Pubdate: Wed, 13 Apr 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Susan Lazaruk
Page: A7

SURREY BANS HANDGUNS, AMMO FROM GUN SHOW

Council accused of missing the mark to show they're tough on crime

Dennis Robinson of the Thunderbird Fast Draw Club might have welcomed
a quick-draw contest to settle a fight over a gun show with Surrey
city council, but he and other gun enthusiasts instead were strung up
with red tape.

It's overkill, I don't think (gangsters) would be using a ball and
musket in the drug turf wars in Surrey.

Robinson was hoping to demonstrate his club's fast-draw competitions
at this weekend's B.C. Rod and Gun Show at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
Using wax bullets, shooters compete to see how fast they can draw
their firearms from their holsters to shoot a target.

But council balked at having any ammunition and handguns at the second
annual show, which is expected to draw more than 8,500 over three
days. That leaves Robinson's shooters having to demonstrate their
sport using electronic signals on a computer screen, "unless Surrey
could actually stop us from showing pictures of bullets," he noted
wryly.

Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner recently called the criminals responsible
for 30 shootings on Surrey streets since January "punks" after coming
under fire for a delay in publicly addressing the city's drug
trafficking violence. Robinson and others accused her and Surrey
councillors of taking aim at the wrong target to show they're tough on
crime.

Show organizer Steven Bednash said banning ammunition and handguns at
a sporting event - including 19th century antiques that don't even
require permits - makes no sense.

"It's overkill," Bednash said. "I don't think (gangsters) would be
using a ball and musket in the drug turf wars in Surrey."

He said the ban on handguns unfairly "chastises the legitimate,
law-abiding gun owners," and robs many of the 200 vendors this weekend
from building customer loyalty with loss-leader items such as
ammunition. Bednash said the show is geared to hunters and fishermen,
and criminals won't attend because "you can't even touch ammunition or
a firearm without showing your permit first."

Surrey Coun. Dave Woods, who had a 40-year career as a police officer
and owns guns himself, said he asked for the restriction on ammunition
when council was first discussing the show's permit because "for me,
where there are firearms and ammunition, there's danger."

He said the organizers agreed to the ban and offered also to ban
handguns in exchange for the permit. Woods, who said he's been
shooting guns since he was nine years old, said he and other
councillors were concerned the organizers hadn't filed a security plan
with RCMP when they first requested a permit. The police-approved plan
was filed before council granted the permit this week.

He said if the organizers, whom he called reputable and responsible,
had provided for the inclusion of ammunition in the security plan,
council would have been willing to consider allowing it. But he said
the plan was filed too late.
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MAP posted-by: Matt