our modern motion picture industry. Jesse Hardin is well aware that his potential audience will have their own perspective of western life. He shares his own visions of gunslingers, native warriors, buffalo hunters, soldiers and other western characters while stimulating the imagination of the reader. Jesse Hardin has also included a wide variety of visual material to stimulate the reader’s imagination. Included are many historical black and white photographs as well as numerous modern colour images which Jesse has taken with his hand held camera. The book also contains numerous sketches that Mr. Hardin has drawn enabling him to share his vision of life on the early frontier. Slowly turning the pages can turn into a very enjoyable hour long experience. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS is divided into 17 chapters with titles such as “Buffalo Guns: Ritual Waste & Return” and “Indian Arms: Home-

We’ve also launched a new Legal Defense & Compensation Fund that will enable us to continue fighting for the rights of

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By Wm. Rantz

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lands, Lances & Trains”. Each title listed in the Table of Contents specifies the focus of that chapter but does so in a way that arouses the curiosity of the reader. The extensive thought that went into selecting each title reflects Hardin’s overall effort to produce a high quality publication. Reading through the text of any given chapter provides you with a combination of historical facts blended with descriptions sufficiently detailed to make you feel that you are actually witnessing the events firsthand. Hardin is obviously a very talented writer capable of sharing his thoughts skilfully. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS is definitely a unique publication. It has eye catching photos but is not simply a coffee table book. There is no index which confirms that this is not a reference book. Chapters can be read and reread in any order which means it is not a novel. Each reader will soon discover that they have a favourite chapter or more that relates to their specific interest in the lore of the early frontier. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS is not meant to be read once and then hidden on a dusty bookshelf. It is intended to be a friend that you can rely on when you need to escape the torrid pace of modern life. Sit back, relax and enjoy the hours spent exploring Jesse’s vision of the guns and characters of the frontier days. Jesse Hardin has tremendous respect and perhaps is even envious of the people who settled the early west over one hundred and fifty years ago. The writing that he shares in OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS will convince readers that in order to truly understand life on the early frontier both people and firearms must be studied together. OLD GUNS AND WHISPERING GHOSTS may be ordered directly from Old Guns Book c/o Botanie Valley Productions, PO Box 507, Lytton, BC V0K 1Z0. The price is $43 Canadian including both shipping and handling.

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President’s Message

preserve their hallmark legislation and Firearms Act of 1995. Its failure and rejection by Canadians means nothing to them. Like other failed ideologies such as fascism, communism and statism, its adherents put the blame for those failures on “not being implemented the right way” or “not being communicated correctly to people”. And they’ve got important and powerful internationally and at the United Nations.

Passing The Torch by Blair Hagen

When I first assumed the position of NFA president after National President David A Tomlinson passed away in September 2007, I faced a daunting task. David Tomlinson, our association’s patriarch had made a very deep stamp on both National Firearms Association and the firearms community of Canada. I knew it would take the work of ten people to do the job that he had done, and so I immediately set about recruiting those ten people. Sean Penney of Newfoundland and Henry Atkinson of Ontario volunteered to take interim vice president positions as National Firearms Association wrote and adopted new bylaws, undertook the transition towards a new organization, and finally held nominations and an election to complete that process. Without the efforts of these men, National Firearms Association would still be stuck at the starting line of this herculean task/ quagmire. Credit also goes to Sheldon Clare of Prince George, British Columbia for conceiving the process and leading the renewal of those by-laws. This process is now complete, and Sheldon Clare was elected this past weekend, during our AGM, as president of Canada’s National Firearms Association. He enjoys the complete support and confidence of our newly elected board of directors. In many ways, Sheldon Clare is a fortuitous and logical choice as president. His commitment to the fight to reform Canada’s broken firearms laws goes back over two decades, beginning even before David Tomlinson drafted him to work and represent National Firearms Association in British Columbia. As BC NFA President, Sheldon led the fight against the Liberal C-68 Firearms Act; taking on the provincial governments of the day with such efforts culminating in 2001 with the election of a government that had campaigned on and were elected because of their promise to oppose the C-68 Firearms Act - and end British Columbia’s participation and administration of the Canadian Firearms Program. Sheldon’s leadership and intimate knowledge of firearm law has well served National Firearms Association and its membership through his over 20+ year’s 6

involvement with this association. The long service and devotion of our provincial executives and volunteers, some still with us and others not, also deserves recognition. I hope the renewal and evolution of National Firearms Association is some small payment for their years of service to the firearms community. One thing I have learned through my tenure as NFA president is that we are winning the fight to reform Canada’s firearms laws, and assert the Canadian right and cultural tradition of firearms ownership. Where once we could only stare down a one way street of ever increasing gun control and civil disarmament we now, for the first time ever, have legislation before parliament that would begin the reform of Canada’s failed firearms control system. This is something all Canadians can celebrate. The goals of the 1995 C-68 Firearms Act and “universal” firearms registry were clear. It was to be the “final solution” to the firearms “problem” in Canada. It was going to socially re-engineer Canada into a liberal, leftist, and ultimately disarmed society - as those who conceived, wrote and supported the legislation were dead set on ending the Canadian right and cultural tradition of firearms ownership. Luckily, their arrogance and incompetence resulted in a very poorly written piece of legislation, especially for such an immense goal. This failure greatly aided freedom loving Canadians in working towards its demise these past 15 years. The Auditor General of Canada’s report of 2002 merely confirmed its failure and finally convinced the Canadian public of it. The election of the new Conservative Party of Canada in 2006 stopped the progress of the Liberal’s firearms agenda dead. Today, even that party is going through some soul searching on the firearms issue, proposing “decriminalization” for lack of compliance with its failed firearms law - unthinkable in 1995 or even 2000! There are, however, many more challenges to come. The civil disarmament lobby in Canada is stubbornly resisting efforts to reform Canada’s failed firearms control system and

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friends

Canada is supposed to be on the same schedule of civil disarmament as other Commonwealth countries such as Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The firearms communities of those nations have suffered greatly at the hands of the international civil disarmament lobby. Gun bans, confiscations, punitive and overbearing regulation are the new norm. Their “privilege” of firearms ownership has greatly diminished and is disappearing into the background of their national histories. The deliberate excise of those recreational firearms communities from the national fabric of those nations is part and parcel of the social re-engineering process of those societies and cultures. It is a process that we must stop. In Canada, we have been presented with a unique opportunity not only to stop that agenda, but reverse it as well. That is something Canada’s National Firearms Association is going to exploit to its fullest potential. The preservation of our historic firearms freedoms must be paramount. In that regard, the positive and important role firearms played in carving this great nation out of the northern wasteland, and the symbiotic role firearms continue play today in our ever evolving Canadian cultural experience cannot be long ignored. Canadians will write this nation’s firearms laws, not some utopian disarmament activist, not some international gun control non-governmental organization, and not some UN bureaucrat seeking international harmonization of disarmament initiatives. Canadians, including firearms owning Canadians. You and me. This nation’s national sovereignty is not up for sale to the international gun control lobby. Canada will not follow those other unfortunate nations down the dark road of civil disarmament, cultural subservience and degradation. The international disarmament movement’s agenda stops here. It’s been a great honor and privilege to serve the membership of the National Firearms Association for the last three years. Your enthusiasm and support have made it possible for us to endure the often frustrating job of challenging government, the federal bureaucracy and the justice system. I encourage you to continue to support Canada’s National Firearms Association and the lifetime goal of building and maintaining our proud Canadian firearms culture for every generation that follows.

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National Firearms Associations 2010 Executive & Board of Directors (L-R, Phil Simard, Ed Lucas, Bill Rantz, Ted Simmermon, Diane Laitila, Sheldon Clare, Henry Atkinson & Blair Hagen. Missing - Steve Buddo, Sean Penney)

The diversity of Canada’s recreational firearms community is what makes us so passionate and vibrant. The energy and drive contained therein is something which we must harness in order to protect and preserve our rights as responsible firearms owners. Firearms are part of Canada’s cultural fabric. We enjoy a long and proud history of firearms use that ranges from traditional sporting uses such as hunting to organized shooting sports like high power rifle and Olympic Biathlon. Additionally, we have a rich and vibrant tradition of firearms preservation and collecting, with many collections across the nation that are the envy of military historians, competitive shooters and collectors around the world. Contrary to popular liberal opinion, thousands of Canadians every year also continue to demonstrate their unwillingness to be victimized by criminals. Self-defense is a basic human right and countless Canadians have legitimately used their firearms for the defense of themselves and their families when they have been forced to do so. The Canadian firearms community is a reflection of the diverse, cultural mosaic that is Canada. Our modern handgun and sporting rifle competitors come from all walks of life and position. Doctors share the firing line with the factory worker and the school teacher with the engineer. Just as importantly, Canada enjoys a proud martial heritage and Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen have served in an exemplary manner under both the British flag and our own Maple Leaf banner. All of these different shooters and divergent interests have helped play an integral part in forming the Canadian cultural identity. Take pride in that. Working together, growing, building and always looking to present the best possible message, we will win. Remember these words. They are what will win the fight to preserve firearms freedom in Canada.

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Vice President’s Column Taming the Hobgoblin Sean Penney, National VP Communications

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. - H. L. Mencken Remember that slippery slope I mentioned last issue in reference to the RCMP’s unilateral reclassification of legally registered semi-auto rifles & shotguns? Well, the gun grabbers are upping the ante and it isn’t just those “evil black rifles” that need to be controlled; scoped bolt action “sniper” rifles are now on the chopping block as well! For you fence-sitters on registration; times up. Whether you like it or not, we’re in a no-holdsbarred fight with the gun grabbers and it is critical for all Canadian gun owners to finally recognize this fact. I speak in reference to recent reports coming out of Afghanistan that have a British Army sniper breaking the current long-distance kill record held by former Newfoundland-born PPCLI sniper Rob Furlong; set back in 2002 during Operation Anaconda. According to reports, one Corporal of Horse Craig Harrison of Her Majesty’s Household Cavalry was the shooter of record. During the engagement, CoH Harrison scored three confirmed hits at 2,475 m, besting Furlong’s record by 45 m, during a patrol south of Musa Qala, in the Helmand Province badlands. CoH Harrison engaged the two Taliban machine-gunners, then in the process of bringing both his

own commander and allied Afghan soldiers under direct fire with their Russian-built PKM machinegun, with his issued L115A1 Long Range Rifle chambered in .338 Lapua Magnum. The bolt-action, magazine fed rifle is built by Accuracy International, and in addition to the British Army, is currently used by many Canadian shooters competing in tactical long range shooting competitions across the country. The feat of arms displayed by CoH Harrison cannot be diminished, as he scored three hits with nine rounds expended - killing the machinegunner and his assistant, as well as a third, deliberate shot, on the Russian machinegun itself to render it unserviceable at ranges that were actually well beyond the normal combat effective ranges of the .338 Lapua Magnum round. Score “three” for the “good guys” right? Wrong! The ink wasn’t even dry on the newspapers announcing CoH Harrison’s outstanding martial display when the Coalition for Gun Control usurped CoH Harrison and his rifle for their own nefarious purposes. In E-mails, interviews and posts to their website, the Coalition warned their followers and the public that the very same L115A3 sniper rifle used by

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CoH Harrison, “…which can shoot more than 2 km away,” would be one of the firearms that would be removed from the firearms registry if Bill C-391 passes. The Coalition for Gun Control continued, warning supporters that because the current Firearms Act (which they had a direct hand in helping draft) replaced all previous gun laws, including a requirement by businesses to keep sales records that was in place since 1977, there would be no way for law enforcement to track these firearms once the registry was dismantled, since the L115A3 is currently classified as non-restricted. The horror! It isn’t hard to read between the lines of the Coalition’s “warnings.” Obviously Ms. Cukier is a student of H.L. Mencken, as this is yet another blatant attempt by her socalled coalition to create yet another “hobgoblin” with which to terrorize the non-gun owning populace. The public has no more to fear from an L115A3 in the hands of law-abiding gun owners than they do from any other bolt-action hunting rifle or target rifle. There are literally thousands of such rifles in the hands of hunters and target shooters today and they provide good service afield in pursuit of big and/or dangerous game or on the

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known distance range at Connaught. When this warning didn’t quite get the media coverage she had hoped for, Cukier doubled-down and raised the specter of civilian ownership of .50BMG caliber target rifles that could, “Shoot airliners out of the sky,” to engender even more fear. Other than costing about $10.00 per round to shoot, most registered .50BMG rifles in Canada are nothing more than heavier, more unwieldy, bolt-action target rifles that are outrageously expensive. They pose no more danger to the public than the scoped .30-06 in the hands of any Canadian sportsman. Yet, God help us all if C-391 passes and the police no longer know where to find these “instruments of death,” if you buy into what Ms. Cukier is selling! Interestingly enough, both types of rifles have been in Canada for decades, yet we haven’t seen a single airliner drop from the sky or any assassinations from 2+ Km. Obviously, this is just another cheap ploy by the Coalition for Gun Control to further obfuscate the issue in order to make the public “clamorous to be led to safety” because current poll numbers, in support of C-391, aren’t going her way. It is disingenuous and the lowest form of politics. To counter these initiatives National Firearms Association has adopted more aggressive short-term tactics, including direct marketing and on-line postcard campaigns in support of Bill C-391; a new media outreach policy and direct lobbying of federal party leaders. While support for these recent initiatives has been very positive, we have not escaped criticism from a certain segment of the recreational firearms community. I’ve dubbed them the “not us” collective. These are the guys who have taken umbrage because we’ve actually www.nfa.ca

had the audacity to take our fight to the public airwaves and declare that we are responsible, law-abiding gun owners and we’re not willing to accept the unilateral suppression of our rights any longer; nor are we willing to remain quiet and not rock the boat while agents of the government usurp the privilege of parliament and institute further firearms bans without due process.

Gun bans? Don’t think it will happen here? Think again, the process has already started just as it did in Britain & Australia. Remember too that Liberal promise that registration would never lead to confiscation? Tell that to the owners of Norinco Type 97A carbines and High Standard Model 10B shotguns! The stakes have never been higher folks, now is the time to act, not tomorrow or next week – TODAY!

The “not us” crowd would prefer that we kept quiet and to express thanks for what few rights we have remaining instead of choosing to fight for the rights of fellow gun owners. They constantly argue that it is “not us” who are the problem…it is those “machine guns” or “hand gun guys” who are ruining it for us, or those “tacticool young bucks” making trouble stirring up the gun grabbers.

In closing, I’d like to let you all know that this will be my last column as your vice-president. Our inaugural AGM as Canada’s National Firearms Association is history and our old organizational structure has been replaced by a completely new one that is far more democratic and open.

They are of the opinion we should avoid talking to the public or the media, at all costs, in order to avoid drawing more attention to us; ignoring the fact that the gun grabbers have already placed us firmly in the public spotlight. Yet, when asked for alternative strategies, the “not us” gang offer no solutions other than appeasement. Any student of history can tell you just how successful that strategy would prove if adopted. Looking at the big picture, if we, as gun owners aren’t willing to stand-up and fight for our rights than who will? For too long this fight has been carried by far too few hands and far too many gun owners have opted for apathy instead of action. Recent initiatives by the RCMP to begin the reclassification of legally registered semi-auto sporting rifles and shotguns is but the first volley in a new campaign that can very well lead to the confiscation of every semi-auto in Canada. Now the Coalition for Gun Control is directly targeting scoped bolt-action rifles as well! June/July

My title no longer exists and a new executive has been elected under the new by-laws. With a newly elected board of directors and a revitalized national executive, I felt it was the correct time to step aside and focus more on my duties as CFJ editor and contributor. It has been the greatest honour and privilege of my life to have been entrusted with the responsibility to serve as your vice-president for the past three years. I’d like to thank both Blair and Henry, along with all of our outgoing provincial executives and our faithful office staff for their years of self-less service and work on the part of Canadian gun owners. To you all, I leave you with this final thought that has been a personal motto of mine these past three years: “Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito.” (Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them.)

