Government regulations impact business for gun store owner

Tillsonburg Gun Shop owner Marc David points to the rivet that limits the magazine on this gun to only five shots. He explained while the government talks about high-capacity magazines, centrefire semi-automatic guns have been limited to five shots for decades. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Business owners face many challenges on a daily basis, ranging from keeping up on regulations, processing inventory, payroll and the impacts of interest rates. For Tillsonburg Gun Shop co-owner Marc David those challenges are multiplied by an ongoing barrage of rules and regulations impacting gun owners.

For the uninitiated, gun owners in Canada must take a gun handling and safety course, go through a government screening and police checks before being issued a license to purchase a firearm. Those wishing to hunt must pass another course. Gun store owners must go through the same process, plus more, to receive a dealer’s license.

David has seen huge changes in his business in the last five years. During COVID, there was an increase in the amount of people hunting, and hunters, as people had more time on their hands and many wanted the security of being able to harvest their own meat in a time of uncertainty. The same situation existed in the United States, resulting in ammunition shortages.

With supply and demand in mind, David noticed ammunition prices started to creep up.

Then, when tragedy struck after Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people in a shooting rampage in eastern Canada in 2020, the government banned multiple tactical-style centrefire semi-automatic rifles, although all the guns Wortman used were illegally obtained. The change was done through an Order in Council, at the Cabinet level, and didn’t come before the House of Commons.

This hit David and other gun store owners hard when they could no longer sell guns in their inventory. Many stores were sitting on tens of thousands of dollars in inventory, Tillsonburg Gun Shop included.

Additionally, many legitimate gun owners are concerned that decisions directly affecting them are driven by political expediency rather than demonstrated effectiveness.

“Gun owners don’t like to see criminal activity with firearms because it paints us all as bad,” he said.

A frustrated David points out government officials, including the prime minister, referring to these guns as having high-capacity magazines is totally inaccurate. Magazines on centrefire semi-automatic guns have to be limited to five shots, and this has been the case for decades. Some models may have larger magazines, but the law states the magazine must be permanently altered to limit magazine capacity to five shots.

Then, the situation became worse for gun shop owners after the passing of Bill C-21 in 2022, and the banning of handgun sales. With the exception of a few customers who are trappers and use handguns on the trap line, David said all handgun owners are target shooters. In fact, to own handguns, a second course is needed as well as another police check, and stringent regulations on their use and storage include handguns can only be fired at an authorized range.

Selling handguns represent 15 to 20 per cent of the business at Tillsonburg Gun Shop, and more than 20 per cent of the ammunition sold was for handguns. Although there was a two-month grace period to sell handguns after the ban was announced, David still has some in inventory.

Today, David points to a box of .243 deer hunting ammunition on the shelf retailing for $45 and says he remembers when it sold for $10 less prior to COVID. This particular type of ammunition wasn’t unique as most centrefire hunting ammunition now sells for north of $50 for a box of 20.

A variety of factors are to blame for the higher cost. Increased ammunition demand in the U.S. and ammunition use in overseas wars are putting pressure on ammunition supply. David explained there is a limit to the amount of powder and primers, two components in cartridges.

“The component part of it was the issue,” he said.

Banning handgun sales, and hence less handgun ammunition being sold, also has an impact on the price of hunting ammunition as there is an economy of scale in importation.

Today, the ammunition supply at Tillsonburg Gun Shop is better, albeit at a higher price. David gave the example of a flat of shotgun shells which a trap shooter would buy, and the $150 price tag that was $100 five years ago – and that particular product is made in Canada.

With trap shooting, rifle shooting and handgun shooting being sports that range from recreational shooters up to the Olympic level, David feels sports shooters and hunters have been unfairly targeted by the present government. Before Christmas another Order in Council banned more centrefire semiautomatics.

“I found out at about 10 at night through social media,” he said of the change. “That’s how secretive they were about it.”

This resulted in more guns David couldn’t sell. This hit cost several tens of thousands of dollars as well. Today, the value of inventory he can’t sell is into hundreds of thousands of dollars – all money he has to pay interest on. Although the government has promised to buy back his inventory, the process is just beginning.

Local resident Rick Igercich, president of the National Firearms Association and a Tillsonburg Gun Shop customer, questioned the millions the government already spent on gun buybacks.

“The Trudeau Liberals have already wasted more than $100 million in a campaign to take firearms away from law-abiding Canadians that has zero effect on public safety,” he said.

While modern sporting rifles aren’t every hunter or shooter’s choice, David says some prefer the modern look, the fun of shooting these guns and the accuracy. Now, gun owners as well as retailers are unable to use these guns and the public will have to pay to buy them back. Yet, David said criminals don’t buy their guns at gun stores, and the function of the banned guns is no different than others not banned. He said the guns are banned for looks.

Firearms and ammunition were included among the items which would have received a 25 per cent tariff if imported from the United States, where most guns and ammunition sold in Canada are manufactured. He noted that now when U.S. President Trump talks about fentanyl coming from Canada, the Canadian government talks about the illegal guns coming north over the border.

“Now when they have the threat of tariffs, they say maybe it’s the border responsible for illegal guns on the streets,” he said. “They knew that all along. Why wouldn’t you want a secure border?”

In the meantime, more possible restrictions for gun owners are still looming.