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Grab the ammo!

People stock up on bullets before gun deadline

Maria Canton
Northern News Services

Hall Beach (Jan 08/01) - Bullets were flying -- off the shelves as hunters rushed to beat a year-end gun licencing deadline.

Six times as many boxes of ammunition were sold in the week leading up to the firearms licensing deadline than normal, said the manager of the Hall Beach Co-op.

"In a usual week we sell about five boxes of ammunition with 20 bullets per box, but in the four days before the Dec. 31 deadline we sold at least 30 (boxes)," said Daniel Reid.

"It was hunters who were coming in to purchase it."

The scene was similar in Iqaluit, where the days before Dec. 31 meant big business for ammunition and firearms retailers.

"We had quite a few people coming in to stock up on ammo before the deadline," said Chris Groves, co-owner of the Arctic Survival Store, which only sells ammunition, not firearms.

"Usually we sell between one and two boxes of ammo per customer and in the last week of December we were selling about five boxes per customer."

Groves estimates the average hunter uses between half a box to a full box of bullets on a regular hunting day.

Sign-up success

The Canadian Firearms Centre estimates Nunavut has 6,600 gun owners, or 26 per cent of the population owns firearms.

"We were aiming to sign up 3,100 (gun owners) in the Baffin region and 3,000 for both the Kitikmeot and the Kivalliq regions and we surpassed those targets in all three regions," said Kevin Knight, area firearms officer for Nunavut.

"I think people grudgingly accepted the fact that they had to apply, but we are very happy with our numbers."

The territory's high rate of compliance is in spite of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.'s federal court challenge against the legality of the law. NTI said the lawsuit will go ahead.

NTI contends that the law infringes on an article in the Land Claims Agreement which states an "Inuk with proper identification may harvest without any form of licence or permit."

It has also invited Inuit beneficiaries to call a "firearms hotline" to outline the problems they face due to the firearms act. The toll-free number is 1-800-780-4036 and people can call during the day from Monday to Friday.

Because of the backlog of applications, a six-month grace period has been granted by the federal government for people who applied by the deadline but have yet to receive their licence.