City plan would ban new gun clubs

City plan would ban new gun clubs
Zoning legislation would also be used to curb firing ranges and manufacturers

JENNIFER LEWINGTON AND DAKSHANA BASCARAMURTY

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

May 27, 2008 at 4:59 AM EDT

New gun clubs, firing ranges and gun makers would be banned in Toronto under city anti-gun measures unveiled yesterday.

As well, two gun clubs face eviction from city-owned property under the package of 13 proposals to be debated by Mayor David Miller's executive committee next week.

"Do we as a society value safety or do we value a hobby that creates danger?" Mr. Miller said, endorsing the recommended crackdown. "That hobby directly results in people being shot and killed on the streets of our city."

The measures laid out yesterday mark a new direction in the city's anti-gun campaign that, until now, has focused on lobbying the federal government, so far unsuccessfully, to ban handguns.

Now the city aims to use its planning powers, such as zoning, to impose restrictions against new firing ranges, gun clubs and businesses that manufacture, assemble and distribute guns.

Existing clubs and businesses would be grandfathered under changes to the planning act that will go to council's planning and growth committee for debate on Sept. 10. Private gun collections are not covered by the measures.

The city intends to cancel a permit for the Scarborough Rifle Club operating out of the Don Montgomery Community Recreation Centre, and a lease to the CNRA Gun Club that uses a firing range at Union Station.

In defending the planned restrictions, the mayor cited the Jan. 12 death of innocent bystander John O'Keefe, allegedly killed by a semiautomatic weapon registered and licensed to one of the men now charged in the shooting.

"After John O'Keefe's tragic killing, I don't think there is any defence for sports shooters any more," he said. "It is a hobby that creates danger to others."

Legal gun owners and sport shooters see it differently.

Toronto shooting coach Patrick Haynes said Canadians who compete in international shooting competitions will be at a loss if the two gun clubs lose their city permits.

Mr. Haynes is coaching his fiancée, Avianna Chao, set to compete at two events at the Beijing Olympics.

He said she qualified for the Olympics after training at the Don Montgomery centre shooting range and now trains at the Union Station range.

"This will have a direct impact on her viability as an Olympian," he said.

Ms. Chao, an engineer with a software firm, is the norm when it comes to gun-club members, said Larry Whitmore, the executive director of Canadian Shooting Sports Association. He said lawyers, doctors and politicians are regulars at Ontario shooting ranges.

"If any [potential members] have anything in their background like a domestic call [to police], they'd be denied a licence," he said.

"All this is the mayor and his political agenda. And he's basically victimizing the most law-abiding segment of society."

Tony Cooper, Ontario's acting chief firearms officer, said approved shooting ranges and gun clubs are inspected annually, with about half a dozen complaints made each year about the province's 236 approved ranges.

In the past three years, he said he has received no complaints about either the Scarborough or CNRA clubs.

Councillor Adrian Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest), whose ward includes the Don Montgomery centre, supports the recommended permit cancellation.