Letters to the Editor Dear NFA, I am a fan of military history and have just started participating in local historical re-enactments, mainly WWII and Korea era. I’ve always leaned toward the artillery branch and would love to own my own field piece. Not only would such an acquisition work out great for my new hobby, but it would also allow me to preserve a piece of history while providing the public with an opportunity to interact directly with a piece of our martial history through parades and similar events.

You can also submit your questions and/or comments directly to: dmc-cgd@tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca or check out their web page at http://ssi-iss.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/dmc-cgd/ - Editors Dear NFA, I’m new to reloading and am really enjoying my new hobby. Unfortunately my local gun shops have only a limited selection of bullets to choose from. I found a private supplier with really great prices but he is mail-order only.

I’m already in the process of rebuilding an old Willys Jeep. I’m wondering if it is still legal to own such artillery pieces in Canada. Someone told me that only museums were now allowed to own them and any in private hands had to be permanently altered to fire only blanks. Is this true?

Somebody at my local club told me to forget about it as you couldn’t ship bullets through the mail. I asked my local postmaster about Canada Post’s regulations on shipping bullets and was told that they fall under the Explosive’s Act and were therefore not eligible for shipment as they were dangerous goods. Is this correct?

Kevin B.

Bill G.

Hi Kevin,

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your question. In short, private citizens are still permitted to own things such as “modern” artillery pieces and mortars. However they now fall under the Controlled Goods Directorate set up under the Department of Public Works and Government Services. From the PWGSC website: Registration with the Controlled Goods Directorate (CGD) is mandatory for anyone that deals with controlled goods and/or controlled technology in Canada. Furthermore, to transfer a controlled good and/ or controlled technology outside of Canada, registration with the CGD is a prerequisite for the issuance of an export permit by the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

I’m guessing there was some kind of a communications breakdown between you and your postmaster. Component bullets used to reload metallic cartridges are perfectly legal and safe to ship via Canada Post.

Registration with the Controlled Goods Program is legally required prior to examining, possessing or transferring controlled goods and technology. Individuals are eligible to register with the CGD provided they consent to a security assessment and are ordinarily resident in Canada as either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. Incidentally, much the same goes for tanks. You can own as many as you like but if they having working main guns you have to register them. They do qualify as “non-restricted” firearms however. For more information on a particular piece to see whether or not it falls under the purview of the CGD or to learn more information on the processes now required I would suggest that you contact the CGD directly by calling Toll Free 1-866-368-4646.

Live ammunition or what many individuals unfamiliar with the shooting sports mistakenly call “bullets” are not eligible. They would fall under the Explosives Act and must be shipped by an approved courier such as Canpar. Unfortunately, unless you are buying in bulk, the extra hazardous materials fees, along with the normal courier shipping fees often make the purchase of small lots of loaded cartridges prohibitively expensive. However, you are buying component bullets that essentially are nothing more than small pieces of lead and/or gilding metal and are therefore totally uncontrolled and under no shipping restrictions for Canada Post’s purposes.

quently unregistered. He doesn’t want to “get in trouble” with the police and would prefer to remain anonymous if he could. Otherwise he plans on turning them in to the police for destruction. I did some reading and noticed in your last issue that the CPC has extended the amnesty for registering firearms. Is this process really “no questions asked” and would the gentleman in question have to possess a valid firearms license in order to give the firearms to me? Hi Len, You shouldn’t have any problems legally registering the firearms in question just as long as your firearms license is in good standing and you have the required endorsements for the firearms you are seeking to acquire. If you call the Canadian Firearms Center toll free line one of their service reps can walk you through the process. There is no need to transfer or register the firearms to the elderly gentleman first. You can initiate the registration process yourself. I would suggest that you have the firearms in front of you when you make the call as they CFC will most likely wish to do an over-the-telephone “verification” of the firearms. A cleaning rod and tape measure will also come in handy for confirming barrel length and a magnifying glass might also prove useful in identifying proof marks, etc… Enjoy the new acquisitions and don’t forget to put your benefactor on your Christmas card list! ☺ - Editors Questions?

Dear NFA, An elderly gentleman whom I’ve been helping out the past few months recently discovered three firearms in his attic that he had forgotten about. Knowing that I am a shooter he’d like to give them to me as a gift.

Letters should be directed to the Editor. Legal and political questions should be directed to the NFA Legal Department. Letters must include the Name, Address, and Phone Number of the sender.

The problem is that this gentleman is quite elderly, he no longer has a firearms license, had disposed of his entire collection years ago (or so he thought) and the guns in question were conse-

P.O. Box 52183, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2T5

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e-mail: info@nfa.ca

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Canadian

Firearms Journal

The Official Magazine of the National Firearms Association

Editor ................................................... CFJEditor@gmail.com Sean Penney & Grayson Penney Advertising ............................................................info@nfa.ca Diane Laitila ......................................................(780) 439-1394 Accounts / Membership / General Info .... membership@nfa.ca Legal Inquiries .................................................... legal@nfa.ca

National Executive

Len N.

Do you have a question? Something you want clarified? Please send us a letter or an e-mail. We would love to hear from you.

- Editors

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National President ................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 Blair Hagen........................................................ natpres@nfa.ca National VP, Communications..(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 Sean Penney.............................................sgpenney@gmail.com National VP, Finance............ (780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 Henry Atkinson....................................................natvpf@nfa.ca

Regional Directors

British Columbia - Yukon.....................................info@nfa.ca Sheldon Clare ....................................................(250) 563-2804

Blair Hagen ........................................................(778) 241-0683 Alberta – NWT – Out-of-Canada.........................info@nfa.ca Ed Lucas .................................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 Ted Simmermon .....................(780) 439-1394/1-877-818-0393 Saskatchewan ........................................................info@nfa.ca Diane Laitila .....................................................1-877-818-0393

Manitoba – Nunavut..............................................info@nfa.ca Diane Laitila .....................................................1-877-818-0393

Ontario ...................................................................info@nfa.ca Bill Rantz ...........................................................(705) 385-2636 Henry Atkinson .................................................1-877-818-0393 Quebec ...................................................................info@nfa.ca Phil Simard ........................................................(514) 365-0685 Stephen Buddo ..................................................(450) 430-0786

Maritimes – Newfoundland & Labrador.............info@nfa.ca Sean Penney....................................................... (709) 598-2040 Creative Design by The AD Guys .................... (780) 488-5776

Canadian National Firearms Association Box 52183 Edmonton, Alberta Canada T6G 2T5 info@nfa.ca

Tel: (780) 439-1394 Toll Free 1-877-818-0393 Fax: (780) 439-4091 www.nfa.ca

Preserving Our Firearms Heritage

Photo by Mr. Quiggley

Firearms and Fashion The Frontier Shootist Way By Gary and Sybil Kangas

The Victoria Frontier Shootists of the Victoria Fish Game Protective Association in Victoria, B.C. host a public shooting event each spring. Many outdoor clubs replicate this type of public relations event. The strategy is effective in attracting and introducing new shooters to our sport.

In the spring of 2009 the VF&GPA Frontier Shootists division hosted their annual event called “Nimrod” and we have a documented positive result of just how well this strategy has worked for the club. In this case, a newly retired professional couple with their just recently minted PAL’s attended the 2009 event. Nancy and Roy had a serious interest in Cowboy Action Shooting and the frontier history of Canada. They participated with a great deal of enthusiasm and demonstrated the potential to become quite skilled. As a result of the wholly positive “experience” the couple enjoyed during the “Nimrod” event, they almost immediately opted to purchase their own dedicated CAS firearms and equipment, joined the VF&GPA and expended a great deal of effort in costuming - which is a major part of Cowboy Action Shooting. Nancy and Roy have subsequently enrolled in a number of firearms technique courses including the Evil Roy Shooting instruction seminar held in Las Vegas. They have also completed the Single Action Shooting Society Range Officer I course. Today, they are not only excellent competitors, but have become fashion mavens in Cowboy Action Shooting circles. Nancy is a very creative seamstress designing and sewing exquisite frontier fashions. The duo attended “Winter Range,” the second largest annual SASS event held in Arizona, winning “Best Dressed Couple.” Effort in verifies the result. If we invite and share techniques and information we create a legacy of preserving our firearms heritage.

June/July

www.nfa.ca

June/July

2010 Election Results & Annual General Meeting

By Sean G. Penney

Thus far 2010 has been a truly momentous year for Canada’s National Firearms Association. Our new by-laws have been successfully adopted and we have successfully concluded our first election of NFA Directors under these new rules.

The elected directors are:

2010 Annual General Meeting

Alberta-Northwest Territories & Out-of-Canada

Edmonton, AB

Voting concluded the last day of April and official results were published May 3rd on our website www.nfa.ca . Below are the results, as provided by Chief Electoral Officer, Diane Laitila:

Sheldon Clare

2010 Election of Directors: Results May 3, 2010 Dear NFA Members: On behalf of Canada’s National Firearms Association I would like to thank all of you who voted or took the time to get informed throughout this electoral process. I am pleased to announce that all ballots are in and have been counted. I would like to extend my congratulations to all candidates who graciously gave of themselves by standing for election. Well done all!

Blair Hagen

The first inaugural Annual General Meeting under our new official corporate name of Canada’s National Firearms Association took place the weekend of May 14th-16th at the Fantasyland Hotel & Conference Center in Edmonton, AB.

Manitoba-Nunavut: Vacant

Day 1 –

Newfoundland & Labrador – Maritimes

Day 1 was occupied primarily with executive meetings and the election of officers. Under the new by-laws, the old organizational model, as established under former National President David A. Tomlinson, has been replaced by a completely new structure. Gone are the positions of “National President,” “National Vice-President, Communications,” & “National VicePresident, Finance.” In their place are five new executive positions including: President, Executive Vice-President Communications, Executive VicePresident Operations, Treasurer, and Secretary.

Ed Lucas Ted Simmermon British Columbia-Yukon

Sean Penney

Ontario Henry Atkinson Bill Rantz Quebec Stephen Buddo Phil Simard Saskatchewan: Vacant Respectfully, Diane Laitila Elections Officer Canada’s National Firearms Association Ph: 1-877-818-0393 E-mail: diane@nfa.ca

Following discussion of the new offices and their respective roles and responsibilities nominations were opened and votes cast. The new executive of Canada’s National Firearms Association includes: President: Sheldon Clare Executive Vice-President, Communications: Blair Hagen Executive Vice-President, Operations: Diane Laitila Treasurer: Henry Atkinson Secretary: Ted Simmermon

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www.nfa.ca www.nfa.ca

President & Director BC-Yukon: Sheldon Clare

Executive Vice-President, Communications & Director BC-Yukon: Blair Hagen

Treasurer & Ontario Director: Henry Atkinson

Executive Vice-President, Operations: Diane Laitila

Day 2 –Day 2 was quite busy and and National Executive were officially no later than June 1st. The current year

began with a member’s buffet breakfast in the hotel’s dining room that was well attended and provided a very pleasant to the start of the day’s activities. Insurance Presentation –

Breakfast was followed by a presentation by Mr. Murray Morrison, of All Sport Insurance Marketing Ltd. regarding the current National Firearms Association Liability Insurance policy. We’re pleased to announce that NFALI remains the benchmark liability insurance for the recreational firearms community we will be able to continue offering full liability coverage of $5 million for just $9.95 per year. Keynote Address – The keynote address was made by Professor Gary Mauser who has represented National Firearms Association exceptionally well these past years internationally as our official representative to the World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities, the United Nations, and International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights, as well as in Ottawa on the federal Firearms Advisory Council. In recognition of his years of dedicated service to National Firearms Association, Professor Mauser was presented with a Life Membership earlier this year. Financial Statement – After lunch the new Board of Directors

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introduced and the outgoing executive thanked for their service. Outgoing National Vice-President, Finance Mr. Henry Atkinson presented the financial statement and report for the organization and gave a detailed explanation as to the past and current state of the organization’s finances. NFA bookkeeper Beverly Havens was also on hand to help answer specific questions from members. The motion was made to accept the financial statement and was carried unanimously. Budget 2010-2011 –

Next the new 2010-2011 Budget was presented by Mr. Atkinson followed by discussion from the floor. It is anticipated that the expertise the NFA’s new marketing firm now brings to the table, along with the aggressive new lobbying efforts initiated by the outgoing executive, will see National Firearms Association experience significant additional growth in the upcoming year. Consequently, National Firearms Association will be working with a budget in excess of $1 million this year. Following further discussion, the motion was made to accept the new budget as presented and it was adopted unanimously. By-law Amendment – A motion was made to amend the new by-laws to change the date of future AGMs from a period no later than 30 days following end of the fiscal year to June/July April/May

end for NFA is officially December 31st which necessitates a January AGM. Concerns over bad weather and winter travel made a spring AGM date much more preferable. A motion was made and passed unanimously to change the date of the AGM to a date not later than June 1st of each year. Report on Legal Affairs – Outgoing National President Blair Hagen provided a comprehensive overview of current and past legal cases that National Firearms Association has been involved, including Coombes v. NFA, Henderson case, Montague case and Cankaid case involving various facets of firearms law. Provincial Reports – Provincial executives delivered “stateof-the-province” reports for their home province. NFA Legacy Fund – Motion was made from the floor to explore the idea of creating an NFA Legacy Fund similar to those created by other not-for-profit organizations. The proposed fund would operate in a similar fashion as other such funds and would provide members/supporters with the option of having donations made in their name to the fund in lieu of flowers following their passing. Several different variations of the fund were discussed with the motion being adopted to form a committee to study the concept.

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Secretary & Alberta-Northwest Territories & Out-of-Canada: Ted Simmermon

Director Quebec: Steve Buddo

Director Quebec: Phil Simard

Director Ontario: Bill Rantz

New Marketing and Promotion -

Membership Fee Structure –

Day 3 –

NFA had opted to not renew the contract with their previous marketing company due to failures to meet organizational goals. A new firm has been retained locally that has a better grasp of current markets and what prospective members are looking for. Since signing on last November, the new firm has been working around the clock to increase membership and to promote the organization throughout the recreational firearms community. New marketing partnerships are being considered, including valueadded membership exclusives such as preferential treatment on trips or flights offered via strategic partners.

Current membership fees have remained unchanged for the better part of a decade while the costs associated with servicing those memberships have risen substantially. The new Board of Directors plans on striking a membership fee review committee to study the issue.

The final day of activities included an NFA Breakfast Buffet, followed by a short Q&A session for attendees taking later flights or having later travel plans. This concluded official activities related to the AGM. Overall, the weekend was very well organized thanks to the hard work of NFA staffers and was very productive.

As part of the new marketing strategy NFA is looking at undertaking a serious “re-branding” of the organization to better reflect the “new” Canada’s National Firearms Association. Current logo and crest are to be updated and a new official Coat of Arms is to be registered as part of this process that will appeal to both English and French speaking members across Canada. The motion to create and register a new Coat of Arms was made and passed.

