Regina gun shop owner seeking clarity on federal firearms ban

Weeks after the federal government announced a ban on “assault-style” rifles, the owner of a Regina gun store is still figuring out which of his weapons are illegal.

As a business owner, Darryl Schemenauer from TnT Gunworks said he deals with the chief firearms officer. But as far as individuals are concerned, they’re feeling confused.

“So many people are frustrated because they’re not getting through, they’re not getting answers (and) they don’t know what to do with their firearms,” Schemenauer said.

“They don’t know if they are in possession of a prohibited device or if they’re going to go to jail or they’re going to be charged. People are just running around scared.”

It’s believed that hundreds more guns have been banned by the federal government, in addition to the 1,500 models that were first outlawed last month.

From what Schemenauer has been hearing, some of the outlawed guns include single-shot firearms used for sport shooting and hunting.

The lack of clarity has made running a business frustrating.

“There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory and it’s tough to run a business when you’re running on pins and needles here. We don’t know which way we can turn,” he said.

The list of illegal guns can be found in the RCMP’s Firearms Reference Table. It is a document created by the force’s firearms experts based on the Criminal Code and gun regulations.

Its purpose is to help law enforcement and other officials identify and classify guns — whether they’re prohibited, restricted or non-restricted.

Schemenauer isn’t sure how people are supposed to go through the document, which is 99,367 pages long.

“That’s what they expect the public to do and I know that there are so many people out there that will not do this,” he said.

“I don’t know how they expect people to do this. It’s just so confusing and just unorganized.”