Coun. Natalie Joly says it’s time for new gun laws in St. Albert, but one local owner of a gun shop couldn’t disagree more.
On Monday Joly asked that council would look at tightening security measures on stores that sell firearms in St. Albert.
Some of the measures she suggested included concrete bollards to prevent thieves from driving through storefronts, installing heavy-duty doors and running a cable through guns, attaching them to the racks they sit on.
In an interview Rob Gelinas, owner of The Shootist, said he wasn’t aware the motion was coming to council until a friend told him. As he read through the recommended security measures, he was surprised with what he found.
“I felt it was duplicating a lot of what is currently in place at the federal level for the firearms act,” he said.
Some of the repeated rules between federal laws and Joly’s suggestions include how firearms should be displayed and secured in the store.
This turned to be a sticking point for other councillors as well. In the end the motion was shot down by Coun. Wes Brodhead, Coun. Jacquie Hansen, Coun. Ken MacKay and Coun. Ray Waktins.
This hasn’t deterred Joly, however, who said afterwards that she’s confident federal laws will eventually change.
When it comes to why the motion was brought up in the first place, Gelinas’ shop was one of the reasons.
Earlier this year his gun shop was broken into and 21 handguns were stolen.
On Feb. 6 a thief or thieves broke into The Shootist in the middle of the night. It appeared they had pried open a gap between the frame and the door and then used a cutting tool to cut the bolt lock.
That same tool was also used to get into a locked cabinet that held the handguns, Gelinas said.
On Monday Joly explained that stricter gun laws would prevent another break in from occurring in the future. She said the current federal gun regulations for business owners are outdated.
When asked in an interview how she came up with the list of recommended security measures, she said that she worked with experts on the matter, such as law enforcement and hunters. She asked what they felt best business practices would be in keeping a firearms business secure.
Jason Kent, co-owner of the Canadian Firearm Safety Academy, shares Joly's views. The academy offers up to 12 hours of instruction on gun safety for restrictive and non-restrictive firearms to those who are seeking a gun license.
Admittedly, Kent said he wasn’t aware of the federal regulations around selling firearms. His business doesn’t sell guns, it only teaches people how to use them.
The owner and ex-RCMP officer did say he felt federal gun laws for personal use and storage needed updating.
Kent is also looking at opening a cannabis store with his wife once the drug is legalized. Joly made a comment that cannabis stores have stricter security measures than gun stores, a point that also confused Kent.
“When dealing with cannabis at the end of the day, we have to go and lock it up in a secured vault-lock system. We can’t leave it on display,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense why we wouldn’t do that with firearms.”
Currently the federal regulations only require restricted firearms, such as handguns, to be locked securely in a cabinet, vault or safe.
Non-restricted firearms, such as rifles, can remain securely locked on display walls. The firearms are locked with a cable wire that's passed through the trigger, or with a metal bar.
For owner Gelinas, the suggestions would only add extra costs to his bottom line. Since being broken into he’s increased security measures, such as video surveillance and installing a second door.
The additional door is meant as a way to slow down a thief. If someone breaks through the first door it’ll trigger the security system. As they work to break through the second door, the police will already be on their way.
One of Joly’s suggestions – adding a security curtain that closes a section of the store off – would be too expensive for Gelinas to implement.
“It would have been a horrendous expense to go with that,” he stated. “I would have to literally renovate my premises in order to install a security curtain.”
