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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1995-08-30, Page 13August 30, 1995 •t No'Ih LambIon S ce'873 Above, Russ Gibson, field captain for the Claybird Gun Club takes aim at a target. The 20 year-old club has 43 members who gather weekly to test their sharpshooting skills. Right, Jody Mosurinjohn, club president, stands be- hind a gun rack outside the Claybird clubhouse. He feels new government legislation is unfair and will hurt the sport. The first phase of the Firearms bill will go into ef- fect ffect on January 1, 1996. lz Aniaatife Firearms bill aimed at legitimate gun owners Claybird gun club concerned membership may decrease Chris Skalkos T -A staff EXETER - The Claybird Gun Club in Exeter has enjoyed a faith- ful membership over the past 20 years; however, new government legislation on firearms may jeop- ardize the club's existence. Currently claybird has 43 mem- bers, but club President, Jody Mos- urinjohn feels the numbers will slowly dwindle as the government makes it increasingly difficult for marksmen to practice their sport. "We've had a steady membership for the last 10 years but I expect it to go down. People are getting fed up and packing it in," said Mos- urinjohn. The government's new firearms control legislation is a national reg- istration system which will be sim- ilar to driver's licences and car ownership permits. It will require all firearms owners to register their firearms in two stages. In the first stage, planned for Jan- uary I, 1996, gun owners will have five years to obtain a Firearms Li- cense which will identify the own- er with a photograph. The second stage, planned for January 1, 1998 will require firearms owners to reg- ister the make, model and serial number for each gun. There are an estimated seven mil- lion firearms in Canada and ap- proximately 1.2 million handguns and restricted weapons are reg- istered. Both the licence and permit will cost approximately $10 each with a $60 renewal foe and owners must take a mandatory firearms safety course which could cost up to $200. Currently, only one certificate is required, Firearms Acquisition Certificate (F.A.C.), which expires after five years and costs $10. Mosurinjohn believes the extra time and money gun owners will have to spend will act as a deterrent to newcomers who are thinking about joining the club. "It's really going to affect us. Young kids who may he interested in the sport won't be able to get in because they can't afford it," said Mosurinjohn. "It's just a hassle. The sport is only going to be available to the rich, and they are not always the best shooters." As a result, he feels the country will suffer in the long run because Canada will be starved for Olym- pic shooters in the future. Located a short distance north of Exeter on Concession Road 4, the Claybird Gun Club has come along way since a group of six men or- ganized a rudimentary shooting club in 1976 with a set of hand skeet -throwers. Today, the club sits on a spacious 15 acre site with two $8,000 trap ranges and a pair of $10,000 auto- matic skeet traps housed in towers on either side of the firing zone. The traps project a clay disc tar- get at 60 mph that hang in the air for only four seconds. Another sec- tion of the site caters contains a separate firing zone for those who prefer to shoot handguns. Most members use shotguns, called skeet guns. The over-under ventilated rib design of the gun pre- vents it from overheating and ham- pering the shooters view of the gun sites. Heat rising off the barrel creates a vision problem. Another marked difference be- tween skeet guns and field rifles is the pinpoint accurate sights. Inter- changeable skeet tubes and a recoil reducer designed to help the shoot- er absorb the some 300 shots they fire in a day. Mosurinjohn said half of the club's members are also hunters but the others are strictly target shoot- ers who enjoy competing. They have two inter -club shooting tour- naments a year and also participate in the Kippen Gun Club tourna- ments. Club members shoot against oth- ers within the same skill level or shoot against themselves trying to better their score. Mosurinjohn said the competition brings out the best in shooters, improving their concentration and hand -eye co- ordination. Mosurinjohn is the only member who is registered with The Am- cteur Trap Shooting Association. He competes throughout Canada and the United. States against marksmen from all over the world. "At that level, they're hitting them [the targets) 200 times in a row. If you miss one or two you may as well quit. It's tough com- petition," Mosurinjohn said. Even though some of the first prize victories are worth $10,000 in competition, Mosurinjohn said few people make a living shooting professionally. Most competitors do it for sport and pleasure. "Nobody should get into shooting thinking they are going to make a lot of money. It's just like any other sport; it's competitive and there are trophies to win." Mosurinjohn would like to see young people and more women be- come involved in the sport. The club carries an extra gun for new- comers to try out. Currently most club members are adult males who have had some experience in the sport before. An overwhelming number of the gun owners at the club disapprove of new firearms bill and they ques- tion the federal government's mo- • tives behind the legislation. "I think the gun laws are stupid and the people making the laws know nothing about the sport," said Mosurinjohn. "It's not going to stop criminal activity because reg- istered guns are not the guns used to commit crimes." Other guns owners don't mind the extra money it may cost, however they fear the increasing registration will eventually lead to confisca- tion. . . For example, under the new laws, handguns with a four inch muzzle or shorter such as a .25 or .32 cal- ibre pistol are banned from being legally sold in stores, meanwhile, a .357 magnum, which is the most common gun used in crimes, can still he purchased legally. "It's really unfortunate, what the government has done is create a perception among the public that they are doing something about guns used in crimes," said Mos- urinjohn. "But what they are ac- tually doing is making it more dif- ficult for legitimate gun owners to own guns." Life's Hell And Then You Die. Wrong. Attend An Evening With John Wesley White And Find Out Why. �(.'Ptc111l)(1' i • pO1It11 1Jui'on jI1 Sc1ioo1 (I\ill ' ,A11 f'i'cc. • (,OillC ttS.\'OU di'(',