Firearm advocates say Calgary gun show sets a positive example

At the gun show known as Canada's largest and finest arms show in Calgary, thousands will snake through the aisles in the BMO Centre to check out the latest, and oldest, firearm gear around.  

This is an example of positive gun culture, and something the federal government should be supporting, the secretary of the Alberta arms and Cartridge Collectors Association, Teri Jane Bryant said.

"It's quite disappointing that the government does not recognize the socially beneficial character of our activities, and instead is constantly looking for ways to make them more difficult," she said. 

Her display has firearms, and bowls of candy for the kids that come by with their parents. She says gun shows are an important way to pass down positive gun culture to the next generation of enthusiasts.

"We need to be focusing on ways of encouraging that," she said.  "Not trying to make some kind of false conflation of gangbanger activity and the kind of thing you're seeing here today."

Bryant collects old Japanese guns and while a few of the ones she has on display are semi-automatic firearms — they look nothing like you'd imagine. 

The bullets are almost impossible to track down, and Bryant said even if you could find a bullet, most of the guns wouldn't reliably fire. 

If the Canadian federal government decided to restrict or ban semi-automatic weapons, her guns will have an uncertain future.

"There are many different ways you can ban things, you could prohibit them and grandfather them, in which case, I would not be immediately affected," she said.

"Sooner or later, the last person who has been grandfathered in dies, and then all this precious stuff has to be destroyed."

Topic of conversation

In recent months the possibility of a semi-automatic gun ban has become a conversation again. 

On March 15 a terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand killed 50 people at two mosques. The attacker was a lone 28-year-old suspected white supremacist.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was applauded by gun control advocates with her swift response to the tragedy. She quickly tabled new firearms restrictions on so-called military-style semiautomatic firearms. 

Advocates pressure the government

And in Canada, advocates are pressuring the federal government to follow suit, and pass reforms included in Bill C-71. The bill calls for enhanced background checks, mandatory record-keeping by retailers among other changes these advocates call "timid reforms." 

For these advocates, the bill is a baby step toward a bigger move, like banning handguns. 

Tony Bernardo with the Canadian Shooting Sports Association says the firearm community is in just as much shock about the attack as anyone else. 

Advocate says semiautomatic firearms aren't new, mass shooters are

"We grieve with every single person who's been injured," Bernardo said. "You know, look around this room, it's full of mums and dads and little kids. We're just ordinary people and when something terrible like this happens it affects us all." 

But, he says banning semiautomatic firearms isn't the answer. The guns aren't new, what's new is the trend of mass shooters. 

Bernardo says the government needs to add more support and funding to mental health initiatives. And the media needs to change the way it covers mass murders. 

Publicizing murderers names gives them 'notoriety'

"Media does not publish the names of suicides," he said. "Why can't the media understand that if it worked there, it can clearly work on these mass shooters." 

He says publishing the shooter's name gives them notoriety. 

Bernardo adds what's not helpful is piling on regulations and laws for people — gun owners — who aren't committing crimes in the first place.

"We're regulated out the wazoo. We have more rules, laws, regulations, policies than you could ever imagine," he said. "This is serious stuff. We take it very seriously. But going ahead and continuing to do what you've already been doing and expecting a different result is Einstein's definition of insanity."