External Audits – In order to ensure a proper accounting of NFA finances the new executive proposed that they be permitted to request external reviews and/or audits of the financial records as appropriate. A motion was made to this effect and was adopted. Closing – With all outstanding business concluded, the executive thanked all the hard work NFA staffers Diane Laitila, Bev Havens, Meg Hewitt and volunteer Ted Simmermon put into making the 2010 AGM such a rousing success. Motion to adjourn was made, seconded and adopted. AGM after Hours –

The National Firearms Association would like to acknowledge the contributions made by our generous business supporters who helped make the 2010 AGM such a rousing success. Many thanks to: Sports Scene Publications, Barton’s Big Country Outdoors, White Eagle Sporting Goods, Select Pro Shop, Warehouse Sports, Bull’s Eye Bill’s Trading Post Inc., The Bullet Barn, Milarm Co./PolArm Corp., P & D Enterprises, Fergie’s Follies. NFA would also like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Mr. John Claydon, Mr. Ray Laitila & Mr. Ted Simmermon. Thanks to all!

The AGM was followed by an informal mixer in the hotel’s bar. The main NFA Banquet & Dinner started immediately thereafter. Guest speakers included Mrs. Judith Tomlinson and Professor Gary Mauser with official activities concluding at 10:00 PM.

Director Newfoundland & Labrador – Maritimes and Editor of CFJ: Sean Penney

Director Alberta-Northwest Territories & Out-of-Canada: Ed Lucas

At The Annual General Meeting

Day 1 - Executive Officer Meeting at HQ Day 2 - AGM Head Table, Pictured: Blair, Sheldon & Mrs. Judith Tomlinson

Day 1 - Exec’s reviewing AGM agenda. Pictured Phil, Gary, Sheldon & Blair

NFA Ontario Director Bill Rantz

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Head Office Ladies and AGM Organizers: Diane, Bev and Megan

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NFA’s Bev Havens with NFA Member Ray Laitila

NFA Member Roger Stevens

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NFA Member John Claydon

Professor Gary Mauser with Alberta Director Ed Lucas

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small animal before the age of 10, compared to less than 20% of the female hunters. “These are the same men who claimed that hunting had done more to open their hearts than any other life experience. Typically the boy cries as 8-year old Jimmy Carter did when he threw a rock and killed a robin. I consider it no mere coincidence that Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela both won the Nobel Peace Prize and both are avid hunters,” Eaton said.

Kids & Guns:

The book interviews Dr. Wade Brackenbury, who for 13 years led groups of delinquent boys into the wilderness for two weeks where they had to survive off what they could forage. Brackenbury is convinced that it was hunting small animals for food that had the greatest transformative influence. Surveys conducted a year later indicated that 85% of the boys had not got into trouble after their survival experience.

Is Hunting Good for Bad Kids? Is hunting good for bad kids? Does it teach violence or does it teach empathy and compassion? Would it be a more peaceful world if more kids grew up hunting? These are some of the questions addressed in a recent book entitled From Boys to Men of Heart: Hunting as Rite of Passage. The book’s award-winning author is Randall L. Eaton, Ph.D., a behavioral scientist with an international reputation in wildlife conservation who has been studying hunting for 35 years. While producing “The Sacred Hunt” in the mid-1990s, a documentary that received 11 awards, Eaton interviewed scores of recreational and Native American hunters all of whom used the

A best-selling authority on how to raise boys, Michael Gurian, also is interviewed in Eaton’s book. He agrees that hunting does teach males compassion, and that it would be a more peaceful world if more boys hunted. The book presents compelling evidence from several disciplines that adolescent males need rites of passage to become responsible adults. Eaton says that the original rite of passage was hunting because it proved a young adult male could provide and qualify for manhood and marriage.

word “respect” to describe how they feel about animals they hunt. That prompted Eaton to conduct questionnaire surveys on 2,500 mature hunters who described their attitude toward animals they hunt as, “respect, admiration and reverence.” Over 80% of these recreational hunters claimed they prayed for the animals they killed or gave thanks to God. Eaton’s survey also asked hunters what life event most opened their hearts and engendered compassion in them. Choices included death of a loved one, death of a beloved pet, becoming a parent, teaching young people and taking the life of an animal. Women hunters overwhelmingly chose “becoming a parent,” but most of the men chose

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“taking the life of an animal.” Eaton said, “These results indicate the basic polarity of human life: woman are adapted to bring life into the world, but men are adapted to take life to support life.” The same survey asked respondents to choose those universal virtues they learned from from hunting. The top three choices were, “inner peace, patience and humility.” Eaton believes that inner peace and humility are the foundation of religious and spiritual traditions across time and space. Eaton insists that hunting is instinctive at least in boys who around the world start throwing rocks between the age of 4 and 5. His survey indicated over 90% of the men spontaneously had killed a

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“Without transformative rites of passage that open their hearts and connect them to nature and society males may become destructive and dangerous. Untempered masculinity is a major factor behind juvenile crime and gangs,” he said. Inspired by Eaton’s book, Dr. Karl Milner launched H.E.F.T.Y, Hunter Education for Troubled Youth, in Wyoming where the courts are sending juveniles to his program. The kids are engaged in conservation work on private lands where eventually they will be able to hunt. The Wyoming School for Boys also has adopted H.E.F.T.Y. The Commissioners of the Wyoming Fish and Game Department endorse H.E.F.T.Y., and have donated big game tags worth several thousand dollars each. Eaton and Milner expect H.E.F.T.Y. to grow across the continent. “Dr. Eaton and I see the program helping thousands of wayward youth while also encouraging more parents to get their kids outdoors,” Milner said. “Hunting and fishing are good for bad kids because they are good for all kids,” Eaton added.

www.nfa.ca

To get Eaton’s book and newest production, “Why Hunting Is Good for Bad Kids,” visit his website at www.randalleaton.com. To learn more about H.E.F.T.Y. visit: www. hefty4kids.org. For more information contact Dr. Randall Eaton at 513-2442826 or email reaton@eoni.com. Contact Dr. Karl Milner at 307-299-2084 or email karl@hefty4kids.org.

June/July

Politics & Guns

Police, Policy Making & Gun Control:

by Tyler Vance

It’s not about Guns; it’s about Control Photo: Sean Penney

Bill C-391, the private member’s bill aimed at dismantling the Liberal’s fatally flawed long-gun registry has come under fire recently from several law-enforcement associations, as gun control proponents pull out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to defeat the bill. Obviously gun control advocates have brought to bear all the power their extreme left-wing coalition can muster. While the final verdict is still out on which way NDP leader Jack Layton is leaning, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has once again flip-flopped on an issue of major national consequence and has publicly stated that he will whip the next vote on C-391. This decision will force his rural MPs, who voted with the government previously, to cast their vote against the very same bill that their constituents favour. In defence of yet another flip-flop, Ignatieff cited the opinions offered by his newly minted allies from amongst the top three Canadian police groups as reason for his sudden change of heart. The three stooges...err, groups consisted of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, headed by Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair, the Canadian Police Association, led by President Charles Momy, allegedly representing front-line officers, and the Canadian Association of Police Boards who employ them. Together they released joint statements in support of the firearms registry as committee hearings were being conducted as part of the parliamentary review process for C-391. What is especially disturbing about this joint release is the seemingly deliberate intent of the parties involved to mislead the Canadian public. Appearing before the cameras in full uniform, Chief Blair and his cronies never differentiate between their law enforcement role, as serving police officers, and their wholly political roles, as heads of political advocacy groups. Further, while they have assured reporters that their views and statements are a true reflection of the prevailing opinions held by rank-and-file police officers across Canada, the truth is something far different. It is unseemly for serving heads of major Canadian police forces to take such an active role in the policy making process.

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www.nfa.ca

“When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you.” Their public position gives them great power as well as the ability to sway public opinion as respected figures of authority. In recent times, this has allowed them to exert undue political influence on the law-making process. Just as there is a separation between church and state, there must be a separation between the law-makers and the law-enforcers if we are to remain a just and free society; and, just as importantly, to preserve respect for our agents of law-enforcement. Especially disturbing is the deliberate obfuscations employed by Chief Blair and his cohorts to sway public opinion in their quest to kill C-391. Time and again they have presented personal opinion as fact and cited junk science and discredited academic “studies,” typically provided by gun-control advocates, as support for their positions. Given their positions of authority this type of behaviour is unacceptable; since to the unknowing, unwitting or simply naive in our society such claims are accepted as gospel. Their primary role should be the enforcement of the law and not public policy making. As costs have skyrocketed and the political stakes involved grown increasingly exorbitant, some cracks have surfaced in the formerly impenetrable blue wall of silence Blair and company have worked so hard to shore up. Incidents such as Dawson College clearly showed the limitations of the registry in “preventing” high-profile shootings. In the latter case the shooter in question was a licensed gun owner and the firearms he used were all duly registered. Obviously the registry failed to prevent this pointless tragedy. So why keep pouring good money after bad into a failed policy experiment when the money would be much better spent putting more police officers on the street? From both a public policy making standpoint and that of a voter, the decision by the top three police groups to wade into such a contentious issue, backed up by artificially inflated statistics and questionable science, does little to engender trust or respect for their leadership on a personal basis, and their respective associations, at an organizational level. Somewhere along the line, over the past three decades, this erosion of trust has led to a serious “disconnect” between police and the public. The primary fault for this must be laid at the feet of the chiefs, since it was their decision to begin playing the political game in the manner they have. www.nfa.ca

- Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince Peel’s Principles of Policing, upon which all modern lawenforcement has been based since the late 19th century, was abandoned at a core institutional level. In its place has arisen a more strident and overtly political institutional focus that is more interested in expanding budgets and protecting bureaucratic turf than protecting the public. “Gun control” as a concept or belief system has been officially adopted by law-enforcement in Canada and it has evolved into some sort of officially sanctioned “dogma.” This is partly due to political expediency, but the argument has to be made that its implementation, and extra powers it granted police, also made it extremely attractive to senior law-enforcement interested in expanding the authority and role of law-enforcement in our ever-changing modern society. After all, gun control was popular with large segments of the population at the time (since changed), the ‘natural ruling party of Canada,’ the Liberals, were in favour of it and the change from “beat cop” to car-bound cruiser policing had sufficiently divorced police from personal contact with the public such that an “Us vs. Them” institutional mindset developed. Average Canadians, especially gun owners, suddenly became “Them” and “Them” were potential enemies. You can see this new anti-gun ethos today admirably demonstrated by the RCMP in their recent attempts to unilaterally reclassify several semi-automatic sporting firearms. Their actions have been based largely on this institutional bias against firearms in general, and a general distrust of civilian ownership of firearms. Eliminate the long-gun registry, and suddenly their illusion of “control” of such “weapons” is also eliminated. This assault upon Canada’s recreational firearms community and thus Canada’s millions of law-abiding gun owners certainly has not endeared forces such as the RCMP and Toronto Police Service to gun owners. In theory, universal registration may have seemed like a good idea, but time and again it has proved ineffective, outrageously expensive and incredibly divisive. The latter is especially true of the relationship between licensed gun owners, who have traditionally proven the most responsible and law-abiding segment of society, as well as the most respectful of the role of law-enforcement, and the

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police themselves. The irony does not escape me. Gun control and the registration issue have effectively placed law-abiding gun owners and the police on opposing sides and turned “natural allies” into enemies - to the detriment of both. The actual facts of the registration issue are simple really. Registered gun owners, by definition, must also be firearms license holders. In order to obtain a license, they must first complete an in-depth firearms safety course and pass both a written and practical examination, as well as a police background check and supply at least two references of qualified individuals willing to vouch for them. This application process must be followed in order to obtain the most basic of firearms license. This is the context in which the registration issue must be assessed, along with its efficacy and ultimate justification. The government, and thus the police already know who the law-abiding gun owners are since they are firearms license holders. Through the intrusive questions found on the firearms license application, to personal interviews with applicant’s references, police have the resources to form a clear picture of each licensed gun owner in Canada and they have the power to revoke the permits of those whom they believe to be potential threats to public safety. Therefore, it can be argued that licensed gun owners have been judged to pose no threat to public safety. Otherwise, they would not hold a firearms license issued by the RCMP’s firearms bureaucracy. Thus, registering the firearms of law-abiding gun owners is an entirely superfluous and unnecessary waste taxpayer’s money. Yet registry proponents continue to argue in favour of maintaining it, at the cost of millions more annually, and despite there being little hope of a positive return on the investment. Chief Blair, while appearing before the Standing Committee on Public Safety, was questioned by the bill’s sponsor, Candice Hoeppner on this issue. Given

the option of continuing to spend the estimated $106 million dollars it will cost taxpayers to maintain the long-gun registry this year or spend the money on hiring additional front-line officers, Chief Blair said that he would, “Keep the registry.” Chief Blair’s response immediately reminded me of a quote by Albert Einstein, who wrote that the definition of insanity was: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It is insane for government and lawenforcement to continue to waste millions maintaining a registry that doesn’t

“Trusting contemporary governments means dividing humanity into two classes: those who can be trusted with power to run other people’s lives, and those who cannot even be trusted to run their own lives. Modern Leviathans seek progress by giving some people the power to play God with other people’s lives, property, and domestic tranquility.”

- James Bovard

work and never will; especially while citizens die waiting for critical procedures because of a lack of hospital beds and front-line police officers are killed in the line of duty because of manpower shortages and lack of training slots. Such a decision flies in the face of common sense and is diametrically opposed to the testimony presented by true front-line offices such as Sgt. Duane Rutledge of the New Glasgow, NS Police or Sgt. Murray Grismer of the Saskatoon Police. While appearing before the same committee and answering the same question posed to Chief Blair, both said they favoured the immediate end of the registry because of the cost and the danger it posed to officers.

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Chief Blair’s answer to Ms. Hoeppner’s query then is quite telling. The longgun registry was never about enhancing public safety but rather political correctness and the exercise of control. Its very existence serves as a symbol of liberal disapproval of firearms ownership and their single-minded hatred of the Canadian “gun culture.” Firearms owners and their love of liberty and independence is anathema to the modern social-liberal ideology and their pursuit of the idealized “nanny state.” The same argument can be used to explain why the political heads of our nation’s police forces, not only continue to support the registry, but are active political participants in the formation of public policy on the issue. Law-abiding, responsible firearms owners are to be feared and distrusted because they have access to guns. This brings us back to a now infamous quote of former Liberal Justice Minister Allan Rock who said, “I came to Ottawa with the firm belief that the only people in this country who should have guns are police officers and soldiers.” The actions of Chief Blair and Mr. Momy would certainly indicate that they were of a similar opinion. Obviously, the concept of a law-abiding, responsible gun owner utilizing a firearm for recreation or self-defense, unfettered by bureaucratic red-tape, does not fit into their vision of “civilized” society. While the Coalition for Gun Control and now the Liberals may be driving this agenda, it is the authority that Chief Blair brings to the table that forms the cornerstone of the new political campaign to defeat C-391. The public see only Canada’s “top cop” when Blair speaks publicly on the issue, however, most remain unaware of the CACP’s true nature. While its membership may include serving officers, the CACP is first and foremost a registered lobby group in Ottawa; meaning their raison d’être has far more to do with politics than policing. In recent years we’ve seen an overt attempt by them to exercise command

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and control functions, not only over how gun policy is developed and administered, but how the entire debate itself is shaped publicly. The CACP now have in their employ three paid, professional lobbyists who are solely charged with a “liaison function” on Parliament Hill. Such ventures are far afield from their basic reason for existing; that is to say, law enforcement. Who is paying the bills? Interestingly enough, last year alone, the Chiefs of Police Association, under the leadership of Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair accepted well over $100,000.00 from CGI Group. CGI is an information technology company that does millions in annual business with the RCMP and the Canadian Firearms Program via contracts to maintain registry computer systems. The CACP’s chair of its ethics committee recently resigned in protest over the organization’s willingness to accept questionable corporate donations such as those from CGI. Any reasonable person would view this as a clear conflictof-interest; however, the CACP still does not. Obviously the ends justify the means from their perspective. As long as the firearms registry exists, police will continue to be in a position to exercise control over gun owners and their firearms. It would seem that maintaining this control is sufficient reason for the CACP to resort to the tactics that most members of the public would take issue with. As criticism of the registry has mounted RCMP Deputy Commissioner T. G. Killam, Policing Support Services (PSS), felt the need to reiterate the RCMP’s “official” position on the firearms registry through an internal memo sent to all detachment commanders. According to the memo: “The RCMP position is, and always has been, that the services provided by the CFP, including the registration and licensing of all firearms, are valuable resources for all law enforcement, nationally and internationally. The registration of all firearms enwww.nfa.ca

“There are no good guns. There are no bad guns. A gun in the hands of a bad man is a bad thing. Any gun in the hands of a good man is no threat to anyone, except the bad man.”

