Pistol shooting competition comes to Vancouver Island as feds work to tighten handgun laws
It’s a sport that combines speed with accuracy, and this weekend, it's coming to Vancouver Island.
More than 200 of Canada's top action pistol shooters will compete in a B.C. qualifying event sanctioned by the International Practical Shooting Confederation at the Malahat range this weekend.
“It is a skill and it is something that you really have to hone,” said Dawne Deeley, a member of Abbotsford Fish and Game.
“This really is one big family and it’s like that all across the world,” said Deeley. “With my black badge, I can compete anywhere in the world.”
Deeley has her sights on Thailand this winter, for the IPSC World Shoot.
While some are here to qualify, others like Jurgen Brandemeier are here for camaraderie.
“I’m in it for fun,” said Brandemeier, a member of the IPSC for 35 years. “The socializing with the shooting community.”
Brandemeier will be competing in the carbine division this weekend, but there is an imminent threat to the sport he loves.
The federal government is in the process of banning handguns in, a process it sped up last week by banning the importation of the weapons through a regulatory mechanism.
“(Handguns) have one purpose and one purpose only and that is to kill people,” said federal Public Safety Minister Marco Medicino at a news conference on Aug. 5.
“As of the 19th of August, everything you’ve seen and witnessed here goes on life support,” said Don Senft, vice president of operations at the Victoria Fish and Game Protective Association.
As of next Friday, the importation of handguns from the U.S. will stop.
“Canada has no domestic handgun production capabilities,” said Senft.
That means when the guns owned by the action pistol shooting community wear out, members won’t be able to replace them.
“This bill (C-21) will kill (the sport),” said Deeley.
The weekend event is open to spectators.
If Bill C-21 passes, it could be one of the last opportunities to check out a sport that participants feel is being targeted.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.