r/canadaguns • u/BrotherLefthand • Apr 16 '26
News / Politics / Activism Pilsner Ramblings: Effects of the OIC on consumer culture and the broader economy...
Picture is just for attention. It's a bubba gun I found for sale on CGN. I've been trying to buy it, but the owner takes 10 business days to respond.
It's payday for me, which means I'm once again looking over my household expenses. I like to keep close tabs on how we're doing on a bi-weekly basis. One thing I noticed, that I hadn't considered, is that I'm spending significantly less than I used to. This fiscal responsibility has been a trend since 2020... Not that my household is complaining, we're surpassing all of our investment goals. But it begs the question- who is complaining?
I know I am an exceptionally small drop in a much grander bucket, but my reduced spending on hobby shooting has resulted in a reduced overall economic throughput from my dollars. By no longer frequenting my LGS, I have reduced my input into the local and broader economy. Those dollars I am not spending, are then not being repeatedly taxed on each transaction that each new owner of those dollars make. Those dollars are not being used to pay rent or buy groceries by anyone. Instead, those dollars are now sitting in global investments that don't directly benefit Canada.
A consumer economy requires consumption. When the means of consumption are limited due to political rhetoric, such as the OIC, it doesn't mean consumers move on to new consumption habits. At least, not all of them. I see myself as one of those people that did not move on, as I explained above. Instead, I spend more time on other hobbies that I am already invested in that have very low long-term operating costs. Vague, I know; however, I didn't want this to be a conversation about hobbies.
All of this rambling makes me ask the question- Who is being hurt by this and how severe is the impact?
I can't be the only one who's stopped spending so much. I am Interested to hear what you all think on this.
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Apr 16 '26
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 16 '26
When you say things like "the liberals dont understand where gun violence is coming from" you are playing right into their hand. Maybe at a low level sure they are just believing whatever nonsense they continue to peddle. But the reality is the ruling class, know exactly what they are doing and its got nothing to do with "public safety"
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Apr 16 '26
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 16 '26
She is what Yuri Bezmenov would describe as a "useful idiot". Nothing more, as is Gary and all the other talking heads that perpetuate whatever agenda they are paid to
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
Gary is the most idiotic of useful idiots I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing enter politics. He is entirely useless, aside from being a seat filler for the LPC.
At least Provost can form a thought. Gary's chipmunk cheeks are entirely useless.
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 16 '26
Hes a the typical fall guy. Look at him they set him up like that perfectly. He didnt even know what a pal is. The ruling class is laughing in our faces . They are like "you know what would be funny? If we put a guy who wasn't even born in this country in charge of taking peoples legally obtained property."
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u/Perfect_Diamond_1128 Apr 16 '26
thank you doug, this correction needs to be said everytime someone says the liberals "are just being dumb, not understanding x y z"
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u/Barbarian_818 Apr 16 '26
"we need more gun control" always plays well with the political base who, for the most part, have no fucking clue how much gun control we already have. They just hear about a shooting in the news and conclude "the government needs to DO something about this!"
It means campaign contributions, grass roots volunteers and a better turn out at the polls.
When viewed en masse, voters have a short memory. Unless it happened six months ago or less, scandals rarely have a meaningful impact come Election Day.
When viewed en masse, voters act on reductionist and simplistic takes on whatever issue(s) they've been seeing in the news.
Voters usually only take a close look at, and perceive important nuance in, matters that directly impact them. Gun owners are a large minority, but still a minority. And a largely invisible minority at that.
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u/xpingux Apr 16 '26
This is on purpose. They know exactly where gun violence is. Low info voters see them "doing something" about it and don't actually care because gun confiscation doesn't affect them.
Crime and fear is a golden goose they can bring up time and again. "this time we'll totally save you".
Canadians deserve exactly what they vote for and this is it.
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Apr 16 '26
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u/xpingux Apr 16 '26
Canadians used to be wolves and now we're teacup lapdogs.
The average Canadian simply doesn't care about leaked conversations. I promise you, not a single outlet gave any legs to that story. If it was a conservative, it would have been front page news for weeks until the person stepped down.
It's completely assymetric and it's not even close.
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u/Whispersfine Apr 16 '26
Just look at Australia, that’s where we are heading
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u/Fit_Fuel_6515 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
What's going on there? I always heard that Aussie's were big gun nuts.
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u/Whispersfine Apr 16 '26
Fuck no man. They can’t even have semi auto 22s. They do have access to pistols but you need to compete at least twice a year in the league I think.
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u/Lumindan Apr 16 '26
That's part of the intention of the liberals approach to firearms.
They've made it abundantly clear they don't like any kind of ownership but they can't logistically ban or enforce en masse
So they chip away at it, ar15s, handguns, PCCs, etc. death by a thousand cuts to price folks out and crush the people who ideologically opposed them.
Local business (ranges, Smiths and stores) have obviously closed over time since businesses can be hard to pivot. This billions lost in spending btw. I don't have the exact figures on hand (someone in this sub will) but local spending on firearms and ammunition isn't a small amount. Hell if ARs were back on the market tomorrow we'd see plenty of folks drop huge cash for it which would be great for everyone (except the liberals and Poly).
A lot of folk drop a few grand on things, they get banned and they stop participating.
The harsh reality is, we desperately need a new government that's friendly to firearms ownership.
Best thing we can do now is hunker down, get more people involved in the sport and becoming aware of the actual situation (once people learn assault style doesn't mean shit and the bans don't affect crime, their tune changes).
Support your local ranges and stores cause they're on life support until another election.
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u/rastamasta45 Apr 16 '26
Prior to bans, guns and shooting sports contributed to 2 billion to the GDP annually. The LPC confirmed in a hearing that they did not do any sort of economic impact assessment what so ever, they banned and forgot. $2 billion a year….