- Charlton Heston

ables individual accountability, promotes safety and life-saving measures, and is a pro-active investigative tool in assisting law enforcement.” Detachment commanders were instructed by Commissioner Killam to pass the official position paper and related public releases issued jointly by CACP/CPA/CAPB to all RCMP employees. However, if questioned publicly on the documents or any issues relating to the registry, RCMP members and employees are to: “Refrain from providing any personal opinions.” In other words, keep your mouths shut on the usefulness or uselessness of the registry...senior management is watching. This would certainly explain why almost all previous criticism of their actions and of the Liberal’s gun control program from veteran police officers had “ex” before their rank, or “retired” following it. However, a growing number of highprofile police chiefs and ranking officers are now opting to break ranks with their leadership and speak out against the registry. Dissent has grown to such a degree that even left-of-center media outlets are openly acknowledging that all is not well and that the political fight

“The registry does little or nothing to help police link actual crimes to actual guns... because criminals who use guns do not register their guns first.” - Norm Inkster, former RCMP Commissioner June/July

over C-391 is pitting cop against cop. Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson, along with former Toronto Police Chief (and current Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police), Julian Fantino are two of the first chiefs in the country to say publicly that the gun registry isn’t working. In a recent newspaper interview Chief Hanson is on record saying that it’s time to review the federal gun registry and take a hard look at the efficacy of the entire gun control program. In his words, “The gun registry has done little to make the streets safer...For the years it’s been in effect, there are more guns on the street today - handguns and prohibited weapons - than I can ever recall, and that’s since the gun registry has been implemented.” Instead of continuing to flog a dead horse, Chief Hanson suggested it is time to start handing out tougher sentences when someone is convicted of using a weapon to commit a crime. Former Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino shares Chief Hanson’s opinions and is just as uncomplimentary of the firearms registry. While still chief of Canada’s largest police force, Fantino publicly criticized the registry stating: “We have an ongoing gun crisis including firearms-related homicides lately in Toronto, and a law registering firearms has neither deterred these crimes nor helped us solve any of them...None of the guns we know to have been used were registered, although we believe that more than half of them were smuggled into Canada from the United States. The firearms registry is long on philosophy and short on practical results considering the money could be more effectively used for security against terrorism as well as a host of other public safety initiatives.” Similarly, while the Canadian Police Association’s Charles Momy has stated that support for keeping the registry is widespread among his associations Police - Continued on Page 42

Elfego Baca & the Frisco War: Elfego Baca had a signature every bit as bold as the man himself. Period photo courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico.

Standing Alone For Justice By Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin

“Badge? Badge?? We don’t need no steenking badge!” -B. Traven, “Treasure of Sierra Madre” North America’s Old West was perhaps the last bastion of liberty where the gun rights of law-abiding citizens remained unfettered. Today it continues to serve as a potent symbol of individual liberty, authority and initiative for those who still cherish those same ideals. Interestingly enough, the same week that I am working on this piece for you, the U.S. state of Arizona has opted to legalize concealed carry without a permit to much ballyhoo and controversy. This latest development is of great interest to me personally, as the issue of gun rights and self-defense have always been extremely important to citizens in my region, especially my own rural Catron County. The latter was once severely criticized by agencies of the federal government for enacting an ordinance that required all able citizens to own a firearm for the protection of their community. To more urban mindsets, this ordinance was very controversial and frowned upon. However, as westerners, we were/are of the belief that the power of any nation derives from that of the individual states, provinces or regions, and the power of regional government stems from and is predicated on the authority of the individual – able and free to make any choice or execute any act that doesn’t harm others. Not the other way around. Perhaps no other single event from the Old West era exemplifies this “bootstrap” attitude better than what came to be called the “Frisco War;” but which in actuality involved but a single armed and determined person facing down a gathering crowd that had arrived with blood on their minds. 24

Behold, from out of the spectral dust and obfuscating gun smoke of the past steps the indomitable Elfego Baca, survivor of one of the most uneven gunfights in Western history!

While nearly everyone knows something about Wyatt Earp and the world-famous O.K. Corral, few have heard of New Mexico’s Gila country (pronounced hee-la) or the improbable hero of the Frisco siege. Mighty odd, considering that the famous Tombstone shootout rather fairly matched 4 men against 5, consumed about 30 rounds total, and lasted only 1/2 to 3/4 of a minute.... whereas the “Frisco War” pitted a single man against a force of 80 to 150 attackers, and led to a confrontation which lasted over 33 hours! The walls of the flimsy structure where Baca had taken refuge were splintered from the constant firing, with one report claiming there were 367 perforations of the door alone. Even forks and knives were hit, with the courtroom audience appropriately aghast at the broom brought in as evidence with 8 bullet holes in its slender handle!

1884 had been a time of increasing hostilities not only between the Apaches and settlers, but also between resident Hispanics and the many newcomers: Celtic-blooded ranchers seeking their own grassy grail. The cowboys packed an assortment of arms including the ‘73 Winchester lever action repeater in .44-40, and matching .44 caliber single action revolvers courtesy of Samuel Colt. While some of the local Hispanic farmers were as well “heeled,” most had nothing but converted surplus muzzleloaders, Damascus barrelled smoothbores and percussion revolvers from Mexico. It was in October of that year that a 19 year-old Elfego first heard the alarming stories of how the largely Hispanic community of Frisco was suffering at the hands of a band of often

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drunken cowpokes, the possible castration of man nicknamed “The Burro”, and the roping and beating of one Espitacio Martinez all served to inflame passions. Supposedly upon hearing that the local Sheriff was doing nothing to help, Baca either helped himself to a Deputy badge out of the reticent lawman’s desk drawer, or more likely, purchased a child’s toy badge and slapped it on, before strapping on a Colt .45 with its characteristic black resin grips, and riding headlong towards the site of a situation he knew little about. Within a day of his arrival on the 29th, Baca had disarmed and arrested a cowboy named Charlie McCarty, who had decided to celebrate the good life with a shooting spree inside of Milligan’s Bar. His prisoner hailed from a notoriously rowdy outfit at the John B. Slaughter ranch, who were none too happy to hear their boy had been snagged by this selfappointed hero. When the local magistrate proved either too hostile or too intimidated to try the case, Baca decided to move McCarty to an adobe house in Middle Plaza for security.

By this time a dozen or so cowboys had gathered with their Winchester rifles at ready, led by Slaughter foreman Young Parham. They immediately demanded their buddy’s release, testing the door and windows with their shoulders. Baca responded from the other side, threatening to shoot if they weren’t “out of there by the count of 3.” They are said to have been in the process of making jokes about “his type being unable to count” when they heard Baca call out in a single quick breath: “1-2-3!” while he began shooting through the door. In their haste to get some distance between themselves and this unpleasant instruction in rapid arithmetic, Parham’s horse reared back and on top of its rider and inflicted damage that would later kill him. Word of a “Frisco War” promptly spread to the outlying ranches, including those of the well-known James H. Cook and the Englishman, William French. After receiving a signed agreement that he wouldn’t be bothered, Baca agreed to allow his prisoner to be “tried” on the following morning at Milligan’s Bar. McCarty was fined $5 and released to friends, who almost immediately began to make threatening

Here is a photo of a Colt .45 known to have been owned by Elfego Baca, passed down to his nephew Abe, along with a jeweled badge given to Elfego by the New Mexico Cattleman’s Association... from the Ron Peterson collection. Photo by Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin

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The vast majority of the cowboys arrayed against Baca carried Winchester Model 1873 rifles and carbines in .44-40, and like Baca himself, Colt Frontier single action revolvers in either .44-40 or .45 Colt caliber. Photo by Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin.

moves towards Baca. Seeing that he was vulnerable, this would-be Deputy backed out the side door and took over a nearby jacal. Made of thin cedar poles stuck into the ground and coated on both sides with an adobe (mud) slip, its walls would offer little resistance to the concerted attack we know followed. A roper known as Hearne was the first to chance the door, kicking at it and screaming that he’d “get” Baca. He was answered most poignantly by twin 250 grain slugs, one of which caught him solidly in the gut and sent him to the ground. The cowboys responded with what became a steady volley of rifle fire, lobbing rounds from nearly every angle. What the quickly gathering mob failed to realize was that the floor of Baca’s insubstantial-looking refuge had been dug down a full foot and a half below ground level. He was thus enabled to coolly return fire with his single-action handguns even as lead rained through the space above.

While most of the town climbed up on the overlooking hills to watch, a group of the attackers stretched blankets between the nearby houses to conceal their movements, and others fired from behind the buttress of the adobe church. One brave attacker fell back with his scalp neatly creased by a bullet, after attempting to approach the jacal with an iron stove-door for a shield. Finally, as day turned into night, they were able to toss flaming kerosene-soaked rags onto the dirt and latilla (branch) roof. One wall gave way under the combined assault of lead and fire, causing a portion of the roof to collapse on the hapless defender.

They were pretty sure they’d “fixed his wagon” by this time but opted to err on the side of caution, deciding to wait until the following day to try and dig him out. Come the first gray light of dawn they were surprised, mortified even, by the thin wisps of smoke rising from the perforated woodstove. To one end stood a plaster statue of the Nuestra Señora Doña Ana, while at the other end the unruffled Baca nonchalantly flipped his breakfast tortillas! The battle immediately regained its former intensity, with both Elfego and the stoic Señora remaining miraculously unscathed.

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controversial attorney’s suit before Baca dropped him with his own .32-20 S&W “Hand-Ejector” model pistol.

The dapper young Elfego Baca, shown here as he would have looked around the time of the Frisco War, with his preferred sidearm the Colt Single Action .45. Art by Jesse L. “Wolf” Hardin.

Finally, James Cook and the newly arrived Deputy Ross of Socorro convinced Baca to come out, personally guaranteeing his safety. With both guns in hand and every cowboy’s rifle trained on his chest, Elfego slowly approached to make his truce. Yes, he would surrender, but only if he could keep his weapons, travel in the back of a buckboard with his and McCarty’s Colts, and with all accompanying cowhands keeping at least 30 feet behind them for the entire trip to the Socorro courthouse! The ever-blessed Baca even missed an ambush planned for him on route, when two different groups of avengers each mistakenly thought the other had carried out the mercenary deed. In jail only 4 months, Elfego was tried on 2 separate occasions, and was surprisingly acquitted each time. It was this episode that earned Elfego his lifelong reputation as a tough hombre, a reputation that followed him throughout his years as a flamboyant criminal lawyer, school superintendent, district attorney, chief bouncer of a Prohibition Era gambling house in Juarez, and a bout as the American agent for General Huerta during the convoluted Mexican revolution. In 1915, Baca turned himself in for shooting down another revolutionary figure, Celestino Otero. While never proven, evidence supported his contention that Otero had fired first, the bullet from a newfangled Savage self-loading pistol piercing the

Elfego owned and used all kinds of firearms in his lifetime. His favorites were the various Colt Model 1873 single-action revolvers, usually in .45 caliber, and he liked to show visitors a custom bolt-action Mauser he says he arranged to have “appropriated” from a disgruntled Pancho Villa. Never one to obey gun laws or any other laws that he didn’t believe in, Baca is said to have never gone anywhere – even into a courtroom – without a revolver hidden somewhere on his person. But as much as anything else it was big-bore attitude that Elfego came armed with.

For slightly over 80 years Elfego Baca remained a lively part of New Mexico’s cultural landscape, telling spirited stories to anyone with the time to listen. In the year of his birth, horses were the primary means of transportation even in the more civil East, and Winchester’s engineers were hard at work on an improvement of their Henry lever-action repeater: the Model 1866 “Yellowboy.” He died as 8-cylinder roadsters zoomed by outside his Albuquerque office, on August 27, 1945, exactly 3 weeks following the first wartime deployment of an atomic bomb, and within months of the appearance of the first ball-point pen, the aerosol can and the frozen “T.V. Dinner.” By then the M-1 Garand was in standard use by U.S. troops and precision scoped rifles were fast becoming the norm for stateside hunting. While a lot has been written about Baca’s remarkably good fortune, the trait that best defined him was nerve – or as we call it here in the Southwest, huevos. Like other notable Westerners, Elfego set an example for us, not of propriety and submission but an enthusiastic willingness to put excitement and adventure ahead of comfort, and principal ahead of physical safety... accomplishing the seemingly impossible with nothing more than clear intent, a dependable wheel-gun and unshakable will.

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The author tracked down and was the first to publish this photo of the rascally Charlie McCarty, who in his younger years was a catalyst for the Frisco shootout in 1884. Photo from the author’s collection.

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Baca poses here with a customized German Mauser rifle that he claims to have had stolen from his nemesis Pancho Villa in response to Villa’s $30,000 bounty on his head. Period photo courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico.

NFA Launches New Legal Defense & Compensation Fund!

As a result of recent decisions by the RCMP to begin the unilateral reclassification and seizure of legally owned and properly registered semi-automatic sporting rifles and shotguns – namely the Norinco Type 97A and High Standard Model 10B; National Firearms Association has created a new NFA Legal Defense & Compensation Fund.

Even in old age, Baca liked to frighten visiting reporters by suddenly pulling out and leveling a pair of Colt’s famous sixguns... gun laws be damned! Period photo courtesy of the Museum of New Mexico.

