Proposed amendment to Bill C-21 could affect Sask. hunting community

Gun retailers across Canada are frustrated and angry over potential changes to Bill C-21 that would ban more legally owned firearms and shotguns.

The amendment could result in a ban on millions of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns used for hunting across the country.

Darryl Schemenauer, the owner of TnT Gunworks in Regina, said if this ban goes through, it will have a domino effect on gun businesses.

“This is the worst kick we’ve had being in business for 30 years. This is going to put probably us out of business and many other people in the trade,” he said.

Schemenauer added Bill C-21 has had an effect on business since it was proposed in October.

But with that being said, TnT Gunworks is seeing a surge in sales on firearms that are intended to be banned under Bill C-21.

“So many people have these firearms, the phone doesn’t stop. Everybody’s asking what to do with them (and) what’s going to happen,” he said.

Schemenauer said he hasn’t heard anything about compensation for these guns and believes there never was compensation ever planned.

“(Prime Minister Justin Trudeau) is turning honest people into criminals. He’s making everybody with these firearms prohibited so that means you become a criminal,” he said.

Schemenauer also said the firearms that are being banned are not used in a criminal aspect and those types of firearms should not be on a prohibited list.

He called this “a killer” for sporting goods, recreation and firearm businesses across Canada.

According to Schemenauer, he has heard from customers who are unsure about what to do with their firearms.

He feels people are going to start taking a stand against Bill C-21.

“(Trudeau) has almost gone too far here. He’s just taking guns away that the criminals have no intentions of ever using,” he said.

Schemenauer believes the gun bans are doing nothing to stop crime in the country.

“A criminal will still use his firearms, the smuggled-in guns that they use. It’s nothing of any one of these firearms that he’s just banned here,” he said. “These are all sporting-type firearms. (The ban) doesn’t nothing to stop crime.”

Schemenauer feels the Liberal government doesn’t know what it’s dealing with.

“They’re still dealing with the wrong kind of people and the wrong kind of firearms, so people are just upset,” Schemenauer said.

The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation has also expressed some frustration and even confusion about the proposed amendment.

The federation’s Gil White said as far as he can tell, this is the biggest attack on legal firearm owners in Canada.

“I think it’s an unmanageable. I think it’s going to be an unsuccessful attempt at seizing more firearms from legal gun owners,” he said.

White also believes the proposed amendment has nothing to do with public safety. He said it’s about taking guns from Canadians.

“I think this particular government will keep going until they’ve managed to disarm all legal firearm owners in Canada,” he said.

White added if that’s the case, the only ones left with firearms will be police and criminals.

He also said firearms are not the problem and there is a lot of way to tackle public safety.

“They need to address gangs, poverty (and) border security. They do come across some firearms, but there are some that they don’t get,” White said.

“We do believe this will affect the hunting community, which is something that the Liberals said they would never do. They’d never come after the hunters.”

The Saskatchewan government said it’s standing with legal firearm owners and hunters as the proposed amendment would criminalize hunters, farmers and target shooters.