Proposed gun legislation could have 'severe impacts on people's livelihoods,' Manitoba business owner says

Gun advocates in southwestern Manitoba aren't pleased with federal gun control legislation passed in the House of Commons last May, saying it could affect their livelihoods.

Bill C-21, which still needs Senate approval, strengthens a freeze on handgun sales and aims to crack down on assault-style firearms not currently on the market.

The legislation could also make it harder for some people to get a gun and stiffens penalties for gun crimes.

It is unpopular among many hunters and sport shooters, but gun control advocates say it doesn't go far enough.

Former RCMP officer Matt Hipwell, who runs Wolverine Supplies just outside Virden, Man., says Bill C-21 is cutting into his business and argues it only affects people who purchase guns legally.

"This legislation has the potential to have severe impacts on people's livelihoods," Hipwell told CBC News.

"It will impact Wolverine Supplies even further, along with many other firearms retailers across the country, because now that'll be another product line or brand that they will be unable to sell."

Wolverine carries a wide range of firearms, including semi-automatic weapons. Hipwell took the rural shop over from his parents, who started it after emigrating from England in 1982 to farm in Virden, a community of about 3,100 near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border.

"Like many small businesses in Canada, it started in a small room in the house until it expanded," Hipwell said, but his father "decided he still wanted to walk to work, so that's why the location is out in the rural area."

Hipwell said his father was a competitive shooter in England and collected guns. The store has a mini museum showcasing antique guns used in the First and Second World Wars.

Its customer base includes everyone "from those involved in sport shooting, to various competitive shooting disciplines, to long-range shooting, the hunter, the outdoorsman … and farmers who protect their livestock," said Hipwell. 

It sells to customers across Canada, in person and online, including police agencies, the military and Manitoba Conservation. The business also distributes guns and other products to other retail stores.

Buyback program

Hipwell said his business has already been affected by the national handgun freeze, which prohibits the sale, purchase or transfer of handguns in Canada, and by rules introduced in 2020, after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia, that banned 1,500 types of firearms, largely assault-style rifles.

The federal government has revealed — but not yet enshrined in law — a buyback program that would require owners of banned guns to either sell them to the government, have them rendered inoperable at federal expense or be lawfully disposed of.

"It has caused people's collections now to become stagnant. If they own those firearms, they can't transfer them, they can't sell them to someone else," Hipwell said.

"These firearms are sitting with legal firearms owners who have done all the required training, have the required storage … and now they can't do anything with their firearms."

Farmers, hunters and Indigenous people rely heavily on guns, and they're a big part of life in rural areas beyond Virden and throughout Western Canada, Hipwell said.

There are misconceptions about gun ownership in Canada, because unlike the United States, Canadians "can't just walk into a store and buy a firearm," he said.

He teaches firearm safety courses that allow people to obtain a possession and acquisition licence (PAL), which is required to own firearms. The courses include practical and written training on how to safely use, store and transport guns.

Licence applications from people who complete the course are subject to extensive vetting by the RCMP, Hipwell said.

He also argues guns aren't needed for mass casualty events, pointing to last year's mass stabbing in the James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby town of Weldon in Saskatchewan, in which 11 people were killed and 18 injured.

Ban needs to go further: advocate

Wolverine Supplies previously worked with a manufacturer to develop a multi-calibre rifle, previously called the WK180-C, which is used for vermin and predator control and for sport shooting, Hipwell said.

But the rifle was criticized by the gun control group PolyRemembers because of its similarities to the AR-15, a semi-automatic rifle. The group is made up of victims, survivors and witnesses of the 1989 massacre at Montreal's École Polytechnique, where 14 women were killed by a man armed with a semi-automatic weapon.

Heidi Rathjen, a witness with PolyRemembers, says the new federal legislation includes some good measures, including the freeze on handgun sales and measures to prevent domestic murders.

But she also says the government needs to go further and introduce regulations to ban all assault weapons.

The interests of sport and competitive shooters shouldn't outweigh risks to public safety, Rathjen said.

She worries that unless a complete ban is introduced, the federal government will buy back banned firearms from people who can then "turn around and buy a different model of assault weapon."

"Then we still have a market full of assault weapons, but money wasted for a buyback that doesn't meet its objective, which is to eliminate the risk of these weapons — the risk that they represent to public safety."

Hipwell doubts there can ever be a decision that makes everyone happy, but said he would like to see "a common-sense approach."

"We have to have legislation that's concise and clear, easy to understand," he said. "And we have to have a justice system that will look after and protect both sides."