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Given the stakes involved and the dangerous precedent that will be established if the RCMP is permitted to unilaterally reclassify and seize any registered model of firearms they deem unnecessary, or allegedly dangerous to the public good, the current executive felt it was necessary to take direct action. www.nfa.ca

This new defense fund is intended to aid owners of targeted firearms in mounting a competent legal defense and thus protect the future right of all law-abiding gun owners to continue to own their legally acquired firearms. We are in the process of launching the first legal challenge “test case” as this issue of Canadian Firearms Journal goes to print. While representatives of the Public Safety Minister have announced that they will be offering compensation to affected owners involved in this most recent reclassification, a number of owners have expressed fear that should they opt to fight this unnecessary seizure, they may find such compensation denied them. In order to remove this fear, and thus any hesitation affected owners may have over proceeding with a court challenge, we are hopeful sufficient funds will be raised in order to provide adequate compensation to these brave owners should the worst happen and the prohibition order stand. We are confident, however, of a positive outcome to these challenges with your help. Therefore, a new separate bank account has been set-up solely for the purpose of the new legal defense fund. The national executive felt it necessary to do so in order to provide necessary separation from general National Firearms Association accounts. Donations can now be made on-line by visiting our website www.nfa.ca and following the instructions there or simply entering the direct URL found below. At the request of members, we can also now accept Email Money Transfers or EMT via Interac. Donations will also be accepted via mail at the address below or by calling our toll free line at 1-877818-0393. If you are sending your donation in, please be sure to indicate on your cheque or money order that the donation is intended for the Legal Defense & Compensation Fund. Thank you for your support. Donate on-line:http://www.nfa.ca/donate-legal-fund Email Money Transfer: nfa.diane@gmail.com Send cheque or money order to: NFA Legal Defense & Compensation Fund c/o Canada’s National Firearms Association P.O. Box 52183, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2T5 Donate via Telephone: Ph. Toll free @ 1-877-818-0393

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Facts, Science and Strategy in Australia By Gary Mauser

“ If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else.” Yogi Berra

“The facts are on our side” is an oft-heard claim when gunrights advocates gather together. If this is so, then why do so many politicians and civil servants appear to be abysmally ignorant of these facts while citing the claims of anti-gun groups? Perhaps gun-rights groups need to analyze why their opponents’ claims seem to command so much respect, and to learn how to communicate more effectively with government. Consider this radical suggestion: Gun-rights advocates could benefit from studying the methods used by Wendy Cukier’s Coalition for Gun Control and Rebecca Peters’ IANSA (the International Action Network on Small Arms). These quite tiny groups have been impressively effective in reaching the ears of politicians. What do they know that gun-rights activists do not? The success of the anti-gun groups stems in part from their ability to talk to politicians in their own language. Rather than approaching politicians and civil servants with grass roots campaigns reacting to governmental decisions, the anti-gun organizations confidently offer solutions to complex problems that face government. This strategy need not be limited to anti-gun groups. An essential element of the anti-gunners’ strategy is to wrap themselves in the authority of science. People in government need the facts, and relying upon experts, especially academics, is as attractive as it is authoritative. In contrast, gun rights groups have tended to rely upon grassroots strategies, mainly complaints. This is particularly true in Canada. Unfortunately, politicians do not respect the information they find in letters (either written to them or to newspaper editors). They may count them to gauge the political wind, but by then the die may have already been cast. To be sure, the solutions offered by gun-control activists 28

are simplistic and based on junk science, and that’s their Achilles Heel. But to point this out is merely reactive. Gunrights groups can do better. To put this in context, consider that anti-gun organizations have advanced many legislative suggestions to the civil service with the pro-gun side being completely unaware until it is too late. Yet everything the pro-gun side does and says is in the public eye (e.g., the on-line firearm forum CanadianGunNutz.com) and is open to attack by the media. This is applauded as being transparent, but it has not been effective. So often, the pro-gun associations have put their efforts into the wrong arena. Since this is an international column, I will illustrate my argument with an example from Australia. Having the facts on one’s side is not enough - even academic studies. To be successful, one needs a comprehensive communications strategy. It is widely accepted in Australia that the Australian gun laws of 1996 were effective in reducing homicide and suicide rates. Gun deaths declined after 1996 so such claims are at least superficially plausible. Public health groups - the groups who really do have the lines into government - trumpeted the effectiveness of their campaign to ban guns, and politicians basked in the praise. Since suicide and homicide rates had already been declining, some suspected that the claims of success were based on junk science. This was conclusively shown a few years ago, when two Australian researchers produced a scientific study that found no link between suicide and homicide rates and the 1996 gun laws. Unfortunately, even though this study was published in a top-quality academic journal, their findings were publicly belittled and virtually ignored by other advocacy groups. Government, of course, took no notice of their findings. Here is the story. In 2007, Jeanine Baker and Samara McPhedran published an article in a prestigious British criminology journal, “Gun

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laws and sudden death: did the Australian firearms legislation of 1996 make a difference?” They found that homicide rates fell about as fast before 1996 as they did afterwards. No change in rate of decline was found for either firearms-related homicides or non-firearms-related homicides. If the gun laws had been driving the changes, gun-related homicides should have led the decline; this was not observed.

are used, scientists must submit all studies to the process of peer review before being published. Peer review means that other qualified researchers have an opportunity to criticize the methods that are used to test the findings if indeed there is any weakness in them. Science only can be trusted to provide solid findings when the process of peer review works as it should.

With respect to suicide rates, their study found that suicides involving firearms declined faster after 1996 than before. However, suicides involving other suicide methods fell even faster, and thus it is hard to argue that such a broad-spectrum drop could be caused by the new gun laws. It is more likely that a drop in a wide range of suicide methods, not just those related to firearms, was due to a generalized anti-suicide campaign that was conducted during the same time period, and not the 1996 gun ban.

In a submission made to the Australian Senatorial Committee investigating suicide prevention strategies, these two independent Australian researchers provided proof of this conspiracy not only to suppress their research but also to attack their character. So far at least, nothing is known about what response the Australian Senate will make.

Subsequent studies have corroborated these findings. As I have pointed out before (in my January 2010 column, for example) no methodologically sound study has managed to find a statistically significant impact of the 1996 Australian firearms laws on homicide or suicide. It is impressive that these independent researchers managed to get their work published. Australian public health academics attempted to suppress further publication of any research by Baker or McPhedran or of any that contradicted their inflated claims. Fortunately, some private emails have recently been made public, uncovering an old-boys network among public health activists who conspired to keep research conducted by independent scholars from being published in accepted scientific journals. If academic research is just a game for those on the inside, then the line between science and advocacy disappears. That is not how science is supposed to work. Science differs from advocacy in that scientists put claims to rigorous tests and then report the results, come what may, while advocates (or propagandists) cherry-pick their facts in an effort to support their claims. To ensure that only respectable methods

NFA Representative Professor Gary Mauser in action at 2009 World Forum. Also pictured, presidents of the National Rifle Association, World Forum &, U.S. Executive Director of the World Forum.

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Conclusion Having the facts on one’s side is not enough - even academic studies. To be successful in getting the facts to government, one needs a comprehensive communications strategy. The goal of such a strategy should be to gain the attention of the lawmakers, develop working relationships with them, and to offer solutions for problems which concern them. Such a strategy needs to be well planned and well executed, but it need not be expensive. If a gun-rights group could develop a professional communications strategy it would be a gamechanger in Canadian politics. References Baker, Jeanine, and Samara McPhedran (2006). Gun Laws and Sudden Death: Did the Australian Firearms Legislation of 1996 Make a Difference? British Journal of Criminology. DOI: <http:// dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azl084>. Canadian Coalition for Gun Control. http://www.guncontrol.ca/ IANSA. http://www.iansa.org/ WiSH Submission (#30) to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee (Australian Parliament), Inquiry into Suicide in Australia. http://www.ic-wish.org/McPhedran%20Baker%20Suicide%20 in%20Australia%20Senate%20Submission_Nov%2009.pdf

Gary Mauser with Gaston Glock of Glock GmbH during a World Forum meeting representing NFA

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Team NFA Update

Matt Neumann - Achievements/Results: BC Premiers Athletic Award 2007 and 2008

1st Canadian National Championships Youth 10km (individual) March 27/2008

1st Canadian National Championships Junior 3X6km (mixed relay) March 5/2010

1st NorAm Cup #1 Junior Men 10km (sprint) December 5/2010

1st Canadian National Championships Junior Men 15km (individual) March 26/2009

Matt Neumann

Megan Tandy

Matt Neuman Update

Megan Tandy Update –

Matt had a very busy and very successful 2009-2010 race season as one of Canada’s top male biathletes. For the upcoming race season Matt has his sights set on medaling at the 2011 Canadian National Biathlon Championships. 2011 will be his first year as a Senior. Placing in the top 30 at the 2010/2011 IBU (International Biathlon Union) Cup is his next priority and he hopes to build upon that experience for the future. At present he is hard at work training for the start of the new season this fall in Squamish, BC. He recently was the recipient of the Prince George Youth Excellence Award.

The 2009-2010 race season was a ground breaking season competitively and personally for Megan. This was her first full World Cup season as well as her first Winter Olympics. Back in September we saw her kick off the season with the Summer Jr. World Championships, which were to mark the beginning of one of her most successful race seasons yet. It also marked the closing of her time as a junior athlete. Finishing as Junior World Champion and a double gold medalist was certainly a fine cap to any Jr. career!

Here at NFA we are extremely proud of all that Matt has accomplished and the part we’ve played in helping to develop one of the premier young biathletes in Canada today. We expect big things from Matt next season and we’re happy to announce that we have extended our sponsorship agreement with him so that he can continue to compete, as well as represent National Firearms Association, at premier world competition events. According to Matt he gets asked many questions about his National Firearms Sticker affixed to the stock of his rifle at competitions and is happy to chat with fans about the NFA, our goals and the good work we do for Canadian shooting sports. Here are a few of Matt’s completive highlights as part of Team NFA for the past several seasons. June/July

1st Canadian National Championships Junior Relay (3x 6km) March 29/2009

1st Canadian National Championships Junior Men 12.5km (pursuit) March 4/2010

By Grayson Penney

1st Canadian National Championships Junior Men 10km (sprint) March 28/2009

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Competitively speaking, the most exciting events Megan participated in this past season were the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She took a risk this past year and opted to train in Squamish with the BC High Performance Team and coach iLmar Heinicke. This allowed her to utilize the actual Olympic site as her primary training ground. Unfortunately, choosing to train apart from the national team caused her to lose all official support from the government and from the National Team.

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“The Olympics were an experience I will never forget: I was both proud and relieved to end such an amazing life experience knowing that I truly did give everything I had during my competitions and with the satisfaction of being the top Canadian woman in biathlon.” - Megan Tandy The Big Show – The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games!

Megan’s gamble to go it alone and train in Squamish and the Olympic facility paid off this past February when she proved to be the top performing Canadian woman in all three of her Olympic events. Megan competed in four Olympic events, the 7.5 km Sprint, the 10 km Pursuit (Only the top 60 Olympic competitors in the Sprint event are eligible to participate in the Pursuit and Megan was the only Canadian woman to qualify!), the 15 km Individual and 4X6km Relay. 7.5 Sprint: Megan has said that she always starts each race with the goal of perfect shooting. In the Sprint she achieved perfection and for the first time in a major race Megan shot a perfect 10\10 race! Unfortunately, skiing conditions Team NFA Continued on Page 41

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Cast Bullets For Beginners Part II By Sean G. Penney

The key to casting good bullets has everything to do with temperature. Both your mould and your melt need to be at the optimal temperature for proper fill-out of the mould and to ensure that the dropped bullets remain consistent, are free of voids and without undue “frosting.” To speed up the process I prefer to pre-heat my moulds. Some casters opt to rest their mould blocks on the side of the pot or furnace, while others dip a corner of their mould in the melt itself. Both methods are not without their drawbacks, as scorched or split mould handles or even a warped mould can result if due care is not taken. These days, I generally prefer to preheat my moulds on top of a piece of 1/2 “ Aluminum plate placed on a burner of my camp stove. It is fast, heat is distributed equally and no scorched handles.

lets for my various needs. Rate of production is everything in this process, so I usually use multiple moulds and often opt for my “gang” moulds rather than the smaller one and two cavity models. You can drop four or five bullets at one time, while virtually expending the same amount of effort it would take using a double cavity mould. As an added bonus, using multiple moulds also prevents any one mould from getting too hot. Once you find your rhythm, it becomes quite easy to keep several moulds almost continuously in use and at the optimal temperature.

Even more important to a good result is ensuring that your melt is at the proper temperature. Too cold and you won’t get proper fill-out of your mould cavities, resulting in deformed and unusable bullets. Too hot, and the bullets you drop will have a white frosted look. While often useable, such bullets are not optimal and with a little more attention much better results can be obtained. Once your melt is at the perfect temperature, there is no guarantee that it is going to stay there. As metal levels fall, temperatures may increase; adding new ingots to the mix can cause temperatures to fall dramatically and can even change the composition of the alloy if not careful. You’ll have to work out what system works best for your casting style. I generally prefer not to let the level of my pot drop too much, so I’m adding small ingots or scrap from the same alloy on a regular basis in order to maintain a constant temperature range and to prevent too much cooling of the melt.

Before attempting to cast your first bullet, the melt must undergo a process called fluxing. Fluxing is a simple process that is designed to counter the oxidization that occurs as a function of heating the metal to the point of phase change from solid to liquid. When the highly heated metal comes in contact with air, oxidization takes place. The higher the heat, the faster the oxidization of the alloy’s component metals. The convection currents within the pot results in a constant turn-over at the surface of the melt and the bullet caster is then forced to deal with the different rates at which the various metals in his alloy oxidize. The resulting oxides created during the melting process separate from the parent alloy. Tin, one of the key components of most bullet alloys, oxidizes far more rapidly than pure lead; as a result, we often first see tin oxide forming a skim across the surface of the pot.

I generally like to take a weekend and spend the entire time in a marathon casting session that results in thousands of bul-

Metal Preparation: The Art of Fluxing

Flux acts as a reductant and aids the caster in returning the tin to the alloy. Usually there are a number of other impurities or unwanted metals and debris that will float to the surface which also affect surface tension of the melt and the consis-

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tency of the alloy itself. As the caster, you want to remove those impurities from the melt. Most often encountered are calcium, aluminum, zinc, and copper, especially when using recovered range lead or scrap. Because lead is denser than other unwanted impurities such as dirt and the steel clips from wheel weights, these too will float to the surface of the melt and must be skimmed off. The key here is to remove all the junk, without removing too much of the good metals such as tin. Flux is the ingredient that permits us to do this. Many different compounds or materials can serve as a flux. Most often used are beeswax, bacon grease or tallow, paraffin, bullet lubricant, oiled sawdust, kitty litter, motor oil and rosin. Commercial fluxing compounds with some sort of boric acid base like Marvelux are also now available. Each has their advantages and disadvantages; however, I generally prefer to stick with the more traditional waxes and paraffin. Drop the flux into the melt and stir vigorously to return the tin oxide to the alloy and raise all the other impurities to the surface for skimming. I may go through this process several times in order to start with the absolutely “cleanest” alloy I can. Foul smelling smoke often results and it is recommended to ignite these vapors using a BBQ lighter to prevent a mini-conflagration over the surface of the melt. This is a big reason why it is a good idea to cast in a well-ventilated area and not indoors if you can help it. When casting using a bottom-pour furnace, extra fluxing compounds such as wax, kitty litter, sawdust, etc... can be added to the pot in large enough quantities to form a barrier against further oxidation and as long as that barrier isn’t disturbed you can proceed to cast with little concern for alloy separation. There is some extra clean-up of the pot in the end, but may be worth it depending on your needs.

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Mould Preparation In order to start casting good bullets almost immediately, your mould or moulds need to be properly prepped. New moulds and those freshly removed from storage should be degreased and scrubbed of all factory oils or protective compounds. Rubbing alcohol and an old toothbrush work fine, but I prefer to use aerosol carburetor or brake cleaner and allow excess fluids to evaporate. Once clean, the mould cavities may be prepped for casting by “smoking.” Using a lit beeswax candle, match or preferably a butane micro torch, a thin layer of carbon is deposited into the cavities by playing the flame over the open mould halves and cavities. This process almost always serves to produce better bullets that seem to drop more easily from the cavities. Smoking of the moulds needs to be repeated at periodic intervals and at the start of every casting session.

