Canadian Gun Hub owner Rocky Rutledge organizes a number of rifles Friday in his Dunmore-based shop.--NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
mcranker@medicinehatnews.com@MHNmocranker
Gun enthusiasts locally and across Canada aren’t taking any chances with Bill C-71.
The bill was tabled in Canadian parliament last year and includes amendments to the Firearms Act. With the bill still up in the air, Dunmore’s Canadian Gun Hub owner Rocky Rutledge says sporting rifles are flying out of his store.
“The Trudeau government is forcing through Bill C-71, which puts further restrictions on gun owners, but it hasn’t become law yet and they aren’t saying what their intentions are,” he said. “This has caused a massive gun buy across Canada because people don’t know if they’ll be able to buy some of these guns if C-71 goes through.
“Thousands and thousands of AR-15s and handguns are being sold across Canada because there’s a fear they may be prohibited.”
Rutledge says people are purchasing the guns now so that if certain rifles are banned, people will be put into a grandfathering program where they can legally keep them until death.
“We’ve sold more guns in the last week and a half than we did in our first few years in business,” he claimed. “In the last two weeks we’ve sold 72 AR-15s and 55 handguns – today (Friday) we’ve sold five handguns and seven AR-15s.
“The big-box stores are selling hundreds and hundreds of guns – there’s thousands being sold across Canada.”
Rutledge says there’s a large community of gun enthusiasts in the Medicine Hat area who the government would be punishing if certain guns get prohibited.
“A lot of people are into shooting sports here and in Canada,” he said. “Bill C-71 does nothing to protect the general public and does nothing to take guns out of the hands of criminals or gangs.
“This will just be putting further restrictions on people who own firearms and use them responsibility.
“It’s the unknown that’s driving this – Justin Trudeau is definitely the best gun salesman in Canada.”