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26
That's criminal!! Considering the extremes of our deficit, that money would be going a long way for our country...
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u/Infinite_Price_3550 Apr 16 '26
I swear I saw somewhere it was 8 billion not 2
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26
A gross of $2B would require every PAL holder spending roughly $840 per year.
I was easily spending that before. That's barely 10 boxes of Nosler .300wm. I'd definitely shoot more than 200 factory loads in a year.
There are plenty of PAL holders without that kind of budget or care for the sport. I know a few Grandpa's that buy 1 box of federal right before hunting season and that's it.
So $2B doesn't seem unreasonable. $8B seems like a stretch. However, I am basing that purely on anecdotes.
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 16 '26
How can you possibly have any faith in this system at this point? Like seriously. The guy i voted for just crossed the floor, how the fuck is that democratic. Wake up, your vote means nothing
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u/Lumindan Apr 16 '26
Because the reality is it's the only system we have and there's no changing that anytime soon. I've been alive long enough and unfortunately aware enough of the slimyness of politicians that I'm disappointed yet not surprised.
This is the time where we need to remember to hold our MPs accountable and pressure them when the polls open.
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u/sendmethemtoes Apr 18 '26
I think it’s time we call ourselves a visible minority so we can have a pride march, dedicate a month for us, give us more public safe spaces… like gun welcome zones with out or flag, and demand our property and rights returned lol, call whoever denies us our rights a bigot and a fascist and all the fun liberal words they’ve diluted over the years. Bet they won’t see that coming lol s/
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u/DougMacRay617 Apr 16 '26
With the near death of things like 3 gun/ multi gun. Ive had to pivot to PRS shooting. Im just 7/8ths finished the bulk of my prs build and if you count the money i spent getting all the reloading gear ive easily begun spending more. And reviewing my year over year since 2020 ive increased my spending on the hobby by almost 3x. This is also apart of buying guns that were not banned, then they would become banned and i would then have to source replacements. On the plus side im doing my part to bolster the firearms economy of canada.
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u/Barbarian_818 Apr 16 '26
Who's being hurt? Gun Store owners.
Numerous gun stores ended up having a lot of money tied up in firearms they weren't allowed to sell. That put a big crimp in operating revenues.
Then all of that stuff went to the government. I haven't seen anything solid, but I seriously doubt all of them got full compensation for it. It's my understanding that they aren't getting ripped off as badly as private gun owners, but they're still having to eat a loss.
(Which reminds me, could those stores at least be able to claim that loss in asset value and drop in revenue come tax time?)
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u/Longjumping_Deer3006 Apr 16 '26
I would say the other problem with costs and sustaining the sport would be the scalpers on CGN and Gunpost, and the fudds.
Alot of it is ment to go against Gen Z.
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u/SexiTwink Apr 16 '26
That a pretty slick lil rig HOSS, GOBBLESS
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26
It would be great if the guy would message me back. It's right up my alley.
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u/Murray3-Dvideos Apr 16 '26
Coincidentally, I've been spending more then I ever have before on guns (on a per year basis). The bans on most semi autos finally encouraged me to start buying some long coveted manual arms that I'd been holding off the purchase of to reserve more money for semi autos.
The manual arms are fairly expensive compared to the low - mid tier level semis I was buying. The obscurity of the cartridges has also compelled me to get into reloading in a major way... which is also very expensive.
Manual arms are indeed far less complex then semi autos.... so its a lot harder to find faults / design shortcomings with them that a entrepreneur can profit from.
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u/GKND__95 Apr 16 '26
We can be doomers, or we can fight for it. The sport dies when we let it, not by regulation.
Politics is always going to have its ups and downs, so to prevail we have to play the long game - the one with the 100 year outlook rather than the 5 year election cycle.
We do still live in a democracy, as retarded as the current government may be. We likely will for the foreseeable future.
The 100 year game here is to get as many damn Canadians as possible into shooting sports. If we reach a critical mass we become unfuckwithable politically. That’s how the US has managed to hold onto their firearms rights for so long - there’s just too many people to make banning guns politically viable.
Every time you invite a friend to the range you’re saying a “fuck you” to Poly, Nathalie, and her cartel. In lieu of our temporarily helplessness with the current LPC majority, we can still play the long game here.
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u/Armedfist Apr 16 '26
They totally understand what they are doing. It is divide and conquer. Allan rock said it himself back in the 90s that Canada will be one of the first world country to be gun free.
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u/canadianmohawk1 Apr 17 '26
I've stopped spending quite a lot. Pretty much only what I ,need, now. Going out for dinner is pretty rare. Costs too much. The rest into savings and investments and paying down debt.
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u/These_Engine_7758 Apr 18 '26
That was well written. My centrefire ammo consumption has gone down over the past couple of years. It's definitely getting harder to spend hundreds, even thousands on ammo every month.
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u/VariousCheezez Apr 16 '26
That thing is hard to look at
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26
I think it's adorable. It's the kind of cope that keeps me going.
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u/VariousCheezez Apr 16 '26
Hahaha fair, I'm mostly disturbed by that foregrip rail/arrangement
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 16 '26
Yeah, that's... a choice. I'd have to see how they use it. Maybe it's a barricade stop? I wouldn't want to use it as a grip. The ferrules get pretty hot on the gas tube.
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u/Dipesh_Hasanpur Apr 26 '26
Did you cut the bayonet assembly?
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u/BrotherLefthand Apr 26 '26
I just bought it- seller finally commited to the sale.
Yes, it appears that the front sight block was butchered. All that remains is the actual sight post.
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u/EnggyAlex Alex's Homebrew Apr 16 '26
one day our sks builds will be on forgotten weapons Elbonian documentary