Casting the First Bullet First, always suit up with the proper protective gear. A moment’s inattention can result in a painful burn or worse unless you are wearing the required protection. I built my own casting bench using scrap 2”X4”and 4”X4”with a 1” plywood top, clad in 3/8” cold-rolled steel. It also serves as welding bench and fabrication table. The metal cladding reduces any worries about burning the table top with molten lead and any spatters or accidents can simply be allowed to cool and then reclaimed later using an old putty knife. In order to maximize your bullet production, you need to develop a rhythm and the only way you can do that is if you are organized. I lay out all my tools, pots or furnaces, mould blocks, heat sources, drop pads or water buckets the same way every time. Always, when you use a tool or item, put it back immediately after use. That way you don’t constantly have to search around for

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a particular item. It does require a certain level of commitment, but the time savings alone are worth it. Ladle casting is the method I first learned to do, and it still has a favored place in my heart. Even if you purchase an electric furnace, with or without bottom-pour spout, you can still use it for ladle casting. I started out using an old soup ladle that I shaped to my needs with a pair of needle nosed pliers to make a more user-friendly pour spout to better fit mould cavity holes. Assuming the melt has been properly fluxed and your mould pre-heated, you first carefully plunge the ladle into the pot. I prefer to go all the way to the bottom of the pot and draw my lead from the center of the pot. Holding the mould in the other hand in a 90 degree position relative to the floor and bottom of the mould, I quickly place the pour spout against sprue plate hole. Keeping the nose of the ladle’s pour spout firmly against the sprue, both ladle and mould are rotated back 90 degrees to the level position and held there for several moments - sufficient to fill the mould cavity and leave a proper sprue puddle. The process is repeated as necessary until all cavities are filled in the mould block. The mould is rotated in this manner in order to get proper fill out and to prevent any trapped air from creating voids in the bullet as cast. Another option when ladle casting is what I call a “forced pour.” The latter is messy, more time consuming and works best with single or double cavity moulds, however, you get total fill-out and almost no air voids as the sheer volume of lead you pour (far in excess of the actual cavity volume) displaces any trapped air. I tend to use this method more so when casting slugs or larger caliber bullets using single cavity moulds. It is too slow for gang mould use. A common mistake most new casters commit is to attempt to cut the sprue too soon. The sprue is the small puddle of hardened lead alloy that is left on top of the mould directly over each cavity. The alloy contracts as it cools. In order to ensure that you get proper fill-out of your cavities, the caster must leave a small puddle of extra alloy on top of the sprue plate. The holes in the plate permitting alloy to flow into the cavity are deliberately countersunk to hold a sufficient sprue puddle. As the metal cools, extra metal will be drawn down, into the cavity, thus yielding a perfectly filled-out bullet. As a bonus, the shape of the holes machined into the sprue plate also fit the pour spouts of bottom-pour furnaces and commercial lead ladles. You need to wait a few moments for the molten alloy to solidify. After a few hundred bullets you’ll quickly learn to judge when it is safe to cut the sprue. When

ready, I take my mould mallet, lead hammer or hardwood dowel and strike a quick, sharp blow to the sprue plate. This blow shears off the excess sprue metal and permits the mould blocks to be opened and the freshly cast bullets to drop free. Any smearing of lead on the underside of the sprue plate or ripping, rather than cutting of the sprue, observed at the base of the bullet is clear indication that you cut the sprue too soon. When it comes to actually dropping the new bullets from the mould, every mould is different and some will consistently drop their bullets as soon as the mould handles are pulled apart, while others consistently require the use of the mallet or dowel in order to free up the bullet from the mould cavity. It is never a good practice to strike the actual mould half, even when using a softer, non-marring tool such as a mould mallet. Instead, only strike the joint of the mould handles. The transfer of kinetic energy from the handles to the mould is usually sufficient to dislodge the temporarily stuck bullet. Rarely are more than one or two blows required if the mould has been properly smoked. Even if you’ve taken the time to pre-heat your mould, you need to be prepared for almost certain disappointment with your first few attempts to cast bullets. Generally, with a preheated mould, you will still have to drop a half dozen or more instant rejects to get the mould up to proper temperature. Moulds that are too cool, will drop malformed bullets that lack sharp edges, complete fill-out and they often are wrinkled or have wavy or rounded grease grooves. No worries, these rejects can be saved and returned to the pot, along with the left over sprues. I generally keep a Coffee can on hand to collect these rejects and lead scraps. In short order, you’ll start to see perfectly formed, well filled-out bullets with nice, sharp grease grooves being produced. In order to prevent possible damage to these new, still soft bullets, it is recommended that you use an old towel or cotton T-shirt as a drop pad for the bullets. Another option is to drop the bullets directly into a bucket of cold water. Water quenching works great and can actually yield harder bullets, at least for a time. You’ll find that even hard-cast bullets will soften somewhat with the passage of time. The process for bottom-pour furnaces is much the same; the only difference is that you don’t rotate the mould block. Instead, you leave a slight gap between the spout and the cavity to allow air to escape. The mould blocks, themselves, are allowed to slide on the mould rest attached to the furnace and as each cavity is filled, the mould is quickly advanced so

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that the next cavity can be filled. Again, getting into a rhythm that works for you is a key ingredient to upping your bullet production. With a little practice, even a new caster will very quickly begin leaving perfect sprue puddles and dropping excellent cast bullets. The process for dropping bullets cast with the bottom-pour furnace is the same for the ladle poured. Use the mallet, cut the sprue, open the mould blocks and give the handle joint a tap if the bullets don’t immediately drop free. Repeat until you have the quantity of bullets you need.

Common Problems or Issues • Bullets wrinkled or malformed – Mould is too cold or melt isn’t hot enough. •

Bullets are frosted – Mould is too hot. Using a folded rag soaked in water as a heat sink can help, but generally I prefer to use multiple moulds which allow time for moulds to cool slightly between casts.

Cast bullets are then examined and sorted. Those with obvious faults are thrown into the old coffee can used to catch sprues for reuse. Depending on their intended use, slight imperfections may be acceptable if you’re going plinking, but for competition, I only accept perfect bullets. Some casters will go beyond a visual inspection and will actually weigh each individual bullet. Those that deviate more than a grain or two over or below the specified drop weight are rejected. Differences in weight can most often be attributed to air voids, impurities or changes in alloy composition. Consistency is the ultimate aim here, so you want the most consistent bullets you can produce. That then translates into better accuracy. Once sorted and/or weighed, I store my new bullets in plastic storage containers, carefully labeled with bullet mould number, alloy, weight and date cast for future reference. You are now ready to size and lubricate the bullets in preparation for reloading.

Bullet casting may seem complex and even a bit scary, but in reality it is rather easy to do and is far more difficult to • Base of bullet spruce nib is torn or ripped. – Sprue cut too explain than it is to demonstrate. A good manual is a great soon. Need to allow a few more moments before starting point to learn the basic mechanics. Joining any of a attempting to cut sprue. multitude of on-line Internet forums devoted to the art of bul• Base of bullet is concave or has a hollow – Sprue puddle let casting can also be very helpful just as long as you don’t of insufficient size. As result, not enough metal available accept anonymous advice without first verifying for yourself that it is safe to take. With the dawn of the electronic age, to be drawn down into cavity during solidification. video hosting sites like YouTube are now offering new or • Fin or whisker of lead on base, sides or nose of potential casters a multitude of opportunities to watch other bullet. – Usually occurs when mould blocks fail to bullet casters demonstrate their techniques and equipment. If achieve ideal closure. Typically, small lead spatters or you are a reloader, bullet casting should be a natural progres debris is just slightly preventing mould halves from sion of your hobby. You won’t get paid for your time, but closing properly. Inspect both halves for foreign debris bullet casting gives you an opportunity to develop a truly and clean as necessary. Whiskers may also be the result custom load for a specific firearm and you have control of of a combination of a super-hot melt and mould. Need to every aspect of the bullet manufacturing process. In addition reduce temperature of metal and allow mould to cool to being far cheaper than jacketed, cast bullets offer equal or sufficiently between casts. better accuracy potential and can actually be driven to higher velocities than their gilded counterparts while operating at After the Cast lower pressures. It is also supremely satisfying to win that Depending on personal preference, after you’ve finished big match or to take that book-class deer, moose or caribou casting, you have the choice of leaving your pot full of lead using bullets that you cast yourself. Experience is the best and allowing it to solidify or emptying it, usually by breaking teacher and you learn by doing. It isn’t that expensive or hard out your ingot mould and casting the remainder of the melt to assemble a basic casting outfit and to get into the casting into ingots. If I know I’ll be using the pot again reasonably game. Every fellow handloader whom I have introduced to soon, I just leave it full. It is safer and a lot faster. For safe- the hobby have instantly fallen in love with it and are all ty, always unplug your pot or furnace and ensure your heat now just as hard core about bullet casting as am I. At the end source or camp stove is properly turned off or disconnected. of the day, casting our own allows us to do more of the one Moulds get a quick clean-up, are lubed and then returned to thing we all love and that is shooting. Who can argue against that? the ammo cans for climate controlled storage.

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Molon Labe! (mo-lone lah-veh)

By Jesse L. Hardin

Made Right Here: Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply AT-15: Homegrown Black Rifle

By Sean G. Penney

A couple of generations ago, Canada was a power-house firearms producer with manufacturers such as Inglis, Canadian Arsenals Ltd, Cooey/Winchester, and the government run Long Branch Arsenal helping to arm both the sportsman in the field and the soldier on the battlefields of Europe, the Pacific and Korea. These are but a few of the major Canadian manufacturers that then existed. Sadly, most of these have been closed down, sold off, or moved to the United States over the past five or six decades. Since then it has been up to the smaller domestic manufacturers to attempt to fill the void left by the loss of these legends. It has been a struggle and for the most part we’ve had to rely mainly on foreign imports to meet the needs of our recreational firearms community. Despite the state of constant flux the community and indeed the firearms industry seems to be in these days because of our current political circumstances, there have been a number of homegrown manufacturers and builders who have stepped up to help fill this void and to offer Canadian shooters quality products at reasonable prices; especially products that have become increasingly difficult to source overseas. One of these new companies has been Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply of Calgary, Alberta. Owner/operator Rick Timmins is well known in high-power rifle circles in Canada and his custom-built bolt action rifles have an outstanding reputation for quality and accuracy, and command prices comparable to many of the top ‘smiths in the United States. Anyone who has ever owned or shot an ATRS built rifle knows first-hand that Rick really knows his stuff. “Black” rifles, however, was something new for him, but when I learned that ATRS was gearing up to start producing their own “made right here” AR-15 rifles I knew I had to own one and immediately picked up the phone and placed my order with Rick. I was one of the lucky few who managed to get on the list for the 36

very first production run of the ATRS AT-15 lower. There were just as many more severely disappointed customers who missed the cut and were forced to wait months longer for the second production run. Today, new stripped lowers range wildly in both price and quality on the current retail market. They can be cast aluminum or milled from solid billet. Specifications, fit and finish all vary to one degree or another, even for manufacturers who claim their product is “mil-spec.” Lower end receiver’s can be found for under $150.00 from a variety of Canadian importers while at the upper end the price can run more than triple that for an ATRS built example. As with most things, you get what you pay for and if the sub-$150.00 lower is the Yugo of the gun world, the ATRS lower is the Rolls Royce or Ferrari. As a special bonus as a hands-on builder and manufacturer, Rick was able to offer his customers the option of choosing their own custom serial number and for a nominal extra fee could engrave almost any logo, image or text on to the offside receiver flat. I opted to go with my old hockey jersey number for the serial number and I had Rick engrave the famous Greek phrase “Molōn Labe” on the offside magwell flat. The phrase Molōn Labe, is from the ancient Greek, and was the only reply offered by Leonidas, the General-King of Sparta in response to the demands of Xerxes at the Battle of Thermopylae. The latter was the much feared Emperor of the Persian Empire and he came with 600,000 of the fiercest fighting troops in the world to conquer tiny, disunited Greece. In response to Xerxes’ demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons in exchange for his life and that of his vastly outnumbered band of some 300 personal bodyguards and a handful of Theban and Athenian citizen-soldiers King Leonidas shouted these two words back.

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They mean, “Come and get them!” They live on today as the most notable quote in military history and have become the rallying cry of pro-firearm rights defenders the world over. I thought the choice apt, as at the time fears abounded that we were likely facing the introduction of even more restrictive gun laws here in Canada, including outright bans of many “black” rifles and other semi-autos if the Liberals succeeded in winning the then anticipated federal election. At the same time the supply of available AR-15 lowers in Canada had completely dried up due to delays caused at the border and the simply voracious appetite American shooters had developed in the wake of Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President. I counted myself lucky when my nicely packaged, brand spanking new ATRS AT-15 lower arrived that spring morning. I currently own a number of different AR-15s, including several from top-tier manufacturers such as Colt and Lewis Machine & Tool. Yet, as much as I love my Colt’s and LMT’s, the new ATRS AT-15 lower put them to shame in terms of quality of machine work, fit and finish. It truly was a Rolls Royce. There were no stray machine or tool marks. Everything looked as if it had been highly polished before it had been sent out for what looked like Type III hard coat anodizing, just like the “milspec” calls for and the entire lower just oozed “quality.” The final finish was a deep, rich black that more closely matched my LMT and STAG ARMS uppers as opposed to the dark gray finish of the Colt’s. Rather than purchase the lower already assembled, I had opted for a completely stripped lower without any control parts that I could assemble and finish myself. I’ve built a number of AR-15 lowers over the past few years and I find it a fun and relatively easy way to add even more enjoyment to my hobby. www.nfa.ca

Besides, I wanted to install a two-stage trigger for the new build and had already sourced a complete Rock River Arms Lower Parts Kit or LPK that included the RRA two-stage trigger. Completing or building the lower is actually quite a simple process. Persons with the barest modicum of hand-eye coordination and the ability to use simple hand tools should be able to complete the build in under an hour with proper preparation. I’ll be covering my build of this custom Canadian AR-15 from stripped lower to madein-Canada upper barrel assembly, and the processes involved, in upcoming issues of Canadian Firearms Journal for a new serial feature I’ve dubbed “Project Sparta.” Following the start of work on “Project Sparta” I had an opportunity to discuss the project and the ATRS AT-15 with owner Rick Timmins himself. I wanted to learn a little more about how my lower had been made and frankly was curious to learn what could have possibly motivated a semi-retired, homebased Alberta gunsmith to open a new state-of-the art manufacturing facility that is now turning out everything from his top quality billet AT-15 lowers, and beautifully machined picatinny scope bases for most major types of rifles, to oversize bolt knobs and custom detachable magazine systems for bolt action tactical rifles along with a host of other innovative and extremely well made firearm parts and accessories. NFA: Hello Rick, thanks for taking the time for us today. To start I just have to say I absolutely love my AT-15 lower! ATRS: Thanks for having me and we’re pleased you like our product. That was our aim when we started this whole thing. NFA: Speaking of getting started in the AR manufacturing game, how exactly did a semi-retired gunsmith from rural Alberta suddenly become one of the biggest black rifle makers in Canada? ATRS: Good question! I sometimes June/July

ask myself that. I guess to understand it; you have to know a little about my background. I’ve always joked that I was born addicted to gun powder and have been shooting for over 50 years now. I got involved in the business side of the firearms community a little later, but I’ve been in the firearms business since the late 60s. I guess the desire is in the blood. NFA: I know you have a fantastic reputation for building precision long-range rifles, how exactly did you develop that particular skill set? ATRS: Experience is certainly a great teacher, but I also had the honor and privilege of being taught by some of the very best and working with some of the best in the industry back in the day. At the time, like many others who have travelled a similar path, I was either not happy with what was offered in terms of available firearms or simply could not afford to pay those who offered the best quality; so rather than bitch about it, I opted to take matters into my own hands and do something about it. You have to bear in mind, however, that I am first and foremost a long range rifle shooter. The AR thing was relatively new to me, but most of my staff are “black” rifle addicts so a lot of the credit for the AT-15 success is theirs. Ironically, the current AR craze actually forced me to delay the introduction of my own custom machined bolt action rifle actions. Something which has been a lifelong dream of mine. However, I’m pleased to announce that just last month ATRS formally released our new our rifle action which we’ve dubbed “Infidel.” NFA: Congratulations! I think my wallet is going to be in for another tough go of it in the very near future if the new production action is as nice as the prototypes I’ve seen. ATRS: It is! (laughing) NFA: Getting back to our original topic, I guess there must have been a pretty 38

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important reason for you to delay introduction of the new ATRS rifle action. What caused the change in direction? ATRS: Well, we started this AT-15 project back in 2008 when all the pundits were warning that we were possibly looking at another federal election. If you remember, the Liberals and NDP were threatening to bring down the government and one of their election planks was going to be more gun control legislation. Coincidentally there were also no ARs available on the Canadian market; so wanting my kids to be in the pool so to speak, and not having any luck finding ARs to register to them, I started making some lowers with the expectation that all ARs would be prohibited by whichever opposition party or coalition won - assuming the Conservatives lost the election. The hope was that the new government would opt to “grandfather” current owners rather than seize the tens of thousands of black rifles now in sportsmen’s hands and thus help preserve a part of cultural firearms heritage. We were basically hoping that with restricted firearms already registered to them, the kids would see history again repeat itself as it did when the whole 12(x) classification system was introduced years ago. A faint hope I know, but we thought it worth a try.

