The do’s and don’ts of guns and ammo

SARA MINOGUE

On a weekday evening in a chilly classroom at the old residence, nine students are gathered around a few tables talking about guns with Wes Smith.

Four students of varying experience are here for work — they work for Nasittuq Corp., which requires them to know about gun safety for polar bear protection. Two others need to upgrade their licences either to buy ammunition or to buy a new gun.

“It’s a good reminder,” said one man, who took the course after letting his firearms licence lapse. “You take the course, and five years later, you haven’t picked up any guns but your own. It’s good practice.”

Two more students know only what their dads taught them as kids and want to brush up on the rules — and get licenced — before getting a firearm of their own. One student is completely new, here only in case she needs to pick up a rifle for polar bear protection.

Smith is one of Nunavut’s few firearms safety trainers. He was certified through an instructors’ course led by an RCMP corporal three or four years ago, and since January, has taught “up over 80 people” in semi-regular courses he shares with Iqaluit’s departing gunsmith, Dick Smith.

Smith knows that there is controversy when it comes to firearms training and certification, but he sees his role purely as a matter of safety.

“This generation is in an argument, as far as I can see. I’m hoping for the next generation.”

By teaching a group of people about firearms, he hopes that his students will pass on that knowledge to their friends and family.

For a long time, Smith recalls, there was nothing happening with gun safety training in Nunavut after several gun safety enthusiasts left town. Finally, he got in touch with the Canada Firearms Centre head office.

After three or four calls, he got a response, and this January, got a firearms training kit sent up — including decommissioned guns and ammunition and training books — so he could start teaching the class.

Now, he charges $25 for four evening sessions, including a written multiple-choice exam that qualifies students to apply for a POL or PAL licence. Courses in the South can cost up to $150. Students there may also have to buy their own book.

Smith’s $25 fee just covers the cost of supplies — such as trigger locks for the demonstration firearms — and maintenance. It costs extra to take home the Canadian Firearms Safety Course student handbook, which used to be provided for free by the CFC.

“We’re running short of materials now, that’s why we ask for them back at the end of the course,” Smith says.

Smith is also working on getting a firing range organized in Iqaluit.

Right now, hunters use the sandpit at the end of the Road to Nowhere for target practice. RCMP officers use a spot in Tarr Inlet.

A dedicated firing range — like the old one that fell out of use — would bring a popular activity into the pubic eye, and improve safety for everybody.

“Then everybody knows you don’t go skidooing through the gun range.”

All Iqalungmiut benefit when people take firearms safety, but several other communities aren’t so lucky.

There is obviously a demand for the classes, as Smith has had several calls from other communities asking him to travel to teach the course. Unfortunately, travel costs are prohibitive, and nobody has coughed up the money just yet. Smith says he’s also interested in becoming a master trainer — someone who can train others to teach classes.

About five years ago, several wildlife officers were trained by a master trainer so they could offer gun safety courses. The wildlife officers, however, were never encouraged to hold classes, and were expected to give the courses on their own time.

Jimmy Noble Jr. was one of those people. He now teaches courses in Iqaluit, on his own or in tandem with Wes or Dick Smith, sometimes for free. (“He would even supply the cookies and tea and coffee,” said Kevin Robertson at the Canada Firearms Office in Iqaluit.)

Smith, for one, advises everyone to take the training, and pass the knowledge on to their kids, rather than tell them not to touch firearms, and let “normal human curiosity” take over and cause and accident.

If we were living on the land, it would be different, he says.

“Then we could teach them everyday. But that’s not our situation.”