PUBLICATION:
The
Chronicle-Herald
DATE:
2004.08.25
SECTION:
Nova Scotia
PAGE: B1
SOURCE:
Truro Bureau
BYLINE:
Cathy Von Kintzel
PHOTO: CATHY
VON KINTZEL / Truro Bureau Gun law opponent Al Muir lookover documents in his
home office in Plymouth, Pictou County, on Tuesday. He'splanning a skeet shoot
for owners of unregistered shotguns.
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Unregistered
gun? You're invited; Opponent of gun legislation plans to host skeet-shooting
competition
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PLYMOUTH
- Al Muir wants owners of illegal firearms to come out of the closet and onto
the shooting range. The staunch opponent to Ottawa's Firearms Act is hosting a
skeet-shooting competition somewhere in Pictou County in mid-October, and in
this case experience is not required. "All shooters will compete with
unregistered firearms (shotguns) and shoot in three categories: never licensed,
expired licence and recently destroyed licence," he said Tuesday.
Mr.
Muir and other members of the Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association
want to be arrested and charged under the Criminal Code with violating the act
so they can fight it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
They're
holding at least six skeet shoots across the country.
The
Pictou County businessman and avid hunter is also taking his campaign to Saint
John, N.B., this week for the annual meeting of the Canadian Professional Police
Association. He will hand out skeet-shooting schedules and ask members not to
support the act.
"The
government must recognize the folly of continuing to evaporate scarce taxpayer
dollars on an unenforceable program ... an unnecessary, ineffective violation of
Canadian civil rights," Mr. Muir said.
The
act has sparked its share of controversy, especially for its gun registry rules
and millions of dollars in cost overruns. Some provinces refuse to enforce
portions of it.
The
skeet-shooting tournament is a follow-up to last year's unsuccessful attempts by
association members to be charged while staging hunting parties with
unregistered firearms.
An
armed Mr. Muir waited at a Pictou County gravel pit for more than an hour last
fall for police to respond to his invitation, which they did not.
"Certainly
we think if we can get the matter into the courts we'll have it resolved,"
he said.
The
unlicensed owner of several unregistered long guns hasn't been able to find a
shooting range to accommodate the upcoming tournament, so he may have to
consider holding it on public land.
He
also doesn't know how many people will attend and understands people are worried
about being arrested because the consequences are serious - fines, criminal
records and possible jail time.
But
he's looking at the big picture. "We're essentially saying to the
government: 'Use it or lose it.'"
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JUSTICE
MINISTER PASSES THE BUCK ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BILL C-68, THE FIREARMS
ACT