Jennifer Obleman
Northern News Services
Published Monday, September 3, 2007

ARVIAT - For a rootin', tootin', shootin' good time in Arviat, call Ronnie Suluk, who opened the One Shot Gun Shop in his Hudson Bay community recently.

Ronnie Suluk recently opened the One Shot Gun Shop in Arviat. For now he is refurbishing old guns and selling tools for disassembling rifles. He's hoping his application to sell rifles will soon be approved. - photo courtesy of Ronnie Suluk

"It's kind of a new sort of business up here," said Suluk, adding he hasn't heard of any other gun shop in the Kivalliq region.

The business is new to Suluk as well.

Only a few short years ago, Suluk didn't know a .22 from a .45. But as he developed an interest in guns, he began to read up on the subject.

After finishing an online gunsmithing course this spring, Suluk decided to open up shop in his garage. For the past few months, he has been fixing and refurbishing old guns and selling the basic tools needed to disassemble a rifle.

"I like knowing rifles inside out, the joy of handling them," Suluk said.

"I had a customer who had a firearm and he didn't know what was wrong. I had a quick Band-Aid solution in about half an hour. It was a broken sear (trigger mechanism)."

Suluk is hoping his application to sell firearms and ammunition will soon be approved.

The One Shot Gun Shop is a welcome addition to the community, according to Johnny Mamgark, mayor and board member of the Arviat Hunters and Trappers Organization.

"If you come to Arviat, in almost every household, there's a hunter. People here all know how to use firearms," said Mamgark.

"It's tradition to teach our kids and grandkids how to use a firearm. I have a grandson who is five who shot his first caribou last year with his own little rifle."

Having someone in the community with the skills and the tools to clean and fix rifles will help keep that tradition alive, he said.

"There's parts we need for our firearms, for zeroing, and we've got to get new scopes, stuff like that," he said. "We do it ourselves, but we don't have the right equipment."