ATRS: We did. We’re now on the 3rd generation of the AT-15 lower and we now have AT-15s in Australia, Cayman Islands, RSA, Switzerland, Germany and the UK. Here at home, you can find them from coast to coast, from Newfoundland to British Columbia. NFA: Obviously if you’re already on the third generation, you haven’t abandoned your quest for precision and perfection that has been the hallmark of your long-range rifle builds even though you’re now building “black” rifles. ATRS: Absolutely. We strive for perfection in everything we do, even if we’re talking about “black” rifles. NFA: I can appreciate that and I have to say the quality of my own lower has really impressed me; even knowing beforehand the quality of work you’re capable of turning out. ATRS: Thanks. I’ve always been of the opinion that one of the keys to turning out a superior product has been starting

with quality materials right from the start. That is why for the AT-15 project we opted to use a specialty aluminum made by Fortal - basically a very high grade 7075, with a higher tensile strength than conventional 7075 aluminum instead of a cheaper alloy. We could’ve used a less expensive grade of aluminum alloy and been able to drop our final retail price accordingly, but instead we wanted to offer shooters something a little different. NFA: Well, it looks like that gamble has paid off and I haven’t heard too many AT-15 owners complaining! What can you tell me about the “nuts & bolts” of actually producing the AT-15 from the raw block of aluminum I’ve seen in pictures? Is everything done in-house or is any of the work sub-contracted? ATRS: Good question. The actual blocks of raw aluminum are completely CNC machined 100% in-house with the exception of the magwells. Looking at the machining time it would take and

the various options available out there we decided to opt for the EDM process via a local company. EDM or Electrical Discharge Machining is a machining method primarily used for hard metals or those that would be very difficult to machine with traditional techniques. For our use, one of the bonuses of EDM is that it can cut intricate contours or cavities in prehardened metals without the need for heat treatment to soften and re-harden them. The structure of the surrounding metal, as a consequence, remains relatively unaffected and you don’t run into complications such as differentially hardened alloy. Although we were working with our select grade of Fortal 7075 aluminum alloy, this process can be used with almost any other metal or metal alloy such as steel, titanium, hastelloy, kovar, inconel and other specialty alloys. Once the magwells were cut, a final inspection was done to ensure QC

NFA: Okay, producing a couple of custom lowers is one thing, how exactly did that lead to a new facility, new CNC mills and creation of a dedicated production line and introduction of the AT-15 to the civilian market? ATRS: I honestly did not realize that the AR market was so strong in Canada. However, interest was so intense from customers and on-line from a variety of shooting related forums that I had to do a complete reassessment of where we wanted to go with this product and how much potential there was for growth. NFA: Obviously you decided to take the gamble.

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was maintained and the lowers were then sent out to be hard anodized to “mil-spec,” specifications. We wanted a tough, robust finish that would hold up well to lots of wear, and frankly, our customers seemed to prefer this type of finish, with black being the most popular. Our contractor doing the anodizing for us, however, was able to offer customers a choice of colours for a pretty modest extra fee and we actually have had customers request such non-typical AR colours as red, blue and even pink! NFA: Red? Pink? So much for the myth of the “black” rifle I guess. ATRS: Well the customer is always right and if we can accommodate them, we will, if they’re prepared to cover the extra prep, set-up and materials costs associated with their custom requests. NFA: Custom. I guess that is the reason why the AT-15 can command the price it does? ATRS: Exactly. We’re building the luxury sports car of the gun world, not the economy sub-compact. In all honesty, the only “mil-spec” thing about our lowers is the hard anodized finish. Everything else…all the tolerances are far tighter than what the official military specifications call for. We made a conscious decision to not just make typical AR lowers, but instead opted to make a number of improvements and changes to both the dimensions and features to the traditional AR model. Our lowers are quite a bit thicker in many places and the magwell is significantly larger than most AR lowers. We felt if we were going to build a product we wanted it to be distinct and the best available. That is also one of the reasons why we opted to machine our lowers with an enhanced “winter” trigger guard, rather than not bother at all and have the end user install the traditional straight guard and pin arrangement common to traditional ARs. NFA: I notice on your website that

you’ve expanded your line into essentially “made-to-order” stainless AR barrels, aluminum picatinny hand guards, ATRS muzzle breaks and even complete ATRS rifles. What prompted the expansion? ATRS: Well, once we had established a market for AR lowers we started getting requests for custom barrels and complete rifles. AR barrels were hard to source at the time, especially shorter ones due to US export restrictions. As a result, it wasn’t long before we got dragged into making AR barrels as well. Like our lowers, we decided that rather than making run-of-the mill barrels we wanted to offer our customers the best product we could at as reasonable a price as we could. We felt if we started with blanks from well known high-quality, match barrel makers, the overall barrel would be a better product, and so brought in a large number of blanks from Rock Creek and Lilja. We were asked for all sorts of different lengths and configurations and now have an almost fulltime job making AR barrels. With barrels also came the need for either flash hiders or brakes and we eventually opted to manufacture brakes that eliminate muzzle rise. Interestingly enough, we were almost too successful in eliminating muzzle rise with our early prototypes and found that they actually created “negative muzzle rise.” With the help of local law enforcement testers, we put the first prototypes through whatever torture tests we could think of. We found that the original design was a little too much of a good thing and when in full auto the muzzle actually dove down too much, so we had to alter the port size and angle. The current brakes work well and they seem to have been well received by the shooting community by and large.

er willing to step up and offer Canadian shooters such high quality firearms and accessories, especially when we’re talking about “black” rifles. You’ve certainly come a long way from the semiretired gun builder and paper-puncher you had hoped to be by now. With an ever expanding product line and now you’re offering complete ATRS rifles for sale, what does the future hold for Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply, ATRS: Yep, you called that right! Alberta Tactical Rifle is tragic case of a retirement project gone desperately awry. I started ATRS in 1997 as a retirement project that I hoped would generate enough income to cover my powder and bullet addiction. The business has now gone from occupying part of a two-car garage and one room in the house to a full-time job in a 4000 sq ft shop employing 5 full time and 3 part time employees; as for the future…further expansion is imminent. NFA: Great to hear Rick! Thanks for taking the time for us and all the best for the future plans.

Team NFA Continued From Page 31 were not great and she struggled somewhat. Despite this Megan still placed 46th in an exceptionally competitive field. This made her the top Canadian woman as well as the first Canadian woman to qualify for and race an Olympic Pursuit event! 10km Pursuit: According to Megan the Pursuit is her favourite race format because of the intensity of the competition. Megan started in the 46th place with the goal of finishing in at least the top 40. Megan turned in another stellar shooting performance, scoring 19/20, and finished the race in 36th place, moving up 10 full places and earned additional World Cup points to boot. Megan gave this race her all, held nothing back and did her country proud. 15km Individual: In the 15K Individual, a missed target translates into a full 1 minute penalty instead of the standard 25 second penalty loop. Given her personal best shooting performances in the previous races Megan had high expectations and she did well, shooting 17\20. Unfortunately, the 3 minutes in penalties resulted in her finishing in 50th place. Even though she was personally disappointed with her performance, Megan was still the top Canadian woman competing in the race. 4 x 6km Relay: The Relay was the final Olympic event for Megan. She was the anchor for the Canadian team, skiing

the fourth and final leg. Unfortunately, the team did not run a particularly great race and shooting accuracy was an issue. Penalties accrued due to missed targets and extra shots forced the Canadians to do one penalty loop. By the time Megan started the fourth leg of the relay as anchor, the Canadians were sitting in 17th place. The pressure was certainly on Megan and she rose to the occasion. She skied and shot well and was able to move Team Canada up into 15th place. As we were putting this update together, news arrived that Megan had gotten married this April over the Easter weekend in Squamish, BC to her beau and coach iLmar Heinicke. iLmar is the head coach for Biathlon BC and has worked with Megan for several years. The happy couple got engaged in Oberhof, Germany this past September, but kept their relationship closely guarded until after the Olympics. As iLmar is German, the couple held a second ceremony over the Victoria Day long weekend in his hometown, Klingenthal. On behalf of the National Firearms Association I would like to take this opportunity to extend our congratulations to the happy couple. Many happy returns!

ATRS: You’re very welcome. I hope this helps give your readers some insight into our little operation. Cheers. NFA: Thank-you. For more information on the AT-15 or other ATRS products you can reach Rick and the gang via mail at: Alberta Tactical Rifle Supply #6, 2016 25th Ave N.E. Calgary, AB, T2E 6Z4 Phone: (403)-277-7786 or (403)-277-7266 Fax: (403)-277-7181 E-mail: atrs@telus.net or via their web site at: http://albertatacticalrifle.com/ index.html

NFA: Wow. I have to say it is really great to see a Canadian owned company, especially an independent gun mak-

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Gunsmith Q&A

opening the action and making sure that there are no live rounds in the chamber, magazine or anywhere near the rifle. • Turn the rifle over and using the proper screwdriver remove the action screws that will permit you to remove the barreled action from the stock. (It helps to have a proper gun cradle or vise to hold the barreled action securely, however, your basic wood or mechanics vise can do in a pinch if you wrap the jaws properly and take care not to apply too much pressure.) • Next remove all surface oil, carbon deposits, dust and other dirt and debris that the trigger group may have collected over the past 30 years using a fast drying solvent or alcohol based cleaner that won’t leave any sort of sticky residue. • Thoroughly wipe trigger group dry using a lint-free cloth or chamois.

By Grayson Penney Figure 1 – Original Remington 700 Trigger Firing Pin

“Middle lever”

Bearing surface

. I have an older heavy varmint barrel Remington 700 chambered in .22-250. The rifle is in like new condition even though it must be close to 30 years old. I inherited it from my dad who never used it. I’m just getting into varmint/coyote hunting and would finally like to put this rifle to good use. I took it to my local range to get my new Leupold VX-III scope mounted properly and dialed-in, but I ran into two problems. The trigger pull is excessively heavy and my accuracy was terrible, with 2”-3” groups at 100 yards the norm. A couple of very helpful benchrest shooters checked to ensure that the scope was properly mounted and the screws, etc…were tight. They were. After testing the trigger pull, they agreed that the factory trigger was excessively heavy and needed to be adjusted for a lighter pull or replaced with a replacement Jewel or Timney trigger. I’m relatively handy with tools and am on a tight budget. At present I can’t afford to purchase a new trigger or pay a gunsmith to complete a trigger job on my rifle. Same goes for having the rifle bedded. Is it possible for me to do this work myself?

John T.

John, before the advent of all the new user-adjustable “wonder” triggers we’ve seen rifle makers bring to market over the past decade, such as the new Savage Accutrigger™, Remington X-Mark Pro™ and most recently the M.O.A.™ Trigger System from Winchester, the Remington 700 trigger was considered the best factory trigger on the market because of its ease of adjustment and robustness.

Sear engagement. Screwing in reduces the bearing surface between the trigger and the middle lever, thus bearing creep

Backlash or overtravel screw - cock the rifle, then screw all the way in. Depress the trigger and back screw out until firing pin falls.

Weight of pull screw - move out to lighten the trigger pull

• Next identify the three trigger adjustment screws found on the front and rear of the trigger group assembly. There should be some sort of epoxy or shellac type coating covering the adjustment screws and essentially locking them in place. • Using a sharp edged tool such as an X-acto knife, small flathead screwdriver or dental pick carefully remove the epoxy from the screws. (I generally take some 2” masking tape and cover the exposed metal of the rifle’s action before proceeding with this step in case I slip. The tape will save you from damaging the rifle’s finish.) Make sure the slot heads are free of any remaining epoxy residue as well as both adjustment screws. Dental picks work well here.

A proper trigger job should certainly help shrink those groups for you. I generally prefer a nice “crisp” trigger with no “creep” that breaks around 2.5 lbs and has next to no overtravel for a hunting rifle. Before any shooter attempts to adjust a firearm’s trigger, they really need a basic understanding of the nomenclature involved.

• Lift the bolt to cock the trigger. Now we can begin to adjust the weight of pull screw. It is the bottom, front screw on the trigger group when the rifle is right side up. I generally prefer to lighten the trigger pull by backing out the adjustment screw in approximately an eighth of a turn increments. This lightens the pull by allowing the return spring to elongate. For field/hunting rifles I never adjust my triggers any lighter than 2.5-3 lbs for safety. Continue to make small adjustments until you reach the desired pull weight.

You’ll often hear good triggers described as “breaking like glass.” Just like a glass rod, a properly adjusted trigger should not move until the moment the “rod” breaks. Triggers that require too much movement before the trigger breaks are called “mushy” or described as having too much “creep” and consequently make a consistent trigger pull near impossible for the shooter to achieve. The “trigger pull” is simply the amount of pressure necessary for the trigger to break and is measured in lbs. of force. It essentially is purely a function of the weight of pull in combination with the engagement of the trigger sear. The distance the trigger moves after it breaks is called the “backlash” or “overtravel.”

• Hint: If you find you cannot cock the rifle after adjusting the screw you have backed the screw out too far and need to screw it back in until the rifle may be cocked once again. • Trigger pull is also dependent upon the amount of adjustment applied to the sear adjustment screw located at the rear of the trigger housing. This screw controls the amount of creep or take-up that is necessary before the trigger breaks, releasing the sear and permitting the subsequent release of the firing pin. The screw also contributes to the weight of pull because it controls the bearing surface between the middle lever and the trigger or more precisely the actual metal to metal engagement between the two bearing surfaces.

If you aren’t “handy” or completely unfamiliar with firearms maintenance I would strongly advise you to wait and have a qualified gunsmith complete the trigger adjustment for you. If you are, you are in luck as the 700’s trigger is easily adjusted.

• Screwing the sear adjustment in reduces the amount of creep. Care should be taken not to adjust the screw in too far as this will result in an inability to cock the rifle. If you take your time and remember that both screws work in concert to adjust trigger pull you should get a good result.

Trigger

• We need to think safety first, so ensure the rifle is unloaded by

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• Once you have your trigger pull adjusted we now MUST ensure that we have a SAFE trigger. This step is critically important and cannot be overlooked. There are a series of safety checks that need to be completed.

Important Safety Checks: o First attempt to cock the action by lifting and closing the bolt. If the action does not stay cocked after working the action quickly the trigger pull is too light and must be adjusted. o If the rifle passes the first test you must next do a slam test by grasping the unloaded rifle by the barrel and slamming the rear of the action against the floor (avoid hard surfaces that will damage the metal). If the sear breaks and the rifle “fires” the trigger pull is too light and must be adjusted again for safety. o If the rifle passes the first two tests you are now ready for the safety test. Once again cock the rifle but now move the safety lever to the “safe” position. Lightly touch the trigger with your trigger finger and push the safety to the fire or forward position. If the sear releases even once, the trigger is too light and must be readjusted. I generally perform this test multiple times in rapid succession to ensure a safe trigger. • With the safety of the trigger now established we can now turn to the issue of overtravel or backlash which is simply the distance the trigger moves after the sear is released. This step is probably the most simple – cock the rifle, then screw the adjustment screw all the way in. This is the other adjustment screw found at the front of the trigger group closes to the barrel. • Keeping the blade of the screwdriver engaged in the screw head you must now pull the trigger with your other hand. The trigger should not break. • Keep pressure on the trigger while you slowly back off the overtravel adjustment screw until the sear falls. • Cock the rifle and press the trigger a few times to ensure the firing pin falls and that the rifle is capable of actually firing a round. You are now finished adjusting the trigger. • The final step is to lock your adjustments in place with some sort of cement or similar compound. I would advise not using Loctite or similar products as they are hard to remove in the event further adjustments prove necessary. My preferred locking agent is simply a quality lady’s fingernail polish in a bright colour. After applying one coat, I usually let that dry well and then apply a second coat of the polish to ensure the screws won’t move. If I need to made additional adjustments down the road, the polish is easily removed and cleaned up unlike thread locking compounds. DISCLAIMER: The information contained in the above article is provided for in-

formational purposes only and are used by readers strictly at their own risk. Neither the author, the Canadian Firearms Journal nor Canada’s National Firearms Association assumes any legal liability or responsibility for any property damage, injury, nor death that may occur as a consequence of using the information contained within the above article. We recommend consulting with a qualified gunsmith to ensure that any firearms so adjusted are safe to use thereafter. Please be sure to exercise caution when effecting any type of firearm repair or adjustment.

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Police - Continued From Page 23 members, that isn’t actually the case and a number of police associations have also openly condemned the firearms registry. Sergeant Peter Ratcliff, past president of the Edmonton Police Association, described the gun registry as being, “... fraught with problems.” Adding that, “... it’s cost too much money, [and] it’s full of errors.” Peter Kawalilak, past president of the Alberta Federation of Police Officers, was even more laconic, simply stating that, “It’s a bad law.” Another past president of the Calgary Police Association, Al Koenig, is on the record saying that, “The program has had no effect on crime.” Despite the billions already spent, Koenig believes that, “the registry should be scrapped.” Winnipeg Police Association president Loren Schinkel shares his opinion and is on the record stating that, “The registry has done little to curb crime.” During the recent committee hearings on C-391, several front-line officers noted that despite statements made by

“No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.” - Robert A. Heinlein the president of the Canadian Police Association, Charles Momy; not only do front-line police officers not support the gun registry, but that neither Mr. Momy or any representatives of the CPA ever contacted their police force to survey them on their approval of the registry! Perhaps most damaging to Momy’s contention is the research provided by Detective Randy Kuntz of the Edmonton Police Service. Det. Kuntz began his survey in order to prove that neither the CACP nor CPA represented the true beliefs of front-line officers on the gun registry issue. According to his data almost 900 serving front-line officers responded to his survey. Of these only 39 indicated wholehearted support for the gun registry. The remaining 850+ officers were of

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the opinion that the registry was useless and should be immediately scrapped. Kuntz noted that, “It is common belief and historical practice that shows registration is a precursor to confiscation. This long gun registry drives a wedge between law abiding firearms owners and local law enforcement and has created a society of distrust toward law enforcement. If only the private firearms owners were made more aware as to how many police officers share their passion for the shooting sports and their dislike of the long gun registry.” Kuntz adds in his report that despite the fact that the public and police officers are, “...being told by politicians and the CACP that this program is of benefit, ...the overwhelming majority of police officers working the streets are telling me that it is a complete waste and of no benefit to them or the public.” If such opinions are so widely held then why aren’t more police officers speaking out? Jack Tinsley, a retired inspector and former S.W.A.T. team member

My intent here isn’t to slam law-enforcement. I have all the respect in the world for front-line officers. They are the people who put everything on the line for us every day in order to keep us safe and our society functioning. However, a growing proportion of gun owners have developed enough political savvy to recognize the difference between street cops and their political masters, as well as their often divergent political agendas; both from each other and Canada’s gun owners.

“The [registry is] the greatest waste of law enforcement funds that has ever been inflicted on the Canadian taxpayer.” - Robert Head, Assistant RCMP Commissioner (Ret’d.) Gun registry politics makes for bad public policy making. A position shared by John McNair, who summarized things quite succinctly when he argued that while: “The issue of firearms registration is hardly the first to see public policy analysis made subordinate to political calculations. Nevertheless, it’s a cautionary tale, not merely for hunters and shooters, but also for all those who contend that government regulation of the lives of Canadians should be rationally justified, necessary, and effective in achieving coherent policy

objectives...The gun registry fails on each count.” (The Mark News, April 28, 2010) Out of necessity, gun owners have been forced to become more politically sophisticated. In this new, dysfunctional “Us” vs. “Them” relationship, gun owners do not automatically assume that what is good for police brass and the unions is necessarily good for gun owners, Canada or indeed democracy. As Calgary Sun reporter Ian Robinson pointed out, “The two are not synonymous.” In fact it can be argued that the registry, “Brings justice into disrepute,” by pitting law-enforcement against the law-abiding while ignoring the criminal; or at least in the opinion of one RCMP constable who communicated his thoughts to Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz via E-mail. The same officer requested anonymity in order to protect his career. That, in itself, speaks volumes. Clearly it is time for our police to go back to doing what they do best and leave the politics to the politicians.

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with the Winnipeg Police Service appeared before the Public Safety Committee reviewing Bill C-391 last week and offered the most believable explanation to these phenomena. He argues that, “Registry opponents within police ranks have been muzzled,” and he believes they continue to hold their peace, “For fear of retribution by their police chiefs.” If the recent memo circulated by RCMP Deputy Commissioner T. G. Killam is any indication; it would seem Inspector Tinsley is correct in his assertions.

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By Grayson Penney

As I watched the evening news the other day I saw Lib-

eral leader Michael Ignatieff get before the cameras and announce that he was once again flip-flopping on an issue of national significance. Rather than allowing Liberal MPs to vote as their constituents wanted, he planned on whipping the vote - forcing many rural MPs to vote against the bill and against the clear wishes of their constituents in what I see as some vainglorious attempt at finding political relevancy. Around the same time Frank Graves, Liberal Party of Canada pollster of choice, was recommending to “Iggy” that he should look into igniting a “culture war” between urban and rural Canada in order to ensure success. Words still escape me at this most crass example of political avarice and irresponsibility that I’ve encountered in years. Somewhere along the line, it seems, Liberals decided to not only abandon rural Canada in favour of their urban redoubts of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, but began to view gun-owning rural Canadians as “the enemy.” One of my oldest friends, upon hearing the comments made by Graves and the lack of comment coming from Liberal spokespeople, tore up his Liberal Party membership in disgust. He’d been a Liberal supporter since 1949. As a lifelong hunter and gun owner, albeit semi-retired now, “Joe” had had a crisis of faith back in 1995 when the Liberals introduced Bill C-68. While he opposed the gun control bill on principle and refused to grant Chretien’s Liberals his favour in the following election, he still kept his card and paid his dues; believing that if he hung in there long enough “his” party would rally and show some of the “greatness” it had back in its glory days. I guess the hypocrisy of Michael Ignatieff was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Showing him video of the Liberal Leader shooting an AK-47 from a number of years ago during a trip to the Middle East probably didn’t help. “Joe” is one of those types that always tried to see the best in people, even when they are clearly undeserving of his faith. I guess the cynicism and self-interest of the Chretien/Martin legacy, combined with the ineptitude of the Dion experiment and now Iggy finally took their toll. While we were chatting about the subject my young grandson Ryan, who was visiting for the day, ran into the room “moose hunting” with his toy Nerf gun that shot soft foam “bullets.” I knew that Ryan had been spending a lot of time with his Uncle Sean and his Dad looking at videos of their past hunting trips, and he seemed to never miss an opportunity to ask his uncle to show him his gun collection; but I hadn’t realized just how much he had picked up from both

role models. Both “Joe” and I noticed immediately that he kept his finger off the trigger until he was ready to fire and his muzzle control would’ve beat the pants off many socalled “experienced” hunters I’ve shared a duck blind with over the years. “Joe” looked over at me and in a firm voice said that a boy who could display such maturity and safe gun handling deserved a “real” gun and not a plastic ray-gun straight out of Flash Gordon. “I’m gonna’ reward that young fella’ and piss off a Liberal all at the same time,” he mumbled to himself as he headed out the door toward his battered old Lincoln. He returned the next day with a butcher-paper wrapped parcel under one arm. “Uncle Joe” had a gift for Ryan...a like new Red Ryder lever-action BB gun!

I’d planned on picking one up, maybe for his birthday next year, but at five Ryan was mature enough to handle it with proper supervision in my own estimation. Still, raising an eye at the gift, “Joe” told me not to worry as he’d already cleared it with Ryan’s dad. I’ll admit that I was initially a little jealous that I wouldn’t get to buy my oldest grandson his first BB gun, but seeing the wonder and awe on his young face those thoughts quickly disappeared. Watching Ryan unpack his new rifle I thought back to my own childhood during the 1940s and 50s - running in the woods playing “Cowboys and Indians,” “hunting lion” on the savannahs of Africa or pretending we were “going to the ice” hunting harp seals with my three brothers. Like Ryan, we were to grow up using and enjoying firearms from the time we could keep both ends out of the dirt and were viewed as being responsible enough to handle this trust by our father, known to all as “The Skipper.” I know times are different now and the thought of children being trusted to use even a simple BB gun unsupervised is anathema; still, nobody ever lost an eye and we never ever shot at anything we didn’t intend to hit. Looking back, my brothers and I, along with our best friends essentially formed our own band of merry men that would’ve rivalled any that Robin of Locksley could’ve ever put together. Instead of being armed with stout longbows of English yew, we were the band of the “Daisy BB gun.” Those of us lucky enough sported genuine Red Ry-

der’s. Even though they were not the most expensive BB gun available through the Eaton’s catalogue, the Red Ryder was the rifle that held the most cachet amongst our gang. It had been introduced in 1938 by Daisy Outdoor Products. It resembled the lever-action Winchester rifles popularized by so many Western movies and pulp magazines of the era. Named for the comic strip cowboy character Red Ryder, the little Daisy BB gun was a lever-action operated, spring piston air gun with a smoothbore barrel, adjustable iron sights, and a gravity feed magazine with a 650 BB capacity. Unlike other Daisy air rifles of the day, it sported a special engraved wood stock, and a saddle ring with leather thong on the receiver. At the height of its ballistic prowess, the Red Ryder produced velocities of about 280 feet per second and had an effective range of about 10 yards. We all purchased our ammo from the local general store. The BBs came in paper tubes or crinkly cellophane packages and we happily exchanged our week’s allowance in exchange for an almost unlimited ammo supply – at least for that day. And oh how we shot! It would not stretch credulity to say that we literally shot tens of thousands of BBs in the run of year. After school, once the chores were done, we all made it a point to disappear until supper-time came; otherwise additional work would be found for our “idle hands.” We spent those days afield in the woods behind our house or along the rocky beaches of our Conception Bay home shooting and then shooting some more. Imagining ourselves as pint-sized Warren Pages or Robert Ruarks, we hunted vermin along the beaches and woods just as devoutly as our childhood heroes hunted bighorn sheep or African elephant. Rats, field mice, sparrows, starlings, cowbirds, grasshoppers, star fish, sea urchins, periwinkles all fell to our deadly fire. Reading stories of daring-do we started practicing our own trick shots as the challenge of hitting birds on the wing started to pale. We eventually got to a point where any of us could easily shoot a pebble or bottle top tossed in the air 4 times out of 5 at ten paces.

didn’t care. Like so many of the best competitive shooters in the adult world, we reached a point where we could simply visualize the shot. The actual ballistic trajectory of the fired BB was as familiar to us as our own reflection and we were able to make hits that even Daisy probably would’ve said were impossible. In essence, our BB rifles had become extensions of our psyches and thus ourselves. Interested only in the purity of the shot, we were able to find “the void,” that place of pure concentration that allows the most successful competitive shooters to excel. I wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that those days probably saw me fully realize my potential as a “rifleman.” I don’t think I ever again equalled the same level of skill and accuracy of arms as I did as a youth afield with my Red Ryder. Alas... As we got older the Red Ryder’s were put away in favour of Cooey and Winchester rimfire rifles; and while our skills as marksmen didn’t have that much of a chance to atrophy, that special spark and sense of wonder simply wasn’t there any longer. Rimfire ammo, even .22 shorts were substantially more expensive than a tube of BBs, so we couldn’t afford to shoot as much. Slowly, the outside world began creeping into our thought processes and the pressure of “not missing” became more important than actually exalting in the purity of the moment as we squeezed the trigger. All of this ran though my mind in the moments it took Ryan to unwrap his new Red Ryder and I smiled. Without a doubt, that other Red Ryder from a half-century ago played a major role in shaping the man I became. Most certainly the acquisition of the Daisy BB gun was a rite of passage for my chums and I, just as it was for my own boys. Now we had come full circle once again. I was excited to know that I would once again be afforded the opportunity to observe yet another young man grow and develop into a responsible member of our recreational firearms community and to assume the role of hunter, shooter and provider. I know I’ve said it before, but looking into the glowing eyes of my grandson I thought of all the missed opportunities so many parents could’ve taken advantage of to spend a day afield with their kids teaching them to hunt and shoot. I would argue that this is a part of our shared cultural identity and it is something to be celebrated, not something to ashamed of, as ideologues such as Frank Graves would have the larger populace believe. With the start of a new shooting season, not to mention all the political turmoil we currently face as shooters, why not make time today to take your kid or grandkid shooting? They truly are our future and it is we who serve as the stewards and protectors of their birthright; we must guard it well! ...And that is the last word!

The sights on our BB guns were primitive at best, but we 46

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