Liberals’ Gun Ban Forces Sport Shooters to Leave Canada to Train, Compete

Ontario competitive shooter Baz Kanda has to leave Canada to train and compete in international sport shooting events due to the federal government's proposed gun ban. Courtesy of Baz Kanda

Baz Kanda bought an AR-15 a few years ago, planning to participate in competitive shooting events. But since the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau banned a long list of firearms including the AR-15, Kanda has had to leave the country in order to train and compete in his sport.

From April 11 to 20, gun groups and owners were in Federal Court in Ottawa for an eight-day hearing after launching a court challenge against the government’s plan to bring in a gun ban through an order-in-council.

The court heard that many firearms banned by the Liberals include popular models used in sport competition, primarily international shooting competitions. The court also heard that Canadians have to exit the country, train and compete abroad, and return without the firearm used in competition.

According to research by the Public Safety department, 28 percent of Canada’s firearms owners use their firearms to hunt for food, while 39 percent target-shoot as a sport. Canada had an estimated 2.26 million men and women with a government-issued firearm possession and acquisition licence at the end of December 2022, according to TheGunBlog.ca.

In Kanda’s case, his hobby turned into the sport of competitive shooting and training, including taking part in matches as part of the International Practical Shooting Confederation, which holds global competitions in various categories with all varieties of firearms. The group boasts more than 200,000 active members from 105 countries and takes itself seriously as a sport, with strict rules and an emphasis on safe gun handling.

Kanda said Ottawa’s proposed ban has already impacted many of his future plans for competitive sporting events.

“It’s pretty much going to kill the sport,” he told The Epoch Times. “It’s going to be dead. No one new can join because of these laws.”

The 49-year-old, who divides his time between Ottawa and Belleville, Ont., says he fears that the Canadian firearms culture and heritage in general, as well as the sport of shooting, are facing an uphill battle to survive.

“It’s a death-by-a-thousand-cuts scenario. Prices are going up. More guns are banned. Ammunition is more expensive. The sport is being attacked from as many angles as possible,” he said. The training he would have been able to do in Canada before now means a costly trip to the United States.

Ontario resident Baz Kanda has to leave Canada to train and compete in international sport shooting events due to the federal government's proposed gun ban. Courtesy of Baz Kanda

Last year Kanda travelled to Indiana to train. He says that by the time he covered the cost of his travel to Indiana, his hotel stay, and the purchase of ammunition in the United States—which cannot be brought back to Canada if there’s any left over—it made for an expensive training session.

“It’s making it unaffordable, next to impossible for most people,” he said. He added that he hopes the various legal challenges to the proposed firearms legislation will result in the Liberals scrapping Bill C-21 entirely.

Various Gun Bans

In 2020, the federal government issued a ban on more than 1,500 models and variants of previously legally purchased firearms. In October 2022, the government put a freeze on the purchase, sale, transfer, and importation of handguns, which effectively banned handgun ownership in Canada.

In late 2022, the government tabled sweeping last-minute amendments to Bill C-21, but after outcries from opposition and indigenous groups concerned about rifles used for hunting getting banned, the Liberals scrapped the controversial amendments in February.

Kanda said that before the handgun ban, he wanted to participate in “cowboy action” competitions. He explained that these are fun shooting competitions where participants dress up like people from a particular time period and shoot either single-action revolvers or lever-action revolvers. Under the current handgun ban, however, he can’t legally purchase a single-action revolver or practise shooting it in Canada.

“The government should listen to what the police chiefs are saying,“ Kanda said. ”It’s smuggled guns from the U.S. that are the problem, not licensed gun owners, who are being made the scapegoats for criminal activity.”