r/canadaguns • u/AutoModerator • Jun 06 '22

Weekly Politics Thread

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u/drain-angel BC Jun 07 '22 edited Jun 07 '22

I wonder why accessibility is seldom discussed when it comes to outreach? When I was working on getting my PAL (2020), I didn't know anyone with guns and I was lucky to convince my friend to go to a range about 30 minutes away with drop-in & rentals. I had my PAL booked about a week and a half out for $200, and there are plenty of cheap range memberships around Vancouver especially if you are young (Student) that are always taking members, and even then some are pretty dirt cheap alongside with crown land being a little far but not that much.

But recently I've been helping a buddy of mine in the GTA try to get his PAL. And it's like a completely different country in terms of shooting "accessibility". $400~ for a CFSC/CFRSC, classes booked out months in advance, no walk-in ranges with rentals for unlicensed shooters within 2 hours of him, and eye-watering prices for range memberships, that is, if you can find one that would accept you into their months-long waitlist or membership lottery. (GTA shooters feel free to correct me if I'm being hyperbolic or wrong).

Why isn't this a bigger part of the conversation? How can people who are interested in guns even get to try them out besides driving (and that's assuming if they have a car) a really stupid distance to find a range that has rentals near population cores? Like I thought having to find a friend to shoot guns with at a range supervised for the first time was silly, but this is on a whole other level.

Maybe the CCFR or ranges or us can start offering volunteered supervised shooting and get EVERYONE interested to break down some of these barriers? And is the GTA the only population core with these issues?

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u/WhatAShame8 Jun 07 '22

I’m in Ontario and it really is as bad as you describe it. I have to drive hours to go shooting, and with gas prices it’s easily $100+ in fuel costs and 5+ hours of driving time to and from the range. I blame Toronto culture too, it’s the reason all the gun clubs got banned in the GTA region like 30 years ago. You legally cant have a shooting range in the GTA because of the dumb laws they passed. But no worries, you can have a gang shooting every other week or so.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '22

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u/Wisecraker Jun 07 '22

I 100% agree with this. Ontario more specifically is bad for this.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '22

[deleted]

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u/Wisecraker Jun 07 '22

Ahhh. I see. I live North of the GTA and there is nothing within hours of me so my views are skewed. But I'm sure the vast land of Ontario may have hope in some parts.

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u/Apples_and_Overtones Your feet suck and so do you Jun 07 '22

If I'm not mistaken or misremembering, there was a plan to shutter a lot of ranges/gun shops in the Toronto area as part of some sort of "safety" movement or something. I think that happened to some extent (again, IIRC (I'm not from the area)) so that could be partially why accessibility in that area sucks.

Obviously, that of course had great impact (read: zero) on crime in the region.

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u/MajorCocknBalls Jun 07 '22

They banned handgun sales inside the city and then grandfathered the only store in the city that sold handguns. Fucking politicians just jerking themselves off.

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u/FourDoors-MoreWhores Jun 07 '22

They also shutdown the one or two ranges that were operating in the city

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u/MajorCocknBalls Jun 07 '22

because somehow removing places to shoot legally and safely reduces crime.

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u/RaHarmakis Jun 07 '22

there was a plan to shutter a lot of ranges/gun shops in the Toronto area as part of some sort of "safety" movement or something.

Works about as well as combating Street Racing by closing race tracks, and banning high end Ferrari Hyper Cars.

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u/ggghosted Jun 07 '22

Ontario (Toronto specifically) sucks for shooters. I go to Gagnon, love their staff and so friendly but $800 first time payment, then $600 yearly is pricey on top of new guns and ammo.. I also know nobody into guns so I was kind of jumping into the deep end. AFAIK Gagnon is taking people (as far as three weeks ago when i joined)

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u/knine71551 Jun 07 '22

Phew I mean the infamous range in Gormley has similar prices for that

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u/GinnAdvent Jun 07 '22

I wish we have more gun ranges in BC too, especially outdoor ones.

Not that existing ones aren't great, just havent seen many new ones since.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '22

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u/xpurplexamyx Jun 07 '22

DVC Ventures - Port Coquitlam

The Range Langley - Langley

Both do public range rentals!

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u/GinnAdvent Jun 07 '22

Actually, I should say around lower mainland area, lol.

Something similar to Quesnel Rod and gun would be nice!