r/canadaguns • u/RandVanRed • Jun 17 '25

Liberals were here

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"Weapons of the Plains" exhibit at the RCMP Heritage Center has no guns. "Removed for conservation", right! 😜

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143

u/RandVanRed Jun 17 '25

I posted this as a joke, but as I explored the museum it became obvious that ALL firearms have been removed from display. Apparently they're not a part of the history of the RCMP.

83

u/Ov3rReadKn1ght0wl Jun 17 '25

Were they actually removed for conservation though? I've done some firearm conservation work in my time and some displays did get yoinked on a regular schedule.

11

u/soundssarcastic bc Jun 17 '25

Yoinked where? A museum sounds like a great place to leave them

35

u/Ov3rReadKn1ght0wl Jun 18 '25

Typically they are brought to museum storage which can be within the exhibit facility or sometimes off site where they (and any other ephemera) are inspected, treated, and/or restored as needed in a lab and then stored in specialized areas or returned to display. Just because something is in a glass case, doesn't make it immune from deterioration. Most of a museum's items are actually stored this way with only a fraction of the collection on display.

Did a bunch of work in these labs back in the day. Tons of fun!

6

u/No_History_7742 Jun 18 '25

How does one get into that kind of work? That sounds like an awesome job!

3

u/Ov3rReadKn1ght0wl Jun 18 '25

I got into it by picking an artifact conservation stream as part graduate work in history after working in museums for a couple of years. I originally worked with archival documents and coins but moved on to other artifacts with time.