N.W.T. hunters, sport shooters have mixed reaction to federal gun ban

Yellowknife's Aaron Primeau goes back to his hometown in northern Ontario every year to hunt deer and wild boarwith family.

His rifle of choice is the M305 a type of M14 semi-automatic that was one of 1,500 makes and models of military-style firearms banned by the Canadian governmentFriday.

Primeau said his family used hunting as a way to put food on the table.

"We weren't a very wealthy family and that's how I really got into hunting cause a two dollar bullet put a thousand dollars of meat on the table," he told CBC.

The M305 is not a military-style firearm in Primeau's opinion, because he said it is not fully automatic. Still, it's been prohibited.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said licensed gun operators are no longer able to sell, transport, import or use these sorts of gunsin Canada.

The ban was announced a few weeks after a shooter killed 22 people in Nova Scotia.

"These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time," Trudeau said. "There is no use and no place for such weapons in Canada."

Trudeau acknowledged that the move could have repercussions for hunters, but said "you don't need an AR-15 to take down a deer."

Ban should not impact hunting

Federal Justice Minister David Lametti told reporters Friday that Indigenous hunters will be excluded from Canada's ban under Section 35 of the constitution, so the rifles can be used for hunting.

Garth Wallbridge, a Mtis lawyer and hunter in Yellowknife, said he hasspent many years gathering food for elders and communities in the high Arctic.

He said there is no need to use assault-style firearms to hunt.

"I know they're not needed," he said. "If somebody I was out hunting with pulled one out, I would send them home or I would go home because they're too darn dangerous."

Wallbridgesaidhunting is all about a single, clean shot where the hunterdamages the least-amount of meat.

Semi-automatic rifles are designed for rapid fire shots, Wallbridgecontinued, instead of preserving more of the animal.

Wallbridgesaid he believes semi-automatic firearms should only be in the hands of the military and police.

Mental health, domestic violence supports better for public safety

Prospective gun owners in Canada need to take a government-approved weekend course designed to teach firearm safety. The class gives the owner a certificate of completion, which is required by the RCMP before they consider granting a firearms acquisition license.

The prospective owner then goes through an RCMP background check and, if all checks out, the owner receives a firearms license.

Scott Cairns, president of the Yellowknife Shooting Club, said many of the guns now prohibited by the federal government are classified as restricted firearms, which require more classes and RCMP background checks to get.

He said all this ban does is confiscate people's personal property and does nothingto support public safety.

"It's just a very unfortunate thing that certain types of firearms are being banned because they look scary or because they look different than another gun," Cairns said.

Primeau said a better way to address public safety would be to include broader mental health checks during the gun licensing process.

"Those kinds of background would help stop illegal firearms from coming in, and also those who were law-abiding, checking them mentally to make sure they won't harm themselves," Primeau said.

Cairns wants to go one step further and see the RCMP track how many gunlicenses arerescinded in domestic violence cases.

Shooting sport training could end 'overnight'

The Yellowknife Shooting Club trains many athletes every year for different kinds of shooting competitions, including air rifle and air pistol.Some of the club's athletes have represented the N.W.T. at national and international competitions.

Some of the rifles includedin the ban are common for sporting events, Cairns said, like "3-Gun" competitions.

Canada banned the .32-calibre pistol in 1995 and Cairns said sport training for Canadian athletes at the time ended "almost overnight."

"You couldn't get access to those pistols without real trouble," he said. "This is no different."

Collector says buyback program will be costly for feds

Primeau, along with other gun owners across Canada, have a two-year amnesty period to cooperate with the new ban. They will have to either surrender their firearms, get them deactivated, sell them back to the manufacturer or apply to have them "grandfathered."

He will have to get rid of the M305 as well as his AR-15 rifle that he uses for some riflecompetitions.

The Liberal Party promised a buyback program in their election platform something that Primeau said will be "costly" for the federal government. His AR-15 alone is worth at least $1,500.

Primeau said he will wait for the federal government's buyback program to be announced before deciding what to do with